...Great Expectations The book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a very fascinating novel. Dickens does excellent by using the elements of fiction in order to write the novel. The main focus is to cover the plot, major characters, setting, point of view, theme, and symbols used in Great Expectations. After, viewing each element the reader will have a better understanding and appreciation for the novel. The plot that Dickens selects is shaped to reveal action and give the story a particular focus that draws the reader in. Pip is a young orphan that lives with his sister and her husband in Kent. Pip at the time was around seven years old sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents’ tombstones. “As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them, my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones” (p.3). Suddenly, an escaped convict comes up from behind a tombstone and grabs Pip. “O! Don’t cut my throat sir,” I pleaded in terror. “Pray don’t do it, sir” (p.4). He orders Pip to bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items himself. Pip is then taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy Miss Havisham, who is eccentric and she wears an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her home stopped at the matching...
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...private school for three years. In May 1827 Charles worked as a junior clerk for the law offices of Ellis and Blackmore. In 1832 at the age of 20 Charles submitted his first story A Dinner at Poplar Walk. As a young man Charles also mastered shorthand, and before long was employed as a Parliamentary reporter. In 1836 at the age of 25 he started working at Pickwick Papers. At Pickwick Papers he published many of his novels in monthly installment in the paper. The first of these installments were from the novel Oliver’s Twist, which would later be published in 1838. Some of Charles Dickens other novels include Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, A Christmas Story, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend. Charles Dickens first love was a woman by the name of Maria Beadnell, after Maria’s parents disapproved of their courtship Maria was sent away to school in Paris. On April 2, 1836 after a one year engagement Charles married Catherine Thomson Hogarth. Together Charles and Catherine would have 10 children and be together for 18 years. In 1857 however Charles would hire Ellen Ternan to star in one of his plays and fall madly in love with her. Although not a practice in that time Charles would divorce his wife Catherine to pursue his relationship with Ternan who was 27 year his junior. When Catherine left him she would take only one of their children with her leaving the others to be cared for by her sister. Leaving...
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...SPARK ARKNOTES W W W. S PA R K N O T E S . C O M Great Expectations Charles Dickens EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Justin Kestler EXECUTIVE EDITOR Ben Florman TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Tammy Hepps SERIES EDITORS Boomie Aglietti, Justin Kestler PRODUCTION Christian Lorentzen WRITERS Brian Phillips, Wendy Cheng EDITORS Ben Florman, Jennifer Burns Copyright ©2002 by SparkNotes llc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, any file sharing system, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of SparkNotes llc. sparknotes is a registered trademark of SparkNotes llc. This edition published by Spark Publishing Spark Publishing A Division of SparkNotes llc 120 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, NY 10011 USA Context All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, any file sharing system, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of SparkNotes LLC. SPARK ARKNOTES W W W. S PA R K N O T E S . C O M Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, and spent the first nine years of his life living in the coastal regions of Kent, a county in southeast England. Dickens’s father, John, was a kind and likable man, but he was incompetent with...
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... Great Expectations On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a frightening man in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This was perhaps the first of Pips many dishonest acts. It gives Pip, who must steal the goods from his sister's house, his first taste of true guilt, and, secondly, Pip's kindness warms the convict's heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude. | At his sister's house, Pip is a boy without expectations. Mrs. Joe beats him around and has nothing good to say about her little brother. Her husband Joe is a kind man, although he is a blacksmith without much ambition, and it's assumed that Pip will follow in his footsteps. Only when Pip gets invited unexpectedly to the house of a rich old woman in the village named Miss Havisham, does Mrs. Joe, or any of her dull acquaintances, hold out any hope for Pip's success. Indeed, Pip's visits to Miss Havisham change him. Miss Havisham is an old woman who was abandoned on her wedding day and has, as a result, given up on life. She wears a yellowed wedding gown and haunts around her decrepit house, her only companion being Estella, her adopted daughter. Estella is beautiful, and Pip develops a strong crush on her, a crush that turns into love as he grows older. But it is unrequited love, as Miss Havisham has made...
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...the present, but rather in a house of memories. The only action Havisham took after the wedding was a vow to “save her from misery like mine” (Dickens 403). Oddly enough, Havisham succeeded and this leads to one of the great ironies of this story that produces an undesirable effect on Pip and his life. Estella was only adopted to break other men’s hearts and successfully breaks Pip’s. However, Pip’s heartbreak ironically removes Havisham from her desire to break his heart. In Chapter 49, Havisham finally comes to regret her decision as she constantly shouts “What have I done” (Dickens 403) and breaks free from her past shown by the symbolism of the burnt dress and ruined cake. The question is whether Havisham truly freed herself as Pip notices that “Though every vestige of her dress was burnt, [...] she still had something of her old ghastly bride appearance” (Dickens 403) as if suggesting she could never escape her past even with the dismissal of her...
