The document discusses major themes in Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, including social class and ambition. It analyzes how different characters represent various social classes and their ambitions to rise or maintain their status. Dickens also conveys themes of guilt, redemption, uncertainty, deceit, education, family, and sophistication. Symbolism in the novel is also discussed, specifically how tears, Satis House, and money are used symbolically and relate to the major themes. The document provides in-depth analysis of many characters and themes in Great Expectations over multiple paragraphs.
2. Theme is defined as a main
idea or an underlying
meaning of a literary work,
which may be stated directly
or indirectly.
3. Dickens conveys the theme of social class and
ambition throughout Great Expectations. Indeed
the novel could be seen as an exploration of social
class in Victorian England, from the lower class to
the upper class. Members of the lower and middle
classes often have the ambition to rise to a higher
class. In contrast members of the upper class want
to maintain their superiority and use it control other
people for their own ends.
4. Magwitch is the main representative of the lower
class. He was born in poverty and, because of
these circumstances, fell into criminality. As
Dickens shows, some lower-class people become
caught in a trap of poverty that makes it difficult for
them to improve their lives. In fact, when Magwitch
is given half a chance to better himself in Australia,
he does so with great success. Magwitch realizes
he will never become a gentleman, but he has
ambitions to make Pip a gentleman and thereby
attain upper-class status.
5. The main representative of the working class is
Pip. Because of the influence of the upper-class
Miss Havisham, Pip comes to view being a
blacksmith as inferior work and has the ambition to
become a gentleman. By doing this he hopes to
receive the approval of Miss Havisham and Estella
and thereby validate himself as a human being.
However as Pip is educated as a gentleman, he
becomes a dandy, who focuses on having a
refined appearance and doing leisure activities
instead of accomplishing something worthwhile.
6. Mrs. Joe is also an example of a working-class
person who has ambitions to rise in status. Even
the brutish Orlick shows sensitivity concerning
class by his resentment about being demoted to
the lower class. The only main working-class
character who doesn't have ambitions is Joe. Also
Biddy, who is a member of the lower-middle class,
has no desire to rise in status. The main
representative of the middle class who strives to
improve his social standing is Pumblechook.
7. • Miss Havisham shows many traits of the upper
class. She is a proud woman who views herself
as being superior to most people, and she
cannot bear being humiliated by her lover. As a
result she becomes a recluse and exerts her
control over the people in her sphere, especially
Estella. Miss Havisham's control is backed by
her money. When Estella arrives in London, she
makes a point to tell Pip that Miss Havisham is
paying for Estella to do exactly what the recluse
wants. For Miss Havisham, her ambition is to
have Estella break the hearts of men.
8. Dickens shows the theme of guilt and redemption mainly
through the characters of Pip and Miss Havisham. Although
Pip wants to be a gentleman, he is plagued by guilt as he
becomes one. This guilt starts soon after Pip learns that he
will be educated as a gentleman. Pip starts to view himself
as superior to the people in the village and even becomes
ashamed of Joe. As a result, Pip, dressed in a nice suit,
doesn't want Joe, dressed as a common laborer, to
accompany him on his way to the carriage. Later Pip acts
awkwardly and impatiently toward Joe in London. Pip rarely
writes to Joe and Biddy, even though he promises to do so.
Even though these actions cause Pip to feel intense guilt,
he does not change the way he treats Joe.
9. Pip resolves the problem of his guilt through redemption.
However, he can attain redemption only when his dream of
marrying Estella and gaining Miss Havisham's approval
crumbles. This process begins when Pip learns that
Magwitch, not Miss Havisham, is his benefactor. Pip comes
to realize the sham of his existence as he adopts a
dandyish lifestyle based on having a superior attitude to the
lower classes and doing pleasurable leisure activities while
accomplishing nothing of worth. Soon he starts to do
redemptive acts, such as helping Herbert get started in
business and being a loving surrogate son to Magwitch.
Eventually Pip realizes he can gain self-worth not by
becoming a gentleman but rather by working for it. As a
result he works for many years in Herbert's business.
10. For most of the novel Miss Havisham shows no signs of
guilt. However, she begins to feel regret when Estella acts
coldly toward her. Miss Havisham realizes that she has
trained Estella to break not only the hearts of men but also
her own heart. Miss Havisham cares for Estella. As a result
she doesn't want Estella to marry Drummle. However,
because of the recluse's influence, Estella marries this
brutish man knowing she will face years of pain and abuse.
Miss Havisham and Estella have also caused great pain for
Pip. Miss Havisham comes to realize the horror of what she
has done. Because of this she asks for Pip's forgiveness.
However, consumed by feelings of guilt, Miss Havisham is
unable to grasp the solution; namely, redemption through
accepting Pip's forgiveness.
11. • The theme of uncertainty and deceit infuses most of
Great Expectations. Dickens starts the novel with Pip
uncertain about what his parents look like. Pip
continues to feel uncertainty about the convicts. This
uncertainty leads to his deceitful act of stealing food
and a file. Pip's uncertainty about his benefactor is in
part caused by Miss Havisham's deceit. She makes
Pip believe that she is his benefactress. Also Dickens
often combines uncertainty with deceit in the same
event. For example, Pip becomes involved in the
deceitful act of trying to sneak Magwitch out of the
country while feeling uncertain whether Compeyson is
following him.
• .
