Charles Dickens views about class in the novel,

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English Prose Study

Charles Dickens views about class in the novel, "Great Expectations"

The novel, "Great Expectations" is deemed to be one of the greatest English classic novels of the literary heritage. Charles Dickens, the author of Great Expectations is thought to be one of history's finest writers and has contributed to English literature in many ways. 'Great Expectations' is Dickens' thirteenth novel and is based loosely on his own experiences. He did this with many of his novels, including his partly auto-biographical piece, "David Copperfield" (with Dickens's own negligent mother and father being closely depicted in his character, David's parents).

"All the Year Round" was a magazine that Charles Dickens had founded. In late 1860, the sales of the magazine were dropping, and so Dickens began publishing "Great Expectations" in the magazine in December to increase sales.

"Great Expectations" displays many of Dickens's ideas and views which were the results of experiences in his life. Dickens's family was never well off and in fact, John Dickens, Charles Dickens's father, was sent to Marshalsea Debtors Prison when Charles Dickens was only twelve. As was the tradition in those days, Charles Dickens was sent, along with the rest of his family to work in a factory to help repay his father's debt. This changed the way he viewed poverty and this view is displayed in "Great Expectations".

The story evolves around the life of Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, who is the protagonist and the narrator. We meet him as a young boy who one day encounters an escaping convict and helps him. He then grows up to have 'great expectations' as an unknown benefactor provides him with the luxuries of a gentleman's life, of which Pip has dreamt, since meeting the beautiful and apparently upper-class Estella.

This story deals with life in the Victorian times; crime and punishment, social status, prejudice and love - all of these issues apply even now. In the Victorian times, there was a lack of social mobility, meaning that it was difficult to move from one class to the next. There were three classes which were determined by parentage. The aristocracy were those with wealth and power. The middle-class were managers, who if they were exceedingly successful, could become rich but it was hard to adapt to the habits and behaviour of the aristocracy. Unfortunately for those who were working class (undertaking manual labour), it was almost a fruitless struggle to try. Pip's life shows how one individual has moved from the working class to becoming a 'gentleman'. This essay will be concentrating on the way Dickens portrays class in "Great Expectations".

The story is a fictional autobiography of Pip who narrates the story of his life when he is an adult. Because of this, there are "two" Pips - Pip the narrator, who tells us the story many years after the events and Pip the child, who acts out the events as they are taking place. We know this, as Pip the narrator often uses adult vocabulary to speak of his childhood. He uses words such as "interlocutor" to describe the convict - it is not the type of word a young child would use. Pip reflects on the way he viewed the small graves for his brothers in chapter one, 'unreasonably', which show that he realises now that at the time it was absurd for him to have thought that his brothers were buried 'on their backs with their hands in their trousers-pockets'. He now recognises that this was not the case.

I think this is an effective way of telling the story, as Dickens uses the two perspectives to add prophetic remarks and at the same time, to keep vital information from us as the mystery unfolds. Pip, as the adult narrator, knows that the convict, Magwitch is in fact the unknown benefactor, but chooses to hide the truth, until the time when Pip the young man finds out. If he were to reveal to us who the benefactor was, as soon as he receives the money, there would be no mystery to the story.

The book starts with Pip, the narrator, telling us about his family. His father, mother and five younger brothers are deceased and his only living relative and guardian is his older sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, who is married to the local blacksmith. The fact that many of his family members are dead suggests to us that he was from a poor family because, in the Victorian times, diseases were easily spread and there was little medical help. It was hard to maintain your health if you did not have sufficient funds.

When Miss Havisham, an "immensely rich" lady bent on revenge towards men after being jilted on her wedding day, invited young Pip to her manor "to play", Mrs. Joe who was eager to climb the social ladder, as many were in those days, is thrilled at the prospects of mixing with someone higher than her usual circle. She "encourages" (though a more correct term would be "forced") Pip to go to Satis House to play and prepares Pip as if it were a visit to royalty. She "soaped, and kneaded, and towelled, and thumped, and harrowed and rasped" Pip in preparation for the visit. Mrs. Joe wanted to make a good impression on Miss Havisham.
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I think this was a selfish thing to do, as she was only using Pip as a means of getting what she wanted. These days, I think that this attitude can still be found - you still find ambitious people in the world who are just like Mrs. Joe and will use others in order to achieve their desires.

Satis House is the home of Miss Havisham. It was once a thriving beautiful manor with a brewery attached to it, which was her source of wealth. But all this stopped half a decade earlier, when Miss ...

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