Charles Dickens had strong feelings about the morals in Victorian society - What do you think he felt most strongly about?

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AS Level English - Great Expectations 03/03/03

Charles Dickens had strong feelings about the morals in Victorian society. What do you think he felt most strongly about?

Dickens' characters in the social criticism, Great Expectations explain thoroughly what he feels about the morals in Victorian society. During Dickens' lifetime, he realized many evils in society, focusing mainly on the whole idea of a social class in society. Great Expectations is one of Dickens' most autobiographical novels (apart from David Copperfield), which illustrates, in - depth character transformation by showing his characters learning lessons through their own life experiences. Great Expectations and its characters presents the values and morals Dickens is trying to get across to the reader. Dickens felt strongly about the morals in Victorian society as he too as a child felt pressurised by the outside world. Dickens' characters show how social advancement and wealth transformed too many people in Victorian society. Dickens portrays his feelings towards Victorian society with great distinction and achieves this through the development of his characters. A character used showing development is Pip. Pip felt "common" with his "coarse hands" and "thick boots" and had a desire of becoming a "gentleman" in a higher class to please those around him. Then later he feels guilt and remorse, as he realised that he should not do things to please other people but only to please himself.

"No man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was since the world began a true gentleman in manner....no varnish can hide the grain of wood and the more varnish you put on the more the grain will express itself." This quote from Great Expectations is a perfect representation of Dickens' views on Victorian society. It explains that Dickens believed that no man could ever make himself become a gentleman momentarily; he needed to be a "true gentleman" at heart, from the moment he was born. I feel that he also believed that no person could ever hide who they truly are inside; their true colours will always shine through.

Everything we know and are told is filtered through Pip, the narrator's conscience. This shows us the reader, that Pip is looking back and reminiscing his own life. Depicting the wrongs he made right, and the morals he learned through his own life experiences and other people's lives experiences, (it could also be Dickens reminiscing his childhood of the mistakes he made and never made right again). Dickens could be reflecting back on the humiliation he suffered and of how discontented he was with his own childhood. For example working in Warrens Blacking Warehouse, and his father being imprisoned for debt. I likewise think that Dickens is showing here, through Great Expectations that he too felt remorse, as did Pip when he realized how selfish he had been to those around him who loved him. He felt embarrassed by who he was, and regretted it later in his life. Dickens reminisces his life as a child, and adapts it to Great Expectations.

Through choosing significant characters such as Magwitch, Dickens shows that the appearance is not all that Victorian society made it out to be. Magwitch is described as, "A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head". As this is who turns out to be Pips benefactor it proves that he certainly does not sound like the gentleman Pip intends him to be. This shows that Dickens did not believe what Victorian society believed; he believed that looks did not count for everything. Magwitch illustrates one of the many morals in Great Expectations. He has all the qualities that you would expect a gentleman not to have, yet he turns out to be a real gentleman.
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Compeyson, the former partner of Magwitch, is educated and quite gentleman - like for a criminal. We find out he is Miss Havisham's ex-fiancé. Dickens is trying to show us that even though Miss Havisham and Estella were of the higher social class than Pip, that actually Miss Havisham's fiancé and Estella's dad was a convict! Dickens' dad was in a debtors prison when Dickens was younger making crime was an inescapable subject, hence it being mentioned in his novel.

Jaggers portrayed an example of Dickens' beliefs and dislikes, about how work develops people in Victorian society. ...

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