Many people say that love is blind- however a statement that is just as applicable is love is blinding. The bildungsroman Great Expectations, written by Charles Dickens, is about Pip’s desire to become a gentleman in order to win Estella’s heart. However, it becomes apparent that his morals have been blinded by his want and need to win Estella’s love and affection. Throughout the novel, Charles Dickens uses the character of Pip to show that often times a person’s morality can be blinded by his or her emotions.
First, Pip is blinded by his love and need for Estella, and his constant trial to win her heart and approval disorients his thoughts and actions. Pip is willing to do anything to charm Estella, and he believes that in order to do so he needs to become a gentleman. Pip’s desire causes him to go to Biddy (and many others) for help, and explain to them his want, as shown in the quote “I want to be a gentleman” (128). As Pip grows further and further away from his old self, we see that Pip is even willing to give up the likes and wishes he had as a child. His gratefulness towards Joe and his job is also jeopardized as seen through the quote “Finally, I remember that when I got into my
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little bedroom, I was truly wretched, and had a strong conviction on me that I should never like Joe’s trade. I had liked it once, but once was not now” (105). Another thing obstructing Pip’s morals is his obsession with becoming wealthy.
Pip’s hunger for money and reputation causes him to go to extreme measures, many of which are against his morals. One example of Pip’s obsession with money is when he hears Compeyson’s story. The quote “I wonder he didn’t marry her and get all the property. Said I” (180), shows that yet Pip is curious why he didn’t use the money and become a gentleman, as that is what he himself is looking for and focused on. Another example could come from the quote, "I had grand ideas of the wealth and importance of Insurers of Ships in the City, and I began to think with awe…” (181). This quote shows how Pip is so obsessed with his race to fortune that he becomes amazed and bewildered by other gentleman with
money. An additional example would be how Pip is blinded by his love for the opportunities and gifts that Abel Magwitch has given to him, causing him to go against his morals and not turn Magwitch in. Pip does not want to lose the fortune and opportunity that Magwitch has bestowed upon him, as Magwitch is providing him with what would have taken Pip years to earn and collect; the quote, "As I giv' you to understand just now, I'm famous for it. It was the money left me, and the gains of the first few year wot I sent home to Mr. Jaggers—all for you—when he first come arter you, agreeable to my letter” (322), accurately displays this. Another example of Pip’s want and greediness of the opportunity Magwitch has given him occurs when Pip is reflecting on his past- “I consumed the whole time in thinking how strange it was that I should be encompassed by all this taint of prison and crime; that, in my childhood out on our lonely marshes on a winter evening I should have first encountered it; that, it should have reappeared on two occasions, starting out like a stain that was faded but not gone; that, it should in this new way pervade my fortune and advancement.” (265). Throughout the character of Pip, Dickens shows that often times a person’s emotions, especially love, can blind his or her conscience and lead them to go against his or her morals. This theme from Great Expectations can be useful in reminding others to keep a level head and to not influence his or her thoughts or actions by their current emotions.
Now, just because Pip is a gentleman, he realizes that his materialistic hope of being a gentleman does not make him happy. In this quote, Victorian era values become evident, as money, which is desired and thought to make happiness, changes Pip’s feeling from happy to dissatisfied. Now, the reader realizes that Dickens believes that money has nothing to do with being happy, but, what a society values. Finally, Pip realizes Estella’s adversity when she declares “suffering has been stronger than all other teaching[s]" (515). Through this quote, Pip finally realizes that, even though Estella was brought up with money, it does not help her any more than being raised without money.
Many people strive for things that are out of their reach. In the novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens shows the themes of personal ambition and discontent with present conditions. The main character, Pip, shows early on in the story that he is unhappy with his current situation. Throughout the story he strives for the things that are beyond his reach, and is apathetic to the things that he can obtain. Pip demonstrates this by striving for Estella when he could have Biddy, and yearning to be a gentleman when he could be a blacksmith.
In Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, the author begins the tale by revealing Pip's arrogance towards previous companions. By the end of the story, we learn of Pip's love and compassion for everyone.
The first way the reader can see that there is some good in the worst of men is through Pip. When Pip becomes a gentleman he also becomes insolent and snobbish. After he looses all his money he realizes how snobbish he is and first turned to Biddy for forgiveness:
At the start of the novel, Pip is very low educated and unaware of his social class , or even that he belongs to a social class. Because he does not know of any "better" lifestyle, Pip is content with what he has and who he knows. As life goes on, he meets new people from both higher and lower social classes and his content turns to greed and shame, as he immediately longs to be better educated. He is suddenly ashamed of his family and origins. Pip learns as he grows older, however, that having mone...
