great expectations argumentative essay

Everything about “Great Expectations”: Themes, Plot, and Characters

great expectations argumentative essay

“Great Expectations” is one of the last novels written by Charles Dickens in 1861. It is also one of his most popular creations and has been frequently staged in theatres and on movie screens. The text was written in Dickens’ “mature” years when the author critiqued the dishonest and lavish life many gentlemen of those times had led. The story has a gripping plot, but it’s rather grey, sad, and doesn’t end happily for most of its characters.

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Dickens has incorporated a lot of his own experiences and sorrows into the “Great Expectations” book. Initially, the writer wanted to end the novel in a tragic way, however, Dickens had always been wary of sad endings—his audience appreciated the happy endings much more than the philosophical misfortunes. That’s why he didn’t dare to end the story on a sad note, even though the whole plot was heading towards a calamity.

“Great Expectations” is a complex literature piece and if you are challenged to read it, but still need that essay, read further for plot overview and themes or simply use our essay writer service .

“Great Expectations” Summary

“Great Expectations” is a story about the life of a simple little boy, who lives through a poor childhood and into a rich adulthood, learning many lessons throughout this process. The book begins with the protagonist introducing himself:

Chapter I “My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip”.

Pip is an honest and simple man, but he doesn’t find a place for himself in society. Even money and the rich gentleman’s life didn’t make him happy. Towards the end of the book, Pip will realize that his expectations and desires misled him and ruined his life: he loved a woman (Estella) who couldn’t return his feelings, and he was grateful to another woman (Miss Havisham) for becoming wealthy when in fact Miss Havisham did nothing for Pip and only encouraged Estella to hurt him even more. But for now, it is all in the distant future as the story is about to unfold.

Great Expectations

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Pip is an orphan who is brought up in a dull family that consists of his abusive sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, who “had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself” (Chapter IV), and her husband, Joe Gargery, the blacksmith. Joe Gargery was a good simple man who treated Pip well:

Chapter II “Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites. He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow…”.

One day, while visiting his parents’ grave, Pip meets an escaped convict and risks his own safety to bring him food and a saw to take off the shackles.

After a while, Pip gets invited to visit the house of Miss Havisham—also referred to as “Satis House” in the book. Miss Havisham is a wealthy and peculiar woman. Ever since some man robbed her and then fled on the day of their supposed marriage, she became lost, dull, and constantly unsatisfied with everything. She continued to wear her wedding dress and preserved everything in her dilapidated home the exact way it had been set up for the planned wedding. Miss Havisham invited Pip to her house because she wanted to find a companion for her foster daughter Estella.

Estella is an orphan brought up by Miss Havisham to despise and loathe all males that come near her: “Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!” (Chapter XII)—this is one of the most famous quotes from “Great Expectations”. Estella was a beautiful girl brought up to be a lady, but her heart was cold and her morals were wicked. She humiliated Pip from the first time she was asked to play with him: “With this boy? Why, he is a common laboring boy!” (Chapter VIII) and has used every opportunity ever since to demonstrate how much she is better than him.

Pip comes to like Estella, but the more time he spends with her, the more he starts to hate himself – his low status, his simple clothes, his blacksmithing apprenticeship that made his face dirty and his hands coarse (and was paid for by Miss Havisham). From the time he met Estella, for Pip great expectations were to be a gentleman and be admired by this polished girl and her mother. One day Pip finds out that somebody has hit his sister so hard that her brain gets badly damaged. Next to the place where she was attacked, people found broken shackles. Later, another orphan, Biddy, comes to live with Pip to take care of Mrs. Joe. Pip describes Biddy as a very ordinary girl:

Chapter VII “… her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel”.

One of the most exciting things that happen in the summary of “Great Expectations” is when a well-known attorney from London, Mr. Jaggers, tells Pip that he has inherited a fortune and his life will change forever. Mr. Jaggers is a typical lawyer – he is stubborn, rich, arrogant, and shady. He does not, surprisingly, reveal who the generous person to provide Pip with this fortune is:

Chapter XVIII “... you are to understand, secondly, Mr. Pip, that the name of the person who is your liberal benefactor remains a profound secret, until the person chooses to reveal it”.

