Females Influences on Pip in Great Expectations

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Females Influences on Pip in Great Expectations

By Charles Dickens

There are many influences on Pip’s life regarding his thoughts on

women. This would therefore mean that Pip would take his views on

women from those that were a played a major role in his life, for

example:

* Mrs Joe Gargery is Pip’s sister and has raised Pip because their

parents have died. Mrs Joe Gargery has raised both Joe Gargery and

Pip by hand as she is not happy with the way her life has turned

out.

* Ms Havisham is an old, frail woman who has been devastated by her

fiancé who ‘stood her up’ at the reception of their wedding. She

has now dedicated her life to destroy the love lives of other men.

* Estella, a young girl that Pip has a crush on, but who was raised

by Ms Havisham to ruin the life of men!

How does Mrs Joe Gargery influence Pip?

Mrs Joe Gargery has turned out to be a very violent woman as she has

raised her own brother by hand. She is also accused, by Pip, for

having raised Joe Gargery by hand as well. This female character

played a major role in the life of Pip as she is the first female

character Pip really knows and he would therefore get his view of

women from her.

She was not a good role model for Pip as she was, as we find out in

Chapter Two, not at all impressed with her life as she says, ‘It’s bad

enough to be a blacksmith’s wife (and him being a Gargery), without

being your mother’ and, as Mrs Joe Gargery says in Chapter Four,

‘Perhaps if I warn’t a blacksmith’s wife, and (what’s the same) a

slave with her apron never off, I should have been to hear the

carols’. From these two qu...

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...and negative effect on Pip by:

POSITIVE

The ‘snob-look’ was good for Pip when he became rich. This is because

most rich people were snobs.

NEGATIVE

Pip became ‘unaware’ of who his friends were as he became embarrassed

to be seen talking to Mr Joe Gargery as he was regarded a peasant.

Finally, in the book ‘Great Expectations’, all the female characters

have their own influences on Pip, some directly and some indirectly.

Some of these influences may have been for the better of Pip and some

for the worse. For example the situation Pip was in with Estella could

have taught him not to trust all the women he had feelings for. This

could have been a disadvantage to Pip in the fact that he may have

never trusted another woman, but as an advantage could have taught him

that not all women are trustworthy.

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