Great_Expectations

Great Expectations By Charles Dickens, Published by the Penguin Group At Clays Ltd, St Ives plc, Great Britain, 443 Pages Submitted by: Crisol, Jessmaree C. BSPT2y2-2 STRUCTURES/PLOT The novel starts at Christmas days, when Pip accidentally meets a convict hiding in the graveyard behind the church. The convict asks Pip to steal foods from his sister and a file to Joe. When Pip told this to Joe, Joe was shocked at Pip’s previous behaviour. Pip was invited by Mr. Pumblechook to play with the daughter of a rich lady at High Street. The wealthy lady’s name was Ms. Havisham and her daughter was Estella. Pip was treated badly by Estella; he was scorned and mocked by her, but even though Estella did this to him, he fell in love with this snobbish girl. And so for Pip to get the attention of Estella he wants to be a gentleman. He learned some things with Biddy, his friend, Joe cannot teach him how to be a gentleman because even Joe does not know how to write and read. There were times that Pip got angry with Joe for not raising him a gentleman. But little Pip’s great misery comes when Estella goes abroad to study. Pip also thinks of his sister’s health, because a certain person knocked down his sister from the back that causes her head and spinal to be damaged. His sister which is Ms. Gargery became ill, he described his sister like this: “Her sight was disturbed, so that she saw objects multiplied, and grasped at visionary teacups and wine-glasses instead of realities; her hearing was greatly impaired; her memory also; and her speech was unintelligible.”(Page 114 Chapter Sixteen), and as Pip begins to feel comfortable with him being a Blacksmith, a fortune fell in as a lawyer named Mr. Jaggers came and give Pip a handsome amount of money and fulfil his dream to become a gentleman, his benefactor was unknown and will be reveal for some time, but as he accept this fortune he have to leave his Sister and Joe as well as Biddy. He was excited for this, to be a gentleman for Estella. He must move to London to learn all this things. Pip’s companion in London was Herbert Pocket; he is the son of Pip’s teacher Mr. Matthew Pocket which is a cousin of Ms. Havisham. Herbert became Pip’s best of friend even though Estella once provoked them to fight each other when they were little. Pip live a sumptuous life, he even join a club which is called the Finches of the Grove. The objective of this club is as follows; “The members should dine expensively once a fortnight, to quarrel among themselves as much as possible after dinner, and cause six waiter to get drunk on the stairs.”(Page 251 Chapter Thirty-four) Pip loses money even his closes friend Joe and Biddy. On his 23rd birthday his benefactor arrives in a middle of a storm, his benefactor was the convict he has helped in the graveyard. The benefactor’s named was Abel Magwitch, but he prefers to call him “Provis” for his safety. All this time he thought that Ms. Havisham was his benefactor and that Estella was destined to be with him, but his wrong and worst his benefactor will stay with him for good, Estella was married by Bentley Drummle. Knowing that his benefactor was not safe in London he planned to escape his benefactor and live somewhere far from London, but as the great escape was approaching a letter came and the content is this: “If you are not afraid to come to the old marshes to-night or to-morrow night at Nine, and to come to the little sluice house by the limekiln, you had better come. If you want information regarding your uncle Provis, you had much better come and tell no one and lose time. You must come alone. Bring this with you.”(Page 382 Chapter Fifty-two) Pip decides to go to the place to find some information about the earlier life of his benefactor, but it was a trap by Orlick, however before Orlick can do harm to Pip Trabb’s boy, Herbert and Startop arrive. On the next day they pursue their plan of escape theey go on board on a rowboat adventure to the open water where Pip and Magwitch will put away on an outbound ship. Just before they reach their goal, Compeyson brings the police around and the escape is not successful. Compeyson and Magwitch struggle underwater and after a while Compeyson died but Magwitch was extremely hurt. Magwitch was returned to jail and will go through a trial even though he is on the bad situation. Magwitch died on the jail after Pip told him the truth that his daughter was alive and it was Estella. After Magwitch died Pip becomes sick, and even though his hopes where gone. Joe nurses him till he regains his strength. He returned home to the marshes and found out of Joe and Biddy’s wedding. He begs their forgiveness and went to Egypt with Herbert and Clara, Herbert’s wife, and work there for eleven years. After eleven