Pip, also shocked, does not even want to guess, as he already makes up his mind about the origin of the inheritance:

Chapter XVIII “My dream was out; my wild fancy was surpassed by sober reality; Miss Havisham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale”.

Pip is warned not to try to guess or find out who his benefactor is—such was the condition of acquiring the inheritance.

Pip is happy: he remains convinced that his secret benefactor is Miss Havisham, which he interprets to mean that she is likely preparing him to be a suitable husband for Estella. The boy gets new fancy clothes, people start to treat him differently, he moves to London, where he shares an apartment with Herbert Pocket, Bentley Drummle, and Startop, and he takes classes to become a real gentleman. Pip makes quick progress and is soon able to behave just like other high-class people. While connecting with prestigious British society, Pip grows more and more ashamed of his past. The boy actively tries to avoid Joe when he comes to visit, but when the news of his sister's death comes, Pip visits her funeral and begins to feel sorry for being so distant with Joe and Biddy. Pip continues to spend time with Estella when they are both in London; he loves her, but the only feeling she exhibits towards him is contempt and cruelty. After a while, Estella develops a relationship with Pip’s friend Bentley Drummle (which was more of a relationship with his money and status, to be precise), and they get married.

At the same time, an encounter from the past re-introduces itself – the convict Pip met in the graveyard years ago whose name is Abel Magwitch. It turns out Magwitch was the secret benefactor that made Pip rich – after the incident in the graveyard he had escaped to Australia, made a fortune there, and asked Jaggers to take care of the boy as a sign of gratitude. Magwitch is a complex character who had gotten into trouble because of bad company and then got set up by a cunning companion of his. His character exemplifies how inhumane laws and unjust rules set by a cynic society, lead to the gradual degradation of a man. Magwitch tells Pip that he is being followed by another convict, his ex-partner, Compeyson, who was notorious for many illegal deals:

Chapter XLII “… he’d been to a public boarding-school and had learning. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a dab at the ways of gentlefolks. He was good-looking too”.

By listening to his life story, the reader understands that Magwitch is the real father of Estella (her mother is Mr. Jaggers’ housekeeper), and Compeyson is the man who fooled Miss Havisham so many years ago.

Pip develops a plan to help Magwitch escape the country and Compeyson drowns in the pursuit of trying to catch Magwitch. Magwitch gets hurt and gets caught. He then gets sent to prison where he dies from his wounds. Pip had stopped taking Magwitch’s money some time ago, and now it has all gone to the benefit of the state anyway. Pip has accumulated debt and gets in trouble for being unable to repay it. When Pip’s health declines, Joe comes to take care of him and even pays off his debts. After recovering, Pip joins his friend Herbert, and Herbert’s wife Clara, to work at the Clarriner’s office in Cairo (Egypt)—Pip was the one to secure Herbert a position with the company back when he had money.

Great Expectations

After being away for 11 years, Pip comes back and visits Joe. Joe had married Biddy and they had even named their son after Pip:

Chapter LIX “We giv’ him the name of Pip for your sake, dear old chap… and we hoped he might grow a little bit like you, and we think he do”.

Walking around the remains of the Satis House, Pip meets widowed Estella and the two head off to a new start…

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Great Expectations Themes and Motives

Social class is a very important determinant of one’s position in the book. Both Estella and Pip were orphans, but the girl was brought up to praise her status and humiliate everybody who didn’t share the same status as her. Estella is a victim of class inequality, she is taught to despise people and even things:

Chapter VII “I played the game to an end with Estella, and she beggared me. She threw the cards down on the table when she had won them all, as if she despised them for having been won of me”.

At the same time, the writer shows how some people were doomed to live and die in lower-class life, they had no chance to make it up the social ladder because others would never accept them:

Chapter IV “In his working-clothes, Joe was a well-knit characteristic-looking blacksmith; in his holiday clothes, he was more like a scarecrow in good circumstances, than anything else”.

