Great Expectations Essay

Great Expectations, a novel by Charles Dickens, was first published in England as a serial in the years 1860 and 61 then later as a novel. It runs to 448 pages in modern paperback. The work is considered to be autobiographical and told in first person as a memoir of the orphan boy, Pip. Dickens’ thesis is moral in nature, saying that love, loyalty and a clean conscience are more important than wealth, social class and ambition. Pip believes he is in love with the Estella, a ward of the rich Mrs. Havisham and seeks to become a gentleman in order to win her heart. He comes to realize his sister and her husband and the convicted criminal, Magwitch, though low in social class, display more character than those he knows of the upper class. Dickens, through his protagonist, advances the idea that nobility is not noble by nature, and one can advance on his own intelligence and work ethic (183). Mrs. Havisham’s family earned their money in commerce but she still represents wealth. Dickens depicts her as a bitter and vengeful old woman, full of hatred for men. She uses Pip and encourages the like-minded Estella to break his heart (60). Pip comes into money and believes that the upper class Mrs. Havisham is his benefactress, which is not true. His money comes from the convict Magwitch who wants to make Pip a gentleman for his own reasons (335). Bentley Drummle, while a minor character, is used by Dickens to show that nobility does not confer morality on a person. Dickens proves his thesis by the relating the callous behavior of the upper classes, compared and contrasted to the kindness of his poor family and the lower classes represented. He produces a litany of noble scoundrels and lowborn citizens with high moral fiber for the reader to consider.