years he returns to Joe and Biddy with their son which is named after him “Pip”. He learned that Estella was separated to his husband, who used her with great cruelty, brutality and meanness. Pip also heard of the Death of Estella’s ex- husband. Pip also went to visit the Satis house where he find Estella standing there and Estella ask forgiveness and ask pip to be his friend again and Pip say yes, the two went out to the ruined Satis house with holding hands and Pip thought and sure that he saw no shadow of another parting from her. CHARACTERS The main characters of the novel were: Pip, Philip Pirrip, a young boy brought up by hand by her sister and Joe in the mash country of Kent. He was the protagonist, the main man of the novel, the one I always identify. He is also the person narrating the novel. I sometimes do not agree with his decisions and behaviour but he always impressed me when he identified the mysterious life of some characters around him with his own actions and abilities, Pip has two important traits which is immature romantic idealism and his naturally good conscience, best example is when little Pip thought that she must tell the whole truth about the missing file(Page 40 Chapter Six), his desire was to be improved himself and attain any advancement whether social, moral and educational and become good in Estella’s eye. Sometimes, I think, he was also an antagonist. His own self is sometimes his enemy, choosing wealth over his friends like when Joe says goodbye after his awkward meeting with Pip. (Chapter Twenty-seven) Estella, a snobbish girl who grew up with Ms. Havisham, the woman who teach and advise her to torment men and break their hearts, She is the unknown child of Magwitch and the love of Pip which will fall for the dark life of Drummle and Ms. Havisham, Estella is not a typical nice leading lady; she was cold, unenthusiastic and manipulative but despite of these bad characteristics Estella learns how to express her inner feeling and learn for her mistakes, best example is this: “When suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have bent and broken but I hope into a better shape.” (Page 442 Chapter Fifty- nine) She is a Dynamic Character which in the end he chooses to lead her life not by the rules and wants of Ms. Havisham but by her own want. If only Estella knows who is her biological parents maybe she will not be blind as Ms. Havisham. Ms.Havisham is the revengeful, wealthy, lady living in the High Street. As her future husband, Compeyson, did not come to their wedding, she stops the entire clock in the house 20 minutes to 9. She took care for Estella and uses her as weapon to revenge on men. She is also a Dynamic Character because when she realize that she broke Pip’s heart like the way her hearts broke; rather than achieving personal revenge she has only cause more pain to Estella and Pip, so she beg forgiveness to Pip and approved to Pip’s plan in helping Herbert. Herbert Pocket, Pip’s companion in London, Pip first met Herbert in the Satis House., Herbert then was a pale gentleman who challenges him to fight and years later when Pip went to London he became the dearest best friend of Pip. Herbert gave Pip a name Handel, Herbert was a really useful person for Pip because he helped Pip as long as he live and even help him to escape in London with Provis. Herbert wants to be a merchant so that he could marry Clara Barley. When he was already earning lots of money he will marry Clara and migrate to Egypt and he also invite Pip to work with him in Egypt. Herbert is a Flat Character; he is still in Pip’s side at very last. Joe Gargery, Pip’s brother-in-law. He was the Blacksmith. Joe stays with her wife even Mrs. Joe Gargery, Pip’s sister, is abusive. Knowing that Mrs. Gargery cannot give Pip her love and care Joe did it for Pip. He stays with Pip even he was treated coldly by Pip. Even though he is not educated and not a gentleman in Pip’s eye, he continuously acts for the benefits of his love once. Joe is also a Flat Character; he take good care of Pip and helped Pip in his problems, in the end Pip ask Joe’s forgiveness. Abel Magwitch the convict, Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of the novel and asked and scared Pip in the cemetery. Pip’s kindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himself to making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. In the end, he becomes Pip’s secret benefactor, funding Pip’s education and expensive lifestyle in London through the lawyer Mr. Jaggers. He is also the father of Estella, unfortunately after he knew this, he died because of his wound that affect his lungs. He is a Dynamic Character, A fearsome convict helped a child and return his favor. Mr. Jaggers is the lawyer of Pip and his benefactor. The