Ambition and self-improvement: Charles Dickens makes fun of the shallow ambitions people often have, which is seen in the characters in “Great Expectations” – they are ordinary, and many of them are poor financially and/or emotionally. Pip’s biggest desire is to be a gentleman and he doesn’t appreciate himself because of where he came from:

Chapter VIII “I was a common laboring-boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way”.

The young boy doesn’t strive for real self-improvement, he wants to have the image, the looks, and the respect—all of the superficial things.

Integrity and reputation: Being honest and sincere wasn’t worth much in those times. The characters were doing all the wrong things, but nobody stopped them. For example, Miss Havisham gladly accepts Pip’s gratitude even though she knows she isn’t the benefactor who paid for his lavish life in London. She later admits that she pretended to be the one who gave Pip money just to irritate her family.

Parents in the book are nothing more than empty vessels – they are absent from the lives of most characters, and those who assume parental duties do not perform them well. For example: “My sister… had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbors because she had brought me up “by hand” (Chapter II). Parents were supposed to put Pip in school, teach him to respect himself, and value others, but nobody was there to take care of him. Taking into account that Dickens wrote many children’s stories, you would assume that in “Great Expectations”, the author would try to discover the roots and causes of many childhood miseries and broken kids’ lives.

Justice is not evident, but an important theme in this book. What is “Great Expectations about? – It’s simply about getting what one deserves. The plot is unfair, that’s true. But the characters’ wishes and actions are also quite shallow and unjust. In the end, each of them has the opportunity to turn their life around, but choose to behave the way society expects them to.

Generosity : Pip didn’t experience much kindness or generosity in his life. The only person who treated him with respect was his sister’s husband Joe Gargery, whom he later starts to avoid once Pip becomes a gentleman. Magwitch makes Pip a gentleman to repay the “generosity” the boy demonstrated out of mere fear for his life; and Pip doesn't even appreciate Magwitch’s generosity. The boy really enjoyed the thought that Miss Havisham believed in him and sponsored him to become a gentleman. So when the young man finds out that she hadn’t actually invested in his education, and thus didn’t plan for Estella to marry him, Pip panics:

Chapter XXXIX “Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience, a sting for the greedy relations, a model with a mechanical heart to practise on when no other practice was at hand”.

His whole world becomes broken, he feels humiliated, and decides to flee abroad.

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  • How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips

How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement . The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.

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Table of contents

When do you write an argumentative essay, approaches to argumentative essays, introducing your argument, the body: developing your argument, concluding your argument, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about argumentative essays.

You might be assigned an argumentative essay as a writing exercise in high school or in a composition class. The prompt will often ask you to argue for one of two positions, and may include terms like “argue” or “argument.” It will frequently take the form of a question.

The prompt may also be more open-ended in terms of the possible arguments you could make.

Argumentative writing at college level

At university, the vast majority of essays or papers you write will involve some form of argumentation. For example, both rhetorical analysis and literary analysis essays involve making arguments about texts.

In this context, you won’t necessarily be told to write an argumentative essay—but making an evidence-based argument is an essential goal of most academic writing, and this should be your default approach unless you’re told otherwise.

Examples of argumentative essay prompts

At a university level, all the prompts below imply an argumentative essay as the appropriate response.

Your research should lead you to develop a specific position on the topic. The essay then argues for that position and aims to convince the reader by presenting your evidence, evaluation and analysis.

  • Don’t just list all the effects you can think of.
  • Do develop a focused argument about the overall effect and why it matters, backed up by evidence from sources.
  • Don’t just provide a selection of data on the measures’ effectiveness.
  • Do build up your own argument about which kinds of measures have been most or least effective, and why.
  • Don’t just analyze a random selection of doppelgänger characters.
  • Do form an argument about specific texts, comparing and contrasting how they express their thematic concerns through doppelgänger characters.

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An argumentative essay should be objective in its approach; your arguments should rely on logic and evidence, not on exaggeration or appeals to emotion.