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...Great Expectations offers a diversity of interpretations so various responders will be engaged by the text. The main character, Pip, is used to establish the journey of a young boy’s life as he learns the true meaning of life and what values are most important. Dickens uses a range of characters to show Pip learning this lesson and to provide insights into various aspects of the Victorian era culture. Characters such as Joe and Magwitch provide an insight into the education and the crime and justice systems of Victorian England, along the importance of social class and wealth. Whilst, Estella and Miss Havisham provide an insight into the position of women and the inequality of power between the genders. Throughout the novel Pip encounters a range of people and undergoes various experiences. It is through these people and experiences that Pip learns numerous lessons in life. Pips main learning-catalysts are Magwitch, Joe, Miss Havisham and Estella. Education was an important cultural aspect of the Victorian era. Education allowed wider access to employment, and respect; for one could not become a gentleman and part of the upper-class without an education. Yet access to education was greatly determined to one’s position in society. Those in the upper class were given a higher priority to receive education than those in the lower class. Therefore it was very difficult for one to advance within society. This provides Dickens with the opportunity to gently satirize...
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...Great Expectations and Fairy tales Tolkien describes the facets which are necessary in a good fairy tales as fantasy, recovery, escape, and consolation - recovery from deep despair, escape from some great danger, but most of all, consolation. Speak- ing of the happy ending,�all complete fairy stories must have it�However fantastic or terrible the adventure, it can give to child or man that hears it,�a catch of breath, a beat and lifting of the heart near to tears. (Uses of Enchantment, pg.143) Great Expectations shares many of the conventions of fairy tales. The one dimensional characters, the use of repetition, and the evil women seem to make the similarities strikingly strong. However, are they strong enough to conclude that it is indeed a fairy tale? It can not be ignored that it also falls short on some important areas, such as the traditional fairy tale ending. Is there enough evidence to classify it either way? Fairy tales have characters of complete good or complete evil. There are no characters who posses both of these qualities. In reading Great Expectations it is plain to see that there is indeed total goodness and total evil. This can be seen in many of the characters. There is no goodness to be found in Orlick. He plays the role of the bully. His hot temper results in the near death of Mrs. Joe and in the near death of Pip. Compeyson is another who has no goodness to be found in him. He is full of evil and hate. It was said that "He had no more heart than...
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...1. With the emphasis on Dickens’ Great Expectations and with wider reference to Kincaid’s Lucy, compare and contrast the writer’s intentions and achievements arising from their presentation of women. Throughout ‘Great expectations’ by Charles Dickens and Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Lucy’, both authors seem to present women intentionally to relate to the idea of patriarchy (a system or society governed by men) and how independence or obedience links to their social class’s expectations. Dickens does this by upholding the Victorian ideology of gender, which in ‘Great Expectations’ addressed women as either an angel in the house- the ideal wife, obedient, devoted and submissive to their husband or alternatively, the whore. Independent with the desire for more power than their social class expectations allows, very anti-men. Being an angel in the house was expected of all women in the Victorian era, they had a limited amount of power, enough to be the ideal wife who would be generally rewarded, represented by Biddy. However those women whom abused their power and went against all expectations of social class, the whores, were physically punished by Dickens but given a chance of redemption, evidence of this is shown by Estella and Miss Havisham. Kincaid follows the same idea as Dickens to a certain degree in ‘Lucy’. She focuses on the character of Lucy and her journey to independence, constantly trying to prove her power to break free from her homeland and mother, she manages to achieve...
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...Victorian England, shares a message very similar to this with his book Great Expectations. Although some people are born better off than others, Charles Dickens demonstrates through his portrayal of Miss Havisham, Magwitch, and Pip that social class should never measure one’s character, esteem, or happiness. Dickens criticizes the idea that a person’s social class displays an accurate representation of his or her character. Many of the upper class citizens in Great Expectations seem cruel and lack compassion, while the lower class act loving and kind. Wealthy Miss Havisham portrays this. The first time Pip enters Satis House, he notices her obvious lack of morals and empathy. When he meets Miss Havisham in her dressing room, Pip immediately observes, “I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes,” (Dickens 59). The original “white” color of the dress represents innocence and happiness, both characteristics of which Pip expects to find in the upper class. Instead, the dress “lost its lustre” and became “faded and yellow”. Wealth corrupted both Miss Havisham’s innocence and happiness, and this also foreshadows Pip’s life as he becomes a gentleman. The “brightness” of Miss Havisham’s “sunken eyes” acts as a symbol for her intelligence...
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...THE GLENCOE LITERATURE LIBRARY Study Guide for Great Expectations by Charles Dickens i Meet Charles Dickens In addition to writing short stories and novels, Dickens wrote essays and journalistic pieces, and edited a weekly periodical filled with fiction, poetry, and essays. First titled Household Words, the magazine was later retitled All the Year Round. Dickens contributed to this publication several serialized novels, including Great Expectations, and writings on political and social issues. Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He was the second child and eldest son of eight children. Dickens’s father, who worked as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, was a spendthrift who often mismanaged the family money. In 1822 the family moved to London and soon found itself in financial crisis. The family was forced to live in poverty, and Dickens was no longer able to go to school. One of the most traumatic periods of his life began in February 1824, when his father was sent to debtors prison. Young Dickens, only twelve years old, was forced to go to work for several months pasting labels on bottles. This experience was painful and socially humiliating to him, and images of the factory haunted him for the rest of his life. These images provided a backdrop to much of his fiction, which often focused on class issues; the plight of the poor and oppressed; and lost, suffering children. As an adult, he championed social and political causes designed...
