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Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (Main ideas (Themes) (Crime, Guilt,…
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Main ideas (Themes)
Ultimately, through the examples of Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch, Pip learns that social and educational improvement are irrelevant to one’s real worth and that conscience and affection are to be valued above erudition and social standing.
Sophistication
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Pip quickly falls into debt, and 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.
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The working out of Pip's fantasy forms the basic plot of the novel; it provides Dickens the opportunity to gently satirize the class system of his era and to make a point about its capricious nature.
Social class
Dickens explores the class system of Victorian England, ranging from the most wretched criminals (Magwitch) to the poor peasants of the marsh country (Joe and Biddy) to the middle class (Pumblechook) to the very rich (Miss Havisham).
By connecting the theme of social class to the idea of work and self-advancement, Dickens subtly reinforces the novel’s overarching theme of ambition and self-improvement.
Dickens generally ignores the nobility and the hereditary aristocracy in favor of characters whose fortunes have been earned through commerce.
The class system the novel portrays is based on the post-Industrial Revolution model of Victorian England.
Crime, Guilt, and Innocence
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The external trappings of the criminal justice system (police, courts, jails, etc.) become a superficial standard of morality that Pip must learn to look beyond to trust his inner conscience.
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By the end of the book, Pip has discovered Magwitch’s inner nobility, and is able to disregard his external status as a criminal.
The theme of crime, guilt, and innocence is explored throughout the novel largely through the characters of the convicts and the criminal lawyer Jaggers.
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Pip's character
He is both the protagonist, whose actions make up the main plot of the novel, and the narrator, whose thoughts and attitudes shape the reader’s perception of the story.
An idealist: whenever he can conceive of something that is better than what he already has, he immediately desires to obtain the improvement.
Because Pip is narrating his story many years after the events of the novel take place, there are really two Pips in Great Expectations: Pip the narrator and Pip the character—the voice telling the story and the person acting it out.
As a character, Pip’s two most important traits are his immature, romantic idealism and his innately good conscience.
Pip’s idealism often leads him to perceive the world rather narrowly, and his tendency to oversimplify situations based on superficial values leads him to behave badly toward the people who care about him.
On the other hand, Pip is at heart a very generous and sympathetic young man, a fact that can be witnessed in his numerous acts of kindness throughout the book.
Genre
The novel begins with Pip’s earliest recollection of naming himself, due to his “infant tongue.” By the end, Pip is established as a mature professional.
Not only does Pip physically grow and change over the course of the book, he also dramatically alters his understanding of what he thinks is important in life.
a classic example of a bildungsroman, a category of literature that focuses on the progression of a central character as he or she matures into an adult and experiences significant psychological growth along the way.
The close focus on Pip’s journey to psychological and emotional maturity, made evident through a first-person narration, is a trademark characteristic of the bildungsroman genre.
The ending
In the original manuscript version of the novel, Pip runs into Estella through a chance coincidence on a London street.
She has lost her first husband but has also remarried, which diminishes the possibility that the reunion will trigger a new relationship between Estella and Pip.
After decades of longing for her, it seems possible that Pip will finally get to be with Estella, especially since they have both matured due to the suffering they have experienced.
In the final lines of the novel, Pip comments ambiguously that he “saw the shadow of no parting from her.”
Seeing Estella again and gleaning the impression that time has softened her and made her kinder gives Pip a sense of peace, but this original ending makes it clear that Estella and Pip do not end up together.
The first published edition of Great Expectations ends with Pip running into Estella in the garden of Satis House after many years of separation.
Before publication, several of Dickens’s friends suggested he change the ending to something that at least allowed for the possibility of a reconciliation. Dickens made the change, apparently with some reluctance.