There are many possible approaches to argumentative essays, but there are two common models that can help you start outlining your arguments: The Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.

Toulmin arguments

The Toulmin model consists of four steps, which may be repeated as many times as necessary for the argument:

  • Make a claim
  • Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim
  • Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim)
  • Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives

The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays. You don’t have to use these specific terms (grounds, warrants, rebuttals), but establishing a clear connection between your claims and the evidence supporting them is crucial in an argumentative essay.

Say you’re making an argument about the effectiveness of workplace anti-discrimination measures. You might:

  • Claim that unconscious bias training does not have the desired results, and resources would be better spent on other approaches
  • Cite data to support your claim
  • Explain how the data indicates that the method is ineffective
  • Anticipate objections to your claim based on other data, indicating whether these objections are valid, and if not, why not.

Rogerian arguments

The Rogerian model also consists of four steps you might repeat throughout your essay:

  • Discuss what the opposing position gets right and why people might hold this position
  • Highlight the problems with this position
  • Present your own position , showing how it addresses these problems
  • Suggest a possible compromise —what elements of your position would proponents of the opposing position benefit from adopting?

This model builds up a clear picture of both sides of an argument and seeks a compromise. It is particularly useful when people tend to disagree strongly on the issue discussed, allowing you to approach opposing arguments in good faith.

Say you want to argue that the internet has had a positive impact on education. You might:

  • Acknowledge that students rely too much on websites like Wikipedia
  • Argue that teachers view Wikipedia as more unreliable than it really is
  • Suggest that Wikipedia’s system of citations can actually teach students about referencing
  • Suggest critical engagement with Wikipedia as a possible assignment for teachers who are skeptical of its usefulness.

You don’t necessarily have to pick one of these models—you may even use elements of both in different parts of your essay—but it’s worth considering them if you struggle to structure your arguments.

Regardless of which approach you take, your essay should always be structured using an introduction , a body , and a conclusion .

Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction . The introduction serves to capture the reader’s interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement , and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.

Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

The body of an argumentative essay is where you develop your arguments in detail. Here you’ll present evidence, analysis, and reasoning to convince the reader that your thesis statement is true.

In the standard five-paragraph format for short essays, the body takes up three of your five paragraphs. In longer essays, it will be more paragraphs, and might be divided into sections with headings.

Each paragraph covers its own topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Each of these topics must contribute to your overall argument; don’t include irrelevant information.

This example paragraph takes a Rogerian approach: It first acknowledges the merits of the opposing position and then highlights problems with that position.

Hover over different parts of the example to see how a body paragraph is constructed.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

An argumentative essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the arguments made in the body.

No new arguments or evidence appear here, but in longer essays you may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and suggest topics for future research. In all conclusions, you should stress the relevance and importance of your argument.

Hover over the following example to see the typical elements of a conclusion.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved February 7, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/argumentative-essay/

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Great Expectations

70 pages • 2 hours read

Charles Dickens

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

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Chapters 34-40

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Summary and Study Guide

Great Expectations is the 13th novel written by Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial in Dickens’s periodical, All the Year Round , Great Expectations, and Chapman and Hall published the novelized version in October of 1861. The novel is widely considered to be a classic example of the bildungsroman , or coming-of-age genre , and it has been adapted into numerous plays, films, and television series.

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Great Expectations tells the story of an orphan named Philip Pirrip, or Pip. Pip lives with his tyrannical older sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery , and her gentle husband, a blacksmith named Joe Gargery. Joe is Pip’s closest friend.

Pip finds many ways to improve his life. He seeks further education from Biddy , a relation of his teacher’s. And he begins visiting the home of a wealthy, eccentric old spinster named Miss Havisham . At Miss Havisham’s, Pip falls in love with her adopted daughter, the haughty and beautiful Estella . Miss Havisham encourages this infatuation, but Estella does not reciprocate.