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...Prose Study ‘Great Expectations’ How does Dickens use setting and characterization to interest and intrigue the reader? Throughout the novel, Dickens uses a range of techniques to interest and intrigue the reader. One way in which he does this is through the setting, which is the place and time in which the story takes place, also establishing the mood or atmosphere. Another method is characterization, the way the characters are portrayed, such as through their gestures and dialogue. All these devices help to arouse and sustain the reader’s curiosity and make us feel sympathy towards the character, which is especially shown in Pip’s initial encounter with Magwitch in the marshes and Pip’s first experience of visiting Miss Havisham and Estella in ‘Satis House.’ These represent different social situations, with Pip and Magwitch in the lower class, and Estella and Miss Havisham in the upper middle class. No matter which situation he is in, he still feels uncomfortable, and consequently we too feel a sense of uneasiness for him. In the Nineteenth Century, Dickens was a supporter of social reform, and therefore used his writing as a means of communicating his views to the readers. He wanted to make his Victorian readers, particularly the middle and upper classes, aware of some of the inequality in society, such as the lack of support, education and opportunity for the lower class. He was a sympathiser for the poor and the oppressed, especially...
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...Caitlin Peterson Mr. Armstrong ELA 10 July, 5, 2015 Great Expectations Paper In novels, -and even in life,- actions made in the past can and will affect the future, and “Great Expectations” was a perfect example of that exact thing. The things Pip had done in his early life, shaped his future. The scary convict that Pip tried to leave in the past came flooding back to him unexpectedly on that stormy night, leaving him afraid and regretful. That one night of fear in Pip’s childhood drastically changed the way his life spanned out. Which goes to show, something so seemingly small, can change your life so immensely. That is something Pip has to figure out the hard way. Pip’s life was never easy, it was full of surprises. For such a common boy, he had lots of uncommon things happen to him. As a child, pip was a naive, ignorant, frail boy that did not have much guidance, aside from what little he got from his brother in law Joe. He was raised with an abusive older sister, in a small town in London, and not much goes on between helping an escaped convict, and being sent to Miss Havisham’s estate. Most of Pip’s growing as a boy happened at the ghostly mansion housing the heartless girl he falls head over heals for. When Pip first enters Miss Havisham’s estate is when he first experiences the pain of being self conscious. After playing cards with Estella, Miss Havisham orders Estella to take him to the courtyard and give him food and drink. She follows her orders and does...
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...Threw out the course of reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, we see the change in Pips respect towards his family and home as he rises in social status. When we first meet Pip, he is a young boy who lives with his sister and her husband Joe. Pip is going to walk in Joes footsteps and become an apprentice to Joe. Pip is proud of Joe and looks up to him as a fatherly figure because his parents died. As Pip gets older, though the way he looks at Joe changes. He starts to be embarrassed and ashamed of how Joe acts. Pip is embarrassed by Joe in front of Miss Havisham. Pip wants to be a gentleman and doesn't want to fallow threw with his apprenticeship with Joe. "Biddy," said I, after binding her to secrecy, "I want to be a gentleman."...
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...Situational Irony is important and central feature in Great Expectations. Charles Dickens uses situational irony to create a contrast between the people in different social classes. He shows people of high social class and great amounts of wealth being extremely unhappy. Conversely, he shows people with less wealth and even great misfortunes being happy and content with their lives. It would seem that Charles Dickens is trying to show that material wealth does not lead to happiness. An example of Charles Dickens creating this message with situational irony is Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is extremely wealthy and has the means to do nearly anything that she desires. Despite this, she is depressed and wishes for her own death. Someone with so...
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...going to be exploring the ways disturbed characters have been presented in the texts I have studied. I will be referring to a range of poems by Carol Ann Duffy and Macbeth by Shakespeare. Carol Ann Duffy chooses to use emotive language in Havisham by using the words “beloved sweetheart bastard”. This is an oxymoron to show the contrast in her feelings and shows that they are very mixed. The poet is showing how she is both still in love with her husband however still angry at him for leaving her at the altar. Havisham is angry at being an old unmarried woman and uses the word “Spinster” as a sentence on its own at the start of the stanza emphasising Havishams own isolation. The short sentence shows how the word is almost spat out to show the speakers disgust with what she has been forced to become. This also shows us that she is a disturbed character since she is unclear about her own feelings but she feels them very violently. This is similar in the novel ‘Great Expectations’ by Dickens which also presents the character of Miss Havisham as disturbed by describing her dress as ‘faded and yellow’. This use of colour tells us that just like her wedding dress, Miss Havisham has become old. Dickens uses his narrator to show how he sees Havisham in his eyes. He describes her as a ‘skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress’ which shows how long she has stayed in her wedding dress. Both Salome and Lady Macbeth use enjambment to show the continuation of their thoughts. In Salome she says: ...
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