Charles Dickens had strong feelings about the morals in Victorian society - What do you think he felt most strongly about?
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.
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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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. Dickens seen lawyers as immoral, ruthless and competent; a person whose life is devoted to secrets alongside power and manipulation of people around him. This is one of Dickens' characters that is instantly recognizable and memorable by his mannerisms such as, "biting his forefinger", and his compulsive hand washing. The compulsive hand washing mannerism is a psychological mechanism to keep the criminal taint from corrupting him. Although Dickens clearly expresses that he hates lawyers because they are liars and cheats, he depicts a better side in Jaggers. For instance when Jaggers helps Miss Havisham adopt Estella. I think this proves that even Dickens saw two sides to everyone.
Dickens sometimes comes across to the reader as very narrow-minded. Yet he illustrates the righteousness in Estella at the end of the novel even though she tried to break Pips heart; he depicts the morality in Miss Havisham even though she is portrayed as a wicked, vengeful woman. Dickens shows that what comes around goes around. "Suffering, moral or physical, is a reparative activity because it leads to a deepened awareness of our human-ness and of what is right for us" (David Holbrook, Charles Dickens and the Image of Women, New York University Press, 1993: 8).
I feel that Dickens thought that the best punishment for people who inflicted pain emotionally on those around them was self-punishment, usually arising from a guilty conscience. As Reed states, "Dickens applied the same principles in his fiction as those in fairy tales and children's literature of nineteenth century England: evil intentions are the evil persons own undoing (Dickens and Thackeray: 471 - 2).
Herbert Pocket is the " the pale young gentleman", who is basically everything Jaggers is not, amiable and relaxed, although he is poor. He is what Dickens portrays as a "true gentleman". Herbert is represented as being content with his poor leading life with no wants or needs other than to become a merchant, so that he can afford to marry Clara Barley. These are his "great expectations" in life, which are very likely to happen if he works hard enough, especially compared to Pips fantasy "great expectations"!
Pumblechook is always "bullying" and constantly questioning Pip on arithmetic, and making him feel sorry for being who he is! He only became interested in Pip when he became richer. This character is in the novel to show how arrogant people in Victorian society were. Pumblechook shows that it was full of cheats. Dickens believes strongly that wealth and good fortune can only be achieved by honest, hard work and discipline, and that no immoral, selfish person deserves to be wealthy. A well defining sentence about how Dickens perceived Victorian society is that, "Dickens saw wealth as a great corrupter," (Peter Thomas. Great Expectations, Heinemann, Oxford).
Mrs. Joe's fate is as ironic as Miss Havisham's. She treats Pip with little respect when she "brought him up by hand", she hit him with the "tickler" and still she expected Pip to love her. Dickens uses innocent, simple elements to portray to the reader that sometimes it is acceptable to be cruel to be kind. Mrs. Joe is petty, but she keeps her house spotless and feeds Joe and Pip everyday. I think Dickens is trying to get across that you should be grateful to those who look after you and love them unconditionally, because you do not know what you have got until it is gone. Pip realizes this when Mrs. Joe gets attacked in the forge. Only then when Mrs. Joe is lying on her deathbed does Pip feel remorse but it is too late to make amends!
Miss Havisham lives in a house " of old brick" with Estella. Dickens emphasizes that Satis House, which means "enough" (hinting ironically that anyone who ever lived there had everything they ever wanted or needed), was "uncomfortable" and "dark....with no glimpse of daylight....to be seen in it!" This was Dickens depiction of a Victorian lady, who had all the money that anyone could ever wish for. Yet all the money and possessions she had, never brought her happiness! This is one of Dickens' most important morals in Great Expectations . Dickens puts across that Miss Havisham is an embittered woman, who became disappointed in love and withdrew herself from the world.
Even though Miss Havisham is not one of the most believable characters in Great Expectations, she definitely is one of the most memorable. Dickens talks of her as "a bride within a bridal dress....withered like the dress" and being "corpse - like". This creates a vivid picture of her in the reader's mind. As Dickens portrays that Miss Havisham's life is defined by a single tragic event, he also portrays the moral he believes strongly in through her: never hold grudges. Dickens shows that due to her "shutting out the light of day, she had shut out infinitely more; that in seclusion, she had secluded herself from a thousand natural and healing influences; that her mind, brooding solitary, had grown diseased as all minds do and must and will that reverse the appointed order in their Maker!" Even through all this Dickens lets Miss Havisham redeem herself showing he thinks everyone deserves a second chance in life.
Joe is a character we can totally sympathise with. He is "common", uneducated, yet no matter what anyone does to him he never becomes aggressive. He shows this when he says to Pip " god knows I forgive you, if I have anythink to forgive!" Even after all the horrible things Pip did to Joe he still acts as if nothing ever happened. Joe said to Pip that Mrs. Joe was "a fine figure of a woman" even if she had been horrible to him. Dickens puts across here that Joe is an ideal person. Joe is always there for Pip throughout the sequel of events, whatever Pip's decisions are in life.