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When Pip comes of age, he begins working at the forge. There, he works with a violent man named Dolge Orlick . After an argument, Orlick attacks Pip’s sister, leaving her an invalid. Soon after, London lawyer Mr. Jaggers reveals that Pip has received a large inheritance from an anonymous benefactor, whom Pip suspects to be Miss Havisham. Pip becomes a London gentleman, studying under a tutor named Matthew Pocket. He rooms with Matthew’s son, Herbert, and the two become fast friends. Herbert reveals that a conman broke Miss Havisham’s heart, causing her eccentricities.

Pip begins to look down on his humble beginnings. He returns home after his sister’s death and realizes that he’s been neglecting Biddy and Joe. Back in London, a convict who Pip helped escape from prison at the novel’s open, returns. The convict, Abel Magwitch , reveals that he is Pip’s mysterious benefactor. Magwitch made a fortune in Australia and was so thankful to Pip for his kindness that he was determined to repay him. Magwitch is still on the run and reveals that he used to be partners with a conman named Compeyson. Pip and Herbert deduce that Compeyson is Miss Havisham’s former conman fiancé.

Pip confronts Miss Havisham about leading him on concerning Estella. He learns that Estella is engaged to marry his wealthy classmate, Bentley Drummle. Miss Havisham feels regret about raising Estella to be heartless and begs Pip for forgiveness. As Pip is leaving, Miss Havisham accidentally sets her dress on fire and is badly burned. She eventually dies from her injuries. Soon after, Orlick lures Pip to the marsh and attempts to bludgeon him with a stone hammer, but Herbert and the townspeople arrive, rescuing Pip.

To help Magwitch escape, Herbert and Pip row him down the River Thames. Compeyson and the police intercept them. As the police boat approaches, Magwitch lunges for Compeyson, and the two struggle in the river. Compeyson drowns, and the court sentences Magwitch to death. Pip loses his inheritance.

As he slips further into debt, Pip becomes very ill. Joe comes to London to nurse Pip and pay off some of his debts. Joe also brings news from home: the police arrested Orlick for robbery; Biddy has taught Joe to read; and Miss Havisham divided her will among Estella, Herbert’s father, and Pip. Pip returns home to marry Biddy, only to discover that Joe has married her. Pip decides to work with Herbert in Egypt.

After many years abroad, Pip returns to England. He visits the site of Miss Havisham’s demolished house. There, he finds a recently widowed Estella. Estella’s bitter marriage has made her a kinder person. The novel ends with Pip and Estella walking hand-in-hand. 

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Great Expectations Argumentative Essay Example

Great Expectations Argumentative Essay Example

  • Pages: 5 (1242 words)
  • Published: February 11, 2017
  • Type: Essay

The canonical novel , Great expectations by Charles Dickens sets the scene for a narrative journey into the heart of belonging as it related to literary techniques of truncated non-grammatical sentences, malapropism, animal imagery, and violent vocabulary, also the use of Gothicism throughout the novel. the opening chapter, introduces you to a single character, Phillip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Early in the book during the opening chapter, Pip the character is a child, and Pip the narrator focuses gently on fun as his younger self, however he enables the reader to both feel and see the story through his eyes.

The technique conveyed, through the structure shows that there are two perspectives, two characters, two Pip’s . Both Pip the narrator and Pip the character, the voice

telling the story, and the person acting it out. Throughout the introduction Pip comes across very childish and immature, this is conveyed through his truncated non-grammatical sentences, and the use of malapropism, for example “My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip”.

We are also introduced to a fearsome criminal, a convict, who is vile and brutal, he went by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch was brought into the story with his terrorizing and exploiting approach, to Pip in the cemetery. Pip described him as being “a fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round

his head”. Magwitch the character conveyed his violent approach through the techniques of violent vocabulary, and his animal imagery. He spoke of cannibalism threats, “what fat cheeks you got you young dog, darn me if I could eat em”.

This created Pip to fear for his life. “You fail or you go from my words in any particular, no matter how small it is and your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate”. The use of Gothicism in the novel sets the scene of suspense, horror, fear, and superstition throughout the characters. Gothicism is mostly portrayed through Magwitch in the setting scene of the graveyard and his evil approach towards Pip, discussed earlier and through the use of detailed tombstones, and through the use of death being explored throughout the novel.

