Great Expectations Literary Analysis

Carraway 1 Nathalie Carraway Ms. Gardner English 10 Period 1 6 March 2014 Masking the True Priorities Light and dark are influential uses of imagery that have been often used in great works of literature such as Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby to symbolize a wide variety of themes. Not only have the themes of “good versus evil” or “innocence versus corruption” been explored, but this imagery has also been used to portray “knowledge versus ignorance.” From the root of Estella’s name, to Miss Havisham’s house where “the daylight was completely excluded” (82), Great Expectations by Charles Dickens radiates references to darkness and light. In this Bildungsroman, Dickens utilizes these allusions to light and dark to illustrate Pip’s evolving view of the upper class and reveal it’s true connotations. When introduced into Estella and Miss Havisham’s lives, as well as the Satis House, Pip forms his opinion on his personal upbringing versus the luxurious life of the upper class that he is shown through the gorgeous Estella. The Satis House exhibits a dim, gloomy sensation which later can connected to the dark side of the upper class: the darkness is symbolic of the fraudulent, manipulating nature of those who inhabit the high society. Within the darkness of the mansion, is Estella, who represents a light amid the seemingly dim and common life that Pip has been brought up in. “Still it was all dark, and only the candle lighted us” (55), illustrating Estella as the main beam of light; “her light came along the dark passage like a star” (58).. Throughout the novel, we find that Estella exhibits an artificial light --an imitation of natural light-- that causes Pip to find the upper class wondrous without noticing the light, or luxury, as a hoax. Pip shows

Carraway 2 this confusion in his exit of the Satis House, “the rush of the daylight quite confounded me, and made me feel as if I had been in the candlelight of the strange house for many hours” (60). As the candlelight masks the darkness, so does the wealth of the upper class mask the absence of authenticity. While Estella symbolizes a light among the darkness, Miss Havisham occupies the darkness, itself. The imagery of shadowy gloom follows Miss Havisham, foreshadowing her selfish and grudge-holding personality. Miss Havisham’s obsession with her wedding day has caused all that was once beautiful to wither away leaving “no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes” (56). All the brightness has faded into a dull, dim color because of the bitterness she holds for Arthur Havisham. Miss Havisham consumes herself in the memories of this day, as she lives, consumed within the darkness to which she subjects herself. Being “a woman who has never seen the sun since [Pip was] born” (56), Miss Havisham has forced herself to become out of touch with the world, and in result cannot enjoy the “benefits” of upper class that she has abandoned. Dickens commonly uses light imagery to refer to the forge and Joe Gargery. As Pip leaves the Satis House to go back to the forge, he notices “the light on the spit of sand off the point on the marshes was gleaming against a black night sky, and Joe’s furnace was flinging a path of fire across the road” (91). In comparison to the darkness of the Satis House, Pip sees the warmth and glow emanating from the forge. The light of the forge is symbolic in “the glowing road to manhood and independence” (107) and despite the absence of wealth and luxury, the force is the only setting which constantly exudes light and heat, the symbols of love and home. As the novel continues, Pip struggles with his value of home, however he eventually finds that wealth can be stripped away in a heartbeat, while home is constant.

Carraway 3 With wealth, with deception, and with lies, Pip finds that many of the concepts he held as valuable were masked with artificial worth, as Estella was shadowed by artificial light. These references to light and darkness were woven throughout Dickens’s work in order to illustrate the significance of home while eliminating the perceived advantages of wealth, luxury, and class. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, light and dark operate as references to the true nature of characters and settings: darkness is revealed to act as a mask for the true identity of the upper class, while light is used by Dickens to both portray perceived benefits and unveil the true values of life.