Moral Extremes in Great expectations

Great Expectations Moral extremes: good and evil It is rather hard to talk about morality in ‘Great Expectations’ since it is generally Pip who divides people into good and evil, mainly according to their social status. For instance, Magwitch remains the evil character due to the fact that he is a convict, a low-life with no education and with a dangerous background. In reality, Magwitch is a kind-hearted person, Pip’s benefactor, despite the fact that his appearance proves the exact contrary. We could even oppose him to Compeyson, the true evil character of the novel, the reputed villain, who seems to get away with the things he does just because of his social status. Authorities and people such as Pip tend to be quite judgemental towards those from low social classes, and they generally side with those from the upper class, regarding the latter as superior due to their education and financial power. But if we are to talk about evil characters we cannot let out Orlick, Joe’s frightening helper, who ends up killing Mrs Joe and getting away with it, too. He is dark and dangerous and his appearance and behavior prove this. There are also other characters which are pretty difficult to put in a certain category. For instance, we can say with certainty that Pip and Joe are good from a moral point of view, but can we say the same thing about Mr Jaggers? It is true that he does illegal things and that he helps criminals in order to obtain important sums of money, but he is more than kind to Pip, and he even has a weird habit which proves the fact that in some way he is aware of his wrong doings, which he probably regrets. He has this habit of carefully washing his hands after dealing with his clients, almost as if he wants to get rid of the moral uncleanliness that this interaction brings him. The fact that he decides to take care of Molly and her daughter – because it is he who puts her in the care of Miss Havisham - is also a sign of his kind heart. It is also very difficult to say whether Miss Havisham is good or evil. At first she is described as a weird old lady who seems to take pleasure in mocking those around her, her friends and relatives who come to see her with a sole goal in mind, which is to get their hands on her fortune. But in the end we feel pity towards her, especially when we find out how much he had suffered due to betrayal coming from the part of those dear to her. The Role of Guilt

The feeling of guilt is mainly associated with the main character, Pip, as he recounts throughout the novel things and events that he feels ashamed of or in which he wished he had acted otherwise. Starting from his early childhood, Pip feels quite devastated at the idea that he has done wrong in helping the escaped prisoner, and even more when he believes that the latter is the one who has killed his sister. Earlier on, Pip feels guilty towards Joe because he is ashamed of the person who lacks education and cannot be introduced to his gentleman friends. Joe acknowledges this situation and tries to remain distant, but Pip soon realizes that he had been profoundly mistaken and attempts to fix things. Therefore, this guilt has an important role in Pip’s moral development. When experiencing this feeling, Pip attains a certain maturity from a psychological point of view, he succeeds to see things more clearly and to gain a whole new perspective on life. He becomes aware of the things that are really important, such as being surrounded by those who really care about us, those who are there for us when we most need them, just like Joe had been there to take care of him during his illness and to pay his debts. Pip experiences a feeling of guilt towards his benefactor, Magwitch, whom he despises at first due to the fact the he is an escaped convict, the exact opposite of his ideal in life. However, he ends up feeling pity for the poor old man who had suffered all his life, mainly due to the prejudices towards people like him, and he even tries to help him escape. Through this feeling of guilt, Pip arrives to the true idea of what being a gentleman really means, it is not money that matters, not even a high position on the social ladder, but what is in your heart. That is a true gentleman’s greatest possession. Injustice In this novel we can take about injustice from a social point of view. Those who come from lower classes or from a poor environment are automatically regarded as lesser persons, inferior to those coming from the upper class. Magwitch gets a heavier punishment than his partner in crime, Compeyson, mainly because the latter is the image of the gentleman, therefore authorities feel entitled to go easier on him. We can see that social standards determine the way the characters stand before the law. In the end, it is Magwitch who gets his revenge and does the things that the law had failed to do for so many years. We could say that characters are in a way tormented by the lack o justice that they have to endure, and by the fact that they are wrongly

accused, and also by having no one to appeal to, not having the law on their side. Mr Jaggers also represents a symbol of injustice as he sides with criminals in order to obtain money. Even murderers are scared of him because the fact that he should be a representative of law, he does things for his own sake and to his own advantage.