As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them, my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father's, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair”. Social class is conveyed through Great Expectations, Aristotle asserted that the form of fiction demanded of every work that the protagonist begin with a place in the social world, some action in the plot lead to a disruption of this order, the protagonist losing his rightful position.

In Great expectations, Pip exists as a character of many detached world’s. It is possible to find five complete and discrete society’s in the England of Dicken’s novel of Great Expectations, these five

summarize the whole of the transitional period known to postmodern critics as Victorian. The two representatives of the old world’s feudal order, are those of village labour Joe and Biddy and aristocracy Ms Havisham and Estella, of the new world one sees the urban poor, Jaggers clientele and Pips, Avenger, the working class Jaggers and Wemmick, and the entrepreneurs/ capitalists which are Compeyson and Pumblechook.

Pip in his time samples all five circles, belonging variously to each over the course of the novel, making it very difficult to assess his ‘reintegration into society’, at the end it is certainly impossible that he should become integrated into them all, so he must choose his one path; Dickens leaves to his readers evaluation of Pip’s success. Place is expressed in Great Expectations through Miss Havisham as she stands a representative of feudal aristocracy, through her family money in fact was made on the brewery adjacent to Satis House, which suggests capitalism.

Pips language describing Satis House in many ways denote its ‘castleness’. It creates a magnificent gothic setting whose various elements symbolize Pips romantic perception of the upper class along with many themes. The crumbling, dilapidated stones of the house, and the darkness and dust that pervade it, symbolize the general decadence of the lives of its inhabitants and of the upper class. “Miss Havisham’s house, which was of old brick and dismal and had a great many iron bars to it.

Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained all the lower were rustily barred” Family and relationships are conveyed through Great Expectations the novel, it is a myriad

of familial situations that not only provide background for the reader but also help develop that plot and circumstances that affect our young hero , Pip. Dickens uses the thread of family to weave his story into an effective entertainment.

Pip begins life as an orphan, predeceased by his father, mother and five infant brothers, alone and isolated with only a grudging older sister and her more gentle husband “to care for him. home had never been a pleasant place for me, because of my sisters temper”. Though Pip is well fed and physically maintained, he is emotionally starved through Mrs Joes domestic tyranny. He is a reject. His sister makes it quite clear that she doesn’t like him. Great Expectations is a representation of humanity’s susceptibility to become hostage to ones own sensibilities, experiencing the vulnerability, alienation, and insecurity consequent to the absence of a collective identity, denoting the psychological complexities of an individuals sense of rightful positioning.

To belong is not simply to be accepted but rather to acknowledge the imposition of reality’s restrictions in determining ones social familial, and personal levels of acceptance. “was always treated as if i had insisted on being born” (20) “ all the times she had wished me in my grave”. Dickens explores love and loyalty through relationships and intimacy in Great Expectations. He makes it obvious that they underlie happiness and misery. Pips unrequited love for Estella which is the main focus of the novel, it only brings him misery.

Also Miss Havisham’s life is ruined when the man she loves leaves her on her wedding day. “ill tell you what real love

is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter---as i did”. (Chapter 29). This quote treaties on love, given by Miss Havisham, it could just as well as been stated by Pip. Miss Havisham raised Estella to be the smiter, and she succeeded, Estella lets Pip into her world but not her heart. this is Pip, it? Returned the young lady , who was very pretty and seemed very proud; come in Pip”. She then leads Pip into a love-sick, self-destructive obsession and yearning for love. “against reason, against promise, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be” (219). From every encounter with Estella Pip emerges miserably “i fancied, as i looked at her, that i slipped hopelessly back into the coarse and common boy again” (222).

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Home / Essay Samples / Literature / Great Expectations / “Great Expectations”: the Dichotomy of Good and Evil in the Book

"Great Expectations": the Dichotomy of Good and Evil in the Book

  • Category: Literature , Philosophy
  • Topic: Charles Dickens , Good and Evil , Great Expectations

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