Great Expectations

DRAGHITA ( CIUBOTARU) ALINA – ELENA ANUL II, R-E British Literature

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens -Essay1. According to Herbert Pocket’s father, “ a true gentleman in manner” must be “a true gentleman at heart”. How does Chapter 57 in Dickens’s “Great Expectations” develop this idea?

Many of the events from Dickens’s early life are mirrored in “ Great Expectations”, which, apart from “David Copperfield”, is his most autobiographical novel. Pip, the novel’s protagonist, lives in the marsh country, works at a job he hates, considers himself too good for his surroundings, and experiences material success in London at a very early age, exactly as Dickens himself did – those makes from “Great Expectations” a bildungsroman. Chapter 57 of the novel has the role to develop the idea of the whole book. Becoming a gentleman is Pip’s priority, and also the ideal of the Victorian era. Pip has an internal struggle with himself, with his conscience throught the intire book. He has great ambitions, as he demonstrated constantly in the novel. Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, is an orphan, and the protagonist of “Great Expectations”. Throught his childhood he was trained in order to became a blacksmith, by his brother-in – law, Joe Gargery, but an accidental thing happens and he meets Magwitch, a fearsome criminal, who escapes from prison at the beginning of “ Great Expectations” and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. Behind the scenes, he becomes Pip’s secret benefactor and thanks to the money he provided for Pip’s education, the protagonist left his village and travels to London, to become a gentleman in order to impress Estella, a supremaly ironic creation, beautiful girl, that he fall in love with, during the time he has spent at Satis House. As they grow up together, she repeatedly warns him that she has no heart. Pip is passionate, romantic, and somewhat unrealistic at heart, and he tends to expect more for himself than is reasonable. Pip also has a powerful conscience, and he deeply wants to improve himself, both morally and socially. The idea of a gentleman is one of the major themes of many Victorian novels. “Gentleman” is a key word for this novel. It appears about a hundred times in the novel. A real gentleman, for the victorians, was a person with good manners at home and in society, a man who provided wealth for his family well-being, a person in a certain social class, with education and moral qualities, like being a real Christian, a good friend and neighbour etc.

In order to become a gentleman Pip has to improves himself from moral, social and educational point of view. Thanks to Magwitch’s money he succed to do this, but he becomes blind by his ambitions and he forgot about affection, kindheart, gratitude and other Christian values that he had to put above erudition and social standing. He realize that in chapter 57, when after Magwitch’s death, he falls into a feverish illness. He had real trouble because he was in debt, and he had no money, so he was nearly to be carried away to prison ( which never happens because of his illness ). He experinces days of hallucinations, reliving scenes with Orlick and Miss Havisham, Estella’s tutore, and the only kind face that appear into his dreams was Joe. At their last encounter Pip’s behavior regarde Joe and Biddy, was very rude, arrogant and cold. But Joe wasn’t a hallucination, he has really came to nurses Pip through his illness. Pip was ashamed by the way he has treated Joe and Biddy at their last encounter, and he realize that he treats everybody in the village with a snobbish and arrogant attitude. He misunderstands the meaning of the word “gentleman”. At first, he wanted to became a gentleman, thinking that this is the only way he would be good enough for making Estella his wife. But, on the way, for him the term takes an unromantic shape, witch turn him into a snob. Pip thought that only money can give him moral superiority, and made him a better person. In contrast with him is his friend, Herbert Pocket. Herbert Pocket’s father told him once that “ a true gentleman in manners is a true gentleman in heart”. He understood that only now, when he saw Joe looking at him with kindness. Joe adresses him with the words: “ God bless this gentle Christian man”. The adjective “Christian” is inserting to separate the moral Christian values and the values of which the society give much credit to complete a gentleman: social position, wealth, good manners, which are not very Christian values. So, Joe underline that more important is to be a “ gentle Christian”, meaning a good man, a good father, a good friend and others. Joe always treated him with affection. He was the father that he never had, and a good friend for him. Pip would rather prefer Joe to had treat him more sever, to had told him about his bad attitude, to had looked angry at him, but Joe shows only kindness. Beside the fact that he is uneducated and unrefined, Joe consistently acts for the benefit of those he loves and suffers in silence when Pip treats him coldly. This is a proper picture of a good Christian. In any case, Pip’s fundamental development by this final section remains clear, and it is emphasized in his reconciliation with Joe and Biddy in Chapters 57 and 58. Here, the lessons Pip has learned effectively summarize the thematic development of the novel as a whole. Pip has learned that social class is not a criterion for happiness; that strict designations of good and evil, and even of guilt and innocence, are nearly impossible to maintain in a world that is constantly changing and that his treatment of his loved ones must be the guiding principle in his life. Through his self-description as the narrator shows that he continues to judge himself harshly, he has forgiven his enemies and been reconciled with his friends.