12. In addition Dickens shows how removing deceit
can also eliminate uncertainty. For instance, Pip
feels uncertain about the identity of Molly, Mr.
Jaggers's housekeeper. Pip becomes surer of her
identity as he learns about Mr. Jaggers's deceitful
act of secretly giving Estella to Miss Havisham to
raise as her adopted daughter. As Pip and readers
discover, Estella is Molly and Magwitch's biological
daughter
13. Education functions as a force for social mobility and personal
growth in the novel. Joe and Biddy both use their education to
pursue new opportunities, showing how education can be a good
thing. Pip receives an education that allows him to advance into
a new social position, but Pip’s education improves his mind
without supporting the growth of his character. Biddy takes
advantage to gather as much learning as she can, with Pip
observing that she “learns everything I learn,” and eventually
becomes a schoolteacher. Biddy also teaches Joe to read and
write. Pip’s education does not actually provide him with practical
skills or common sense, as revealed when Pip and Herbert
completely fail at managing their personal finances. Pip’s
emotional transformation once he learns the identity of his
benefactor is what ultimately makes him into the man he wants
to be, not anything he has learned in a classroom.
14. Although Pip and Estella both grow up as orphans, family is an
important theme in the novel. Pip grows up with love and support
from Joe, but fails to see the value of the unconditional love Joes
gives him. He eventually reconciles with Joe after understanding
his errors. Estella is exposed to damaging values from her
adopted mother, Miss Havisham, and gradually learns from
experience what it actually means to care about someone. For
both characters, learning who to trust and how to have a loving
relationship with family members is a major part of the growing-
up process. As Estella explains at the end of the novel, “suffering
has been stronger than all other teaching.” Both Estella and Pip
make mistakes and live with the consequences of their family
histories, but their difficult family experiences also helps to give
them perspective on what is truly important in life.
15. In Great Expectations, Pip becomes obsessed with a desire to
be sophisticated and takes damaging risks in order to do so.
After his first encounter with Estella, Pip becomes acutely self-
conscious that “I was a common labouring-boy; that my hands
were coarse, that my boots were thick.” (pg. 59). Once he moves
to London, Pip is exposed to a glamourous urban world “so
crowded with people and so brilliantly lighted,” and he quickly
begins to “contract expensive habits.” As a result of spending
money on things like a personal servant and fancy clothes, Pip
quickly falls into debt, and damages Herbert’s finances as well
as his own. Even more troubling, Pip tries to avoid anyone who
might undermine his reputation as a sophisticated young
gentleman. In the end, sophistication is revealed as a shallow
and superficial value because it does not lead to Pip achieving
anything, and only makes him lonely and miserable.
16. Symbolism is the use of
symbols to signify ideas and
qualities, by giving them
symbolic meanings that are
different from their literal
sense.
17. In Great Expectations Charles
Dickens uses three major
symbols: Tears, Satis House,
and Money. Dickens also relates
these symbols to the major
themes. For example, the
symbol of money relates to
social class and ambition
because it deals with how
members of various classes use
money.
18. Dickens uses tears to represent passionate emotions,
including gratefulness, love, and shame. However, all
expressed tears have a benevolent, clarifying effect.
Pip states, "I was better after I had cried, than before—
more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more
gentle." After Pip cries tears of shame from Estella's
insults, he is able to continue his daily life. When Pip
cries tears of remorse about his treatment of Joe, he
can more fully sense how wrongly he treated his
friend. The only tears that do not have a positive effect
are the crocodile tears shed by Mrs. Camilla, because
they represent false emotions.
19. • For Dickens, Satis House represents a lack of growth or
death. Miss Havisham's hateful and bitter attitude creates a
structure in which time seems to stand still. Nothing significant
changes in Satis House. The clocks are all stopped at the
same time. The furniture remains in the same position without
being dusted for years. The wedding cake remains on the
table, covered by cobwebs. In this house Miss Havisham
follows the same routines, year after year. With Satis House,
Miss Havisham has created her own mausoleum that will
house her corpse. Satis is Latin for "enough." The title could
be ironic. Estella suggests the term Satis implies that a person
who owns this house has enough of everything. However,
Miss Havisham's life is totally barren. She is a person who
feels the pain of not having enough love. Indeed she does not
have enough of anything, except money and bitterness, which
prove to be inadequate. Also, Satis resembles the word static.
20. Money, for Dickens, has a dual meaning.
Money represents the value that society
places on someone. When Miss Havisham
pays Joe 25 pounds for Pip's services, she
is using money to place a value on Pip. Also
when the shopkeepers find out that Pip has
come into money, their estimation of Pip
soars.
21. The author also uses money to represent power or control over
people. For example, Miss Havisham uses money to make
Estella do exactly what the recluse wants in London. Estella tells
Pip, "This is my purse, and you are to pay my charges out of it ...
We are not free to follow our own devices, you and I." Also
Magwitch uses money to control Pip and make him into what
Magwitch wants, namely a gentleman. Magwitch tells Pip, "Yes,
Pip, dear boy, I've made a gentleman on you! It's me wot has
done it!" Miss Havisham's and Magwitch's use of money to
control people backfires however. Estella becomes cold toward
Miss Havisham. Pip becomes miserable as a gentleman but
doesn't tell this to Magwitch. Pip states, "O, that he [Magwitch]
had never come! That he had left me at the forge—far from
contented, yet, by comparison, happy!"