Through Joe, Dickens gets across that a "gentleman" is someone who cares for others and wants only the best things in life, and that the best things in life are free, (this is something in the novel that Joe teaches to Pip without even realizing he is doing it). Dickens believes that Joe is a "true gentleman".
Biddy is a moral conscience in Great Expectations. She is a simple, kind-hearted girl. She is like a mother figure, looking after Mrs. Joe after the attack in the forge, teaching Joe how to read and write, always being there for Pip. Dickens uses Biddy as an eminent comparison to Estella. Where Biddy is kind of nature, plain and moral and also of the same social class as Pip, Estella is hardhearted, beautiful but cold and also of a higher social class than Pip. Dickens uses Biddy to portray how he thought a woman should be in Victorian society, kind, loving and only wanting the best things in life. He uses Biddy to try and keep Pips feet on the ground, but no matter how hard she tries it just does not seem to work. Pip's want for becoming a "gentleman" still made him arrogant and distracted from the real world.
Estella is a character that we have mixed feelings towards. At the start of the novel Dickens depicts that she is just cold hearted and bitter in herself, yet we learn that Miss Havisham brought her up to "break....hearts". So Estella being made cynical and manipulative towards men, wins the heart of Pip. Estella warns Pip repeatedly that she "has no heart....no softness there no sympathy no sentiment nonsense", and will only hurt him, but he does not back off. Dickens does not admire the fact that social class should have anything to do with the desire for love.
Dickens had great sympathy for suffering children such as Estella, due to his own life experiences of his own traumatic childhood. He felt in his life, alone and confused. Referring to his father during his imprisonment. Dickens can also sympathise with her as he knows how hard it was for a child growing up in Victorian society whether poor or rich. Dickens also plays on the idea of the upper class not being a benefit to Estella. In fact Dickens shows that the upper class deceives Estella twice. Firstly by her being raised by, Miss Havisham and being brought up unable to express emotions and interact with the normal world successfully. Then secondly, by her marrying a cruel, rich man Drummle, instead of a commoner like Pip.
Dickens expresses through Estella's life that happiness and a normal love filled life are not created through social position and possessions. Yet she learns, the same as Pip, through her own life experiences that she should rely and trust her own inner feelings rather than follow the lead of someone else's wrong doings. Estella says that, "suffering has been stronger than all other teaching....I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape". Dickens feels passionately about those children in Victorian society, who had a terrible life. He could sympathise with Estella as he felt as she felt, even thought they came from different social classes. He knew that she felt unloved as she never knew who her real father was, this too may have been something Dickens felt as he did not see his father much as he was in prison. Dickens basically disowned his father as he was embarrassed that he got sent to prison. Dickens is trying to put across that families should be there for one another though thick and thin, as some people are not as lucky as others and do not have any parents or family at all!
Dickens explains thoroughly that Pip's fantasy of social advancement due to him meeting Estella and Miss Havisham is only a desire to improve himself. This is due to the event of him and Miss Havisham playing cards. Pip called the card "a Jack" instead of "a Knave". This made Miss Havisham laugh and made Pip feel stupid.
Dickens shows that Pip does not want to be immoral, poor and ignorant. But he does not understand in his life of the lower class he is loved and looked after at the forge by Mrs Joe and especially Joe. Pip is influenced by his surroundings and idealism, making him have a tendency to oversimplify situations based on a superficial standard of value; thus excelling him to behave unwholesomely to those people round him who really love him. "Dickens shows in Pip the natural unconditioned life of the heart and the socially destructive process that weakens and distorts it, transforming manipulation, generosity into greed, spontaneity into shame and ambition (Charles Dickens: The Writer and His Work, 40). This is an excellent explanation of Dickens' Great Expectations. It explains the stages in Pips life throughout the novel, of the different emotions and transformations he goes through dealing with social pressure.
When Pip became a gentleman he was horrible towards Joe and Biddy, acting snobbishly as if he was better than them. Pip learns many lessons, but the most important ones are, that money cannot bring happiness and also that a true gentleman is kind and loving by heart and not by education and wealth. Pip shows quite a lot of moral growth towards the end of the novel when he starts showing remorse for judging Joe and calls him a "gentle Christian man". Realising Joe is a true gentleman he starts to feel "pride" in Joe. Joe never stopped Pip fulfilling what he thought where his dreams in life, but what turned out to be a huge disaster! This shows families are always there for you no matter what. Dickens shows that people can only learn by their own mistakes.
He does not believe that ones social class and wealth should have effect on their everyday life. He believes one should be grateful for what they have in their life and not despair for what they do not have in their lives.
Dickens was a very moralistic man full of "great expectations" for everyday life. He knew the difference between right and wrong especially, because he had so many life experiences of his own to teach him the difference.
Jemma Marshall 13 MCO