Great ExpectationsEssay Preview: Great ExpectationsReport this essayIn Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations, Dickens conveys the idea that wealth leads to isolation. The novel begins when Pip, a young orphan, encounters an escaped convict in a cemetery. Despite Pips efforts to help this terrifying personage, the convict is still captured and transported to Australia. Pip is then introduced into the wealthy yet decaying home of Miss Havisham where he meets Estella, a little girl who takes pleasure in tormenting Pip about his rough hands and future as a blacksmith. As Pip continues to visit Miss Havishams house, he becomes more and more dissatisfied with his guardian, Joe, a hard working blacksmith, and his childhood friend Biddy. Several years later, when Pip becomes the heir of an “unknown benefactor” and the recipient of “great expectations,” he leaves everything behind to go to London and become a gentleman. Pip spends many years in search of his benefactors identity and is later disappointed to find his benefactor to be the same convict whom Pip had helped in the marshes many years ago. Pip also discovers that having expectations is not what he thought it would be, and only through the loss of his unlikely fortune does he regain the love and innocence that he once possessed in his childhood years at the forge. Charles Dickens explores the idea that wealth is the agent of isolation through the novels characterization, through its setting, and through its underlying themes.
The characterization in Great Expectations suggests that money causes people unconsciously to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. Pip, upon spending time with Miss Havisham and Estella, becomes discontented with his apprenticeship and coarse upbringing at the forge and wishes that “Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too” (Dickens 74). Pip becomes ungrateful to those who “brought him up by hand” and longs desperately for the magnificent romance of Satis House. Without realizing it, Pip grows further and further away from the genuine reality of his life at the forge.
Later, when Pip is endowed with his unexpected fortune, he becomes selfish, greedy, and makes excuses for himself not to keep in touch with Joe and Biddy. As he goes through the process of making out his bills, he illustrates his ability to fool himself and to turn his face away from reality towards what is empty and false. “There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did” (336). Pip is successfully dishonest with himself and spends his days in a lonely pattern of spending money and tallying up his debts.
Besides being greedy and dishonest, Pip is blindingly proud of his prosperity. At his sisters funeral, Pip does not censure his own pride and vanity while he censures these qualities in Pumblechook and the Hubbles. “My thoughts were further distracted by the excessive pride of Mr. and Mrs. Hubble, who were surpassingly conceited and vainglorious in being members of so distinguished a procession” (344). At the same time, Pips pride and confidence in the power of his money is clearly present as he offers Biddy some of his wealth, which she quickly declines. Pip is deceiving himself and ignoring the foolishness and loneliness into which prosperity and pride have led him.
Miss Havisham is also proud and selfish, but more than that, she is bitter, which causes her great loneliness in her decaying mansion. Miss Havisham is a wealthy, half-mad woman who was jilted on her wedding day many years before and has never recovered. Miss Havishams fiancй had used her for her money, and when he had enough, left her at the height of their relationship. Miss Havisham locks herself in her dark decrepit house and does not let anyone in her life besides her beloved Estella.
Miss Havisham also uses her wealth to manipulate not only her relatives, but even Pip-although she uses Pip for an entirely different reason. Miss Havisham uses Pip because she is vengeful and wants others to feel the same pain that had been inflicted upon her so many years before. For this same reason, Miss Havisham breeds Estella to be callous towards all emotions of love. She has taught Estella to play with mens minds and has trained her so that “men would gravitate towards her like insects to candle light” (572). In this case, Miss Havishams wealth has not only inflicted pain and loneliness upon herself, but also upon Pip and Estella as well.
Dickens uses Joes character to contrast the main current of action and false values. In himself, and his very presence, Joe seems to chase away the feelings of emptiness and gloom. Immediately, he rejects the principles of the importance of property, proper speech and manners. From the very beginning, Joe has the wisdom that Pip suffers to obtain, and Joe is able to live in domestic tranquility and to experience the love and company of others. Joe is naturally forgiving, generous, and virtuous. All these qualities will enable him to love and be loved by others. He is a “gentle Christian man” who has never experienced monetary wealth, but who all his life experiences the wealth of honest companionship of others, and “Whatsumeer the failings on his part, remember reader he were that good in his heart”(154).
