The Victorian Clothing Concept In Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

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Charles Dickens takes the Victorian clothing concept into great consideration and uses it splendidly throughout all his amazing works of literature. It it also one reason why Charles Dickens is such a renowned author. One great example of how Charles Dickens uses this Victorian clothing concept is in the novel “Great Expectations.” In the novel, there are a great number of character descriptions. In addition, Dickens seems to play with his character’s appearances by dressing them according to their given social class. To give a better understanding of the Victorian class structure, an article by Leslie Gregory gives a great explanation. The explanation is as follows: The middle class who emerged as a result of this radical shift in England’s economic base were a diverse group, representing a broad range of economic statuses, from modest farmer, shopkeeper, merchant, and skilled artisan to banker, bureaucrat, manufacturer, and industrialist (Gregory).
However, some characters such as Pip, Miss Havisham, and Magwitch have a deeper meaning behind the clothes they are wearing. In other words, the characters of Pip, Miss Havisham, and Magiwitch can be further analyzed of whether or not their clothes fit with their true character, and have any sort of symbolism and/or purpose in the novel. As a result, Charles Dickens’, “Great Expectations,” has a very …show more content…

Trabb, taking down a roll of cloth, and tiding it out in a flowing manner over the counter, preparatory to getting his hand under it to show the gloss, ‘is a very sweet article. I can recommend it for your purpose, sir because it really is extra super.” (Dickens, 151).
Pip has just recently received his fortune and now has to look the part according to Dickens. However, Pip seems to still be this low working class little boy inside these very fancy upper Victorian class clothing. Therefore, Pip does go through garment changes, however, his true character never changes even has he

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