Dickens' Social Commentary in Great Expectations
Charles Dickens' Great Expectations stands as one of the most highly revered works in all of English literature. The novel's perennial appeal lies in its penetrating depictions of character, rich panoramas of social milieu, and implicit crusades against social evils.1
Dickens used the growth of his characters in Great Expectations, particularly Pip, in relation to others to write about social reform, and most effectively illustrated this by using the first-person narrative style. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens has written a social commentary using the development of his characters to illustrate his message. In my paper, I will concentrate on three of the main characters, Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Estella, and Joe Gargery.
During the time when he lived, Dickens recognized many evils in society. In Great Expectations he focused on the problem of the whole idea of a class in society. It was a social commentary on society. His way to illustrate the solution to the problem of class in society was "to create characters who can get beyond the limitations and divisions of class identifications and see themselves as responsible humans."2 The people who read Dickens' works were often the kinds of people he was attacking. Dickens lived during the Victorian age which was known as the age of social criticism. Great Expectations was Dickens first attack on class in society.3
Dickens did not come right out and preach about social reform in his novels. He uses his rich characters to illustrate the values and morals he is trying to get across. Great Expectations is a novel of social criticism. In Dickens' opinion the two main social evils were selfishness an...
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...ornback, 22.
3. Hornback, 4-5.
4. Hornback, 27-28.
5. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1942), 3.
6. Dickens, 395.
7. Dickens, 68.
8. Dickens, 71 .
9. Dickens, 72.
10. Dickens, 72.
11. Dickens, 598.
12. Dickens, 57.
13. Hornback, 25-26.
14. Hornback, 60.
Works Cited
Chesterton, G.K. Charles Dickens: A Critical Study. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1906.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1942.
Hornback, Bert G. Great Expectations: A Novel of Friendship. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987.
Pearson, Hesketh. Dickens, His Character, Comedy, and Career. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1949.
Priestley, J.B. Charles Dickens and His World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1961.
legally and to be able to visit their families. Moreover, children of immigrants will not be left
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Charles Dickens born February 7th 1812 – 9th June 1870 is a highly remarkable novelist who had a vision to change wealthy people’s scrutiny on the underprivileged and by fulfilling the dream he writes novels. Furthermore, I think that Dickens wrote about poverty as he had experiences this awful incident in his upbringings.
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Social class played a major role in the society depicted in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Social class determined the manner in which a person was treated and their access to education. Yet, social class did not define the character of the individual.
The Following essay will examine how class is represented in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Both in this novel and many others, which are based around the time of the 1800’s, class is a major part of life which in turn made your life’s path completely dependent on what class or background you were brought up in. This was majorly the case in Great Expectations and especially in the life of Pip. After reading Great Expectations there are many arguments
...ntation of the distinctions between the social classes. Dickens uses Pip’s relationships with Estella, Joe, and Magwitch to show how the lower class is judged by social status or appearances, instead of morals and values. The lower class is looked down upon and taken advantage of the upper class, and this is prevalent in the novel Great Expectations.
Charles Dickens is well known for his distinctive writing style. Few authors before or since are as adept at bringing a character to life for the reader as he was. His novels are populated with characters who seem real to his readers, perhaps even reminding them of someone they know. What readers may not know, however, is that Dickens often based some of his most famous characters, those both beloved or reviled, on people in his own life. It is possible to see the important people, places, and events of Dickens' life thinly disguised in his fiction. Stylistically, evidence of this can be seen in Great Expectations. For instance, semblances of his mother, father, past loves, and even Dickens himself are visible in the novel. However, Dickens' past influenced not only character and plot devices in Great Expectations, but also the very syntax he used to create his fiction. Parallels can be seen between his musings on his personal life and his portrayal of people and places in Great Expectations.
These elements are crucial to the structure and development of Great Expectations: Pip's maturation and development from child to man are important characteristics of the genre to which Great Expectations belongs. In structure, Pip's story, Great Expectations, is a Bildungsroman, a novel of development. The Bildungsroman traces the development of a protagonist from his early beginnings--from his education to his first venture into the big city--following his experiences there, and his ultimate self-knowledge and maturation. Upon the further examination of the characteristics of the Bildungsroman as presented here it is clear that Great Expectations, in part, conforms to the general characteristics of the English Bildungsroman. However, there are aspects of this genre from which Dickens departs in Great Expectations. It is these departures that speak to what is most important in Pip's development, what ultimately ma...
...th us in life. We always choose to see them in a positive way. Focusing on the good they accomplished and their deeds performed. How knowing them has helped us or changed us in some way for the better.
“Charles Dickens: Great Expectations.” (2 Feb, 2006): 2. Online. World Wide Web. 2 Feb, 2006. Available http://www.uned.es/dpto-filologias-extranjeras/cursos/LenguaIglesaIII/TextosYComentarios/dickens.htm.