As Pip grows throughout the novel, he develops and matures from a young boy that doesn’t know what to do to a young man who has a great outlook on life. In the first stage of Pip's life he is young and does not understand what it means to be a gentleman and how it can affect his life. During the first stage of Pips life, he only wants 3 things. He wants education, wealth, and social advancement. These three wishes are mostly so he can impress Estella, who is the symbol of this first stage. Pip does not want to be just a blacksmith like Joe. He wants to be intelligent and considered a person of high importance. At the end of this stage he moves to London and begins to have a different outlook on his future.
Pip, in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, is an idealist. Whenever he envisions something greater than what he already has, he passionately desires to obtain the improvement and better himself. In the Victorian Era, as an underprivileged orphan though, dreams are often easier dreamt than accomplished. Pip however, has an instinctive ambitious drive. His unstoppable willpower, plus the benefit of a benefactor, elevates him from the bottom, to the top of the social, educational, and moral food chain in the Victorian Era.
Throughout Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, the character, personality, and social beliefs of Pip undergo complete transformations as he interacts with an ever-changing pool of characters presented in the book. Pip’s moral values remain more or less constant at the beginning and the end; however, it is evident that in the time between, the years of his maturation and coming of adulthood, he is fledgling to find his place in society. Although Pip is influenced by many characters throughout the novel, his two most influential role models are: Estella, the object of Miss Havisham’s revenge against men, and Magwitch, the benevolent convict. Exposing himself to such diverse characters Pip has to learn to discern right from wrong and chose role models who are worthy of the title.
Pip may have learned and he may have grown, but he did not mature as an individual. For someone learning to be gentle, it is surprising how coarse of a person he may be. Compared to early in the story, with his coarse hands, now he has a coarse personality. He became rude to those who cared about him, speaking down to them as if he were much superior, and did not share the same upbringing they had. He had lost interest or care for his parentage, and for the skills and trade for which his brother-in-law works very hard to accomplish, and he had lost the childhood innocence, which made him a unique and pleasant individual. Both Joe and Biddy kept learning and growing throughout the book, similar to Pip, yet, when welcomed to power and status, Pip lost who he was, and became who he thought he was supposed to be.
In his numerous literary works, Dickens strong sense of right and wrong, and his recognition of the many injustices present in Victorian Society are clearly displayed. There is no better an example of these strong set of ideals then those portrayed in his novel, Great Expectations, which tells the story of Pip, a young boy who is initially fooled into believing that material wealth is a substitute for the real moral values a gentleman should posses. However, through the many trials and tribulations he is forced to go through, he is finally able to identify what it means to be a "true gentleman", one that has acquired true wealth and value. It is only then that he is able to see the real meaning behind Matthew Pocket’s wise words, that:
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed.
First, Pip is ambitious to become a gentleman in order to be worthy of Estella 's love. Pip is a young boy and is being raised by his sister. When his sister, Mrs. Joe, forces him to go to a stranger’s house he does not ask questions. Pip 's first
In the novel, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens the principal character, Pip, undergoes a tremendous change in character. I would like to explore with you the major incidents in Pip’s childhood that contribute to his change from an innocent child to someone consumed by false values and snobbery.
Another challenge that Pip was forced to face was that of a convict that he had helped in the beginning of the story; a convict had threatened his life out of a want for food, and Pip brought him food that he had stolen from his kitchen. Pip was wary of helping the convict; after all, he had threatened his life! This nagged at him, but in the end, the convict proved to be a great positive influence; his benefactor. Also, his compassion and love for Estella proved to be a positive as well as negative influence. Pip’s desire for Estella guided him in becoming a “gentleman”; this is an example of existentialism; the belief that any individual assumes the responsibility of their existence, allowing them to control their own destiny. The real influence in his becoming a gentleman was in fact, ironically, the convict; the convict financed his change, while Estella only fueled his desire; without one or both of these essential influences, I believe that Pip would not have become a “gentleman;” although Joe was a good influence, with Estella on his back, he did not realize this. Pip’s change was in response to Estella, he “learned” that he was just a common boy, and thus could be considered both behaviorism and existentialism, while at the same time part of Freudian psychology , because of his love/hatred for common life, and his love/hatred for Estella.
Great Expectations is essentially a novel of the education of a young man in the lesson of life. Pip is analyzing himself through his memories and from the point of view of maturity (“Charles Dickens” 1).