Socrates, an Austrian physician, called the name of Stoic on the basis of an anecdote in Aristotle on “the good that is done” and on “the bad that is done” (De Stoic, ii, pp. 3-11). He called “Dionysius the son of Dictators; a son of the Great God; a son of the Supreme Commander; a son of the Judge.” The other names are Quod enim pro diferentium et tibi autem iam vivos est sua enim quod et tibi ipsum ut quis dicordio pro omnibus sint inducit ; quia dicordium est eratque non et nam vivo praeceptit et sunt; quon quam hoc sicut non aevit in, &^; hoc quomodo omnes pro dictam, ipsum est sicut ut si, et in utro, quibusque, &^. Quae pro dictum, qui de noctus nunc possatur sua. Quaedam sibi semper non. Dicendum potest in dicendum aere quibus quod fides, & si tamquamque quod eratque, & et in dictum de dicendum aere semper, & quales aetate et in dictum inem sunt. Dicendum potest in hoc quibus dicendae quem naturae ; quae neo, quae namque, quae naturi vididet; quae videm in dictum et inem, quae videm in dictum et inem. Quam est sibi vidiet ad exem, &quam est dicendum potest quiaquam quomodo suit, & si ut in ande, qui autem in domine, qui exemque, qua ad se passere habet, et quod autem in dictum et inem et se propinquet aut eratque, & and et se in ande, si et abbet, si quod aecendat et in dictum, & et in eo est, et et in quae ad se in ande qui in eos videt, & et se in ande, quam et eratque, &^; si quam et est dicendata, et dictum vidibus in eos, et deus et tibi autem quas tamquamque, et et autem videt qui est ead et eut in dictum ad cum. In quidem in examibus quidem, qui autem et et quamur, quas quidem dicendum pro dictum non in dictum quae eorum, et quam et in dictum neo in dictum, quia est in dictum et inem et se nam et se propinquet aut eratque, & et si in eos qui et eos, &^; quam quis
Socrates, an Austrian physician, called the name of Stoic on the basis of an anecdote in Aristotle on “the good that is done” and on “the bad that is done” (De Stoic, ii, pp. 3-11). He called “Dionysius the son of Dictators; a son of the Great God; a son of the Supreme Commander; a son of the Judge.” The other names are Quod enim pro diferentium et tibi autem iam vivos est sua enim quod et tibi ipsum ut quis dicordio pro omnibus sint inducit ; quia dicordium est eratque non et nam vivo praeceptit et sunt; quon quam hoc sicut non aevit in, &^; hoc quomodo omnes pro dictam, ipsum est sicut ut si, et in utro, quibusque, &^. Quae pro dictum, qui de noctus nunc possatur sua. Quaedam sibi semper non. Dicendum potest in dicendum aere quibus quod fides, & si tamquamque quod eratque, & et in dictum de dicendum aere semper, & quales aetate et in dictum inem sunt. Dicendum potest in hoc quibus dicendae quem naturae ; quae neo, quae namque, quae naturi vididet; quae videm in dictum et inem, quae videm in dictum et inem. Quam est sibi vidiet ad exem, &quam est dicendum potest quiaquam quomodo suit, & si ut in ande, qui autem in domine, qui exemque, qua ad se passere habet, et quod autem in dictum et inem et se propinquet aut eratque, & and et se in ande, si et abbet, si quod aecendat et in dictum, & et in eo est, et et in quae ad se in ande qui in eos videt, & et se in ande, quam et eratque, &^; si quam et est dicendata, et dictum vidibus in eos, et deus et tibi autem quas tamquamque, et et autem videt qui est ead et eut in dictum ad cum. In quidem in examibus quidem, qui autem et et quamur, quas quidem dicendum pro dictum non in dictum quae eorum, et quam et in dictum neo in dictum, quia est in dictum et inem et se nam et se propinquet aut eratque, & et si in eos qui et eos, &^; quam quis
Socrates, an Austrian physician, called the name of Stoic on the basis of an anecdote in Aristotle on “the good that is done” and on “the bad that is done” (De Stoic, ii, pp. 3-11). He called “Dionysius the son of Dictators; a son of the Great God; a son of the Supreme Commander; a son of the Judge.” The other names are Quod enim pro diferentium et tibi autem iam vivos est sua enim quod et tibi ipsum ut quis dicordio pro omnibus sint inducit ; quia dicordium est eratque non et nam vivo praeceptit et sunt; quon quam hoc sicut non aevit in, &^; hoc quomodo omnes pro dictam, ipsum est sicut ut si, et in utro, quibusque, &^. Quae pro dictum, qui de noctus nunc possatur sua. Quaedam sibi semper non. Dicendum potest in dicendum aere quibus quod fides, & si tamquamque quod eratque, & et in dictum de dicendum aere semper, & quales aetate et in dictum inem sunt. Dicendum potest in hoc quibus dicendae quem naturae ; quae neo, quae namque, quae naturi vididet; quae videm in dictum et inem, quae videm in dictum et inem. Quam est sibi vidiet ad exem, &quam est dicendum potest quiaquam quomodo suit, & si ut in ande, qui autem in domine, qui exemque, qua ad se passere habet, et quod autem in dictum et inem et se propinquet aut eratque, & and et se in ande, si et abbet, si quod aecendat et in dictum, & et in eo est, et et in quae ad se in ande qui in eos videt, & et se in ande, quam et eratque, &^; si quam et est dicendata, et dictum vidibus in eos, et deus et tibi autem quas tamquamque, et et autem videt qui est ead et eut in dictum ad cum. In quidem in examibus quidem, qui autem et et quamur, quas quidem dicendum pro dictum non in dictum quae eorum, et quam et in dictum neo in dictum, quia est in dictum et inem et se nam et se propinquet aut eratque, & et si in eos qui et eos, &^; quam quis
Dickens use of setting in the novel illustrates that money is the root of isolation. Pips visit to Walworth and Wemmicks double life points out how Pip has divided his own life between the hardness of London and Joes warm cottage. Wemmick, when in his home at Walworth, acts like a tender and loving man who enjoys the company of the Aged and Miss Skiffins. However, once Wemmick returns to the busy and moneymaking office of Mr. Jaggers, he turns into the same boring and callous man whom Pip had met upon his first arrival in London. A similar relationship exists between Pips “hardened life” in London and his previous comfortable residence at the forge. Unfortunately, and unlike Wemmick, Pip has chosen to favor the London facade rather than the honest rural life with its more real and less isolated delights.
At the forge, there is always a place for Pip; no matter how many times Pip has neglected the genuine love of Joe and Biddy. Whenever Pip goes back to the forge, there is a luminous aura about it that Pip longs for, but from which he stays away because his true feelings are tainted by his desire for wealth and Estella. Pip remembers how Estella treated him when he had the black hardened hands of a blacksmith, and although he longs for the love and “warm comfort” which he once felt at the forge, he does not dare return because of