powerful, foreboding lawyer hired by Magwitch to supervise Pip’s elevation to the upper class. At first I thought that Jaggers was mean and not concern with Pip, but as I read the novel I realize that Jaggers, even though not a teacher, teach Pip everything that he have to know not only for being gentleman but the truth in life. In the end he still cares for Pip and guides him to the right path in becoming a true gentleman. Mr. Jagger is a Round Character, he shows off different personality in different people he is facing. Wemmick is Jaggers’s clerk and Pip’s friend, Wemmick is one of the strangest characters in I have read. At work, he is hard, cynical, sarcastic, and really like the word with “portable property”; at home in Walworth, he is jovial, wry, and a tender caretaker of his “Aged Parent.” Wemmick id truly helpful to Pip particularly when Pip cannot get some information to Mr. Jaggers and he also helped to plan the great escape of Magwitch in London. Wemmick like Mr. Jaggers is a Round Character hiding his true characteristics at home or at work. The minor characters in the novel were: Biddy A simple, kindhearted country girl, Biddy first befriends Pip when they attend school together; she was her tutor if pip cannot understand some things. After Mrs. Joe is attacked and becomes an invalid, Biddy moves into Pip’s home to care for her. Throughout most of the novel, Biddy represents the opposite of Estella; she is plain, kind, moral, and of Pip’s own social class. Pip once thought that if not Estella why not Biddy. “Biddy, I think you once liked me very well, when my errant heart, even while it stayed away from you, was quieter and better with you than it ever had been since. If you can like me only half as well once more, if you can take me with all my faults and disappointments in my head, if you can receive like a forgiven child, I hope I am a little worthier of you than I was.”(Page 431 Chapter Fifty-seven). Later on Biddy came to be the future wife of Joe. Biddy is also a Flat Character; she remained the mentor of Pip even in the last chapter of the novel. Dolge Orlick is the day laborer in Joe’s forge. He is malicious and shrewd, hurting people simply because he enjoys it. He is responsible for the attack on Mrs. Joe, and he later almost succeeds in his attempt to murder Pip. Mrs. Joe is Pip’s sister and Joe’s wife, known only as “Mrs. Joe” throughout the novel. Mrs. Joe is a abusive and overbearing figure to both Pip and Joe. She keeps a spotless household and frequently menaces her husband and her brother with her cane, which she calls “Tickler. Mrs. Joe is petty and ambitious; her only wish is to be something more than what she is, the wife of the village blacksmith. That is why she promptly say yes when Punblechook took Pip to the Satis House. Uncle Pumblechook is Pip’s pompous, arrogant uncle. He is actually Joe’s uncle and, therefore, Pip’s “uncle-in-law,” but Pip and his sister both call him “Uncle Pumblechook.” A merchant obsessed with money, Pumblechook is responsible for arranging Pip’s first meeting with Ms. Havisham. Throughout the rest of the novel, he will shamelessly take credit for Pip’s rise in social status, even though he has nothing to do with it, since Magwitch, not Miss Havisham, is Pip’s secret benefactor. Compeyson is the other convict and the former partner of Magwitch, Compeyson is an educated, gentlemanly outlaw who contrasts sharply with the coarse and uneducated Magwitch. Compeyson is responsible for Magwitch’s capture at the end of the novel. He is the person who ignores Ms. Havisham in their wedding day and the cause of revengeful characteristics of Ms. Havisaham as well as Estella. Bentley Drummle is an unpleasant young man who attends tutoring sessions with Pip at the Pockets’ house, he is also a member of the club he Finches of the Grove. Drummle is a minor member of the nobility, and the sense of superiority this gives him makes him feel justified in acting cruelly and harshly toward everyone around him. Drummle eventually marries Estella; she is miserable in their marriage and reunites with Pip after Drummle dies some eleven years later. Molly is Jaggers’s housekeeper. In the later chapter particularly chapter 48, Pip realizes that she is Estella’s mother. Mr. Wopsle is the church clerk in Pip’s country town; Mr. Wopsle’s aunt is the local schoolteacher. Sometime after Pip becomes a gentleman, Mr. Wopsle moves to London and becomes an actor. He sometimes invite Pip to see him act. Startop is a friend of Pip’s and Herbert’s. Startop is a delicate young man who, with Pip and Drummle, takes tutelage with Matthew Pocket. Later, Startop helps Pip and Herbert with Magwitch’s escape. Miss Skiffins is Wemmick’s beloved and eventual wife, who eventually took care of Aged P when Wemmick is not at home. Aged P is Wemmick father who welcome Pip when he visit the walworth. Clara Barley is the future wife of Herbert and helped Pip to pursue their plan and allow them to use her house. THEME/PHILOSOPHY The novel is full of ambition and the desire for self-improvement such as social, economic, educational, and moral particularly the main character, Pip; Guilt, criminality, and innocence can see through the character of Abel Magwitch, Ms. Havisham, Molly, Compeyson and Orlick; maturation and the growth from childhood to adulthood is generally very seen through Pip as well as Estella ; the importance of affection, loyalty, and sympathy over social advancement and class superiority; social class; the difficulty of maintaining superficial moral and social categories in a constantly changing world can be visualize through the character of Pip. This novel reflects to the people of today. In our New generations, being uneducated is like laziness and it is connected somehow to poverty. In some societies they do not interact in people which is inferior to them, superior ones will only be suited to the superior ones and inferior ones will only be suited to the inferior ones also, and this happens even today, that is why education is important in our country. SETTING As I analyze and read the novel I look for some things, events and places that might tell me when and where the novel takes place. I think the novel starts around mid-nineteenth century because the characters use coaches as their medium of transportation and they uses boat to go abroad. The novel starts at Kent, Pip’s hometown, where his desires, goals and love life started. In his hometown Pip’s really like the marshes, the Satis house and he also like to have a walk going to the graveyard to see his parents, the graveyard, I think, is the most important place because here he met his benefactor. Pip’s ambition to be a gentleman drove him to London, here there are particular places that is truly attached to Pip’s dramatic life such as the Barnnard’s Inn, his first home in London, Mr. Jaggers’ firm, where Pip goes to when he had a problem or concerns, Mr. Pocket’s house, where he learn how to be a gentleman, Temple, his second home in London, london’s jail, where his benefactor died and Walworth, where he relaxes with Wemmick and Aged Parent. Some parts of England was stated and even Egypt, where he work for eleven years, but in the end he visit the Satis House and find there Estella and the answers of his problems. DIALOGUE In a novel it is really necessary to understand the dialogue so that we can go with the flow of the story, and I think, Authors carefully choose their dialogues because good dialogues encourage readers to read more and gives excitement to the readers. Great Expectations is a lengthy and complex work, that discourage the readers to read that is why the dialogues where very plain and easy to understand. The Great Expectations was a narrative work that would be time consuming and impractical to examine page by page. Therefore a more focused approach is required, an exploration which concentrates on a small section or extract of the narrative, as opposed to the whole book. An example of essential events in Great Expectations is when Pip first visits the Satis house, where the narrator, which is also Pip, examines the house (Chapter 8). Even though the some words in Pip’s narration was difficult to understand, the exchange of conversations among the characters were clear and easy to understand but some conversation has a deeper meaning and I think most dialogues here in this novel has a deeper meaning like this; “She denounced me for a stupid, clumsy labouring-boy.”(Page 58 Chapter Eight) and because of this Pip became aware of him, being a low status in the society, Also in their exchange of conversations, they can express their feelings to each other like this; “She had her back towards me, and held her pretty brown hair spread out in her two hands” (Page 60 Chapter Eight) this symbolizes the time when he starts falling in love with Estella. As I read this novel there is a certain quotation that captures my attention; “Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man’s a blacksmith, and one’s a whitesmith, and one’s a goldsmith, and one’s a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come.”(Pages 206 Chapter Twenty-seven), here the protagonist in the novel became antagonist in my eyes. I think Pip was eaten by his ambition to be a gentleman for Estella and leave behind the true person who loves and cares for him. Even though he was treated coldly by Pip, he did not blame Pip for the awkward feelings they have felt but Joe blame on the unalterable nature of the human condition. AUTHOR’S STYLE MOOD INSIGHTS