There are a lot of themes including the below:
Gratitude - Pip does not show gratitude towards Joe.
Suffering - Miss Havisham suffers from having lived her entire life in the past
Obsession - Pip is obsessed with Estella.
Prejudice - Estella resents Pip for not being refined. Pip is appalled by Magwitch's appearance and behaviour.
Greed - Pip only wants to heighten his social and economic status.
Envy - Pip envies Estella's wealth and social status.
Loneliness - Pip often visits the graveyard where his parents are buried.
Pip is the narrator and main character of the novel. He has been orphaned since infancy and lives with his sister and her husband, the blacksmith (chapter 1). His driving ambition is to better his station in life; unfortunately, Pip will reject his closest friends in order to achieve his social goals. This will cause much heartbreak and disappointment when he realizes that good friends are more valuable than wealth and that’s what the main plot is about so he is like the character but he’s the story.
Pip is characterized as a harmless, caring boy, who draws much sympathy from the reader even though he is at that point content with his common life. The reader most likely develops warm and sympathetic feelings toward Pip after only the first two pages of the novel, which introduce the fact that Pip's parents are "dead and buried" and that the orphan has never seen "any likeness of either of them". Pip's confrontation with the convict presents his harmless, innocent nature. As Magwitch’s first seizes the young boy, Pip simply responds, "Oh! Don't cut my throat, sir, Ö Pray don't do it sir" (p. 2). This shows that he looks really shy and the reader feels sorry for him then when he threatens to get his throat cut you fell that he’s going to be led next to his my and dad but when he answers back to changes he characteristics of him totally.
During his journey into adulthood, Pip comes to realize two diverse concepts of being a gentleman and he comes to find the real gentlemen in his life aren't the people he had thought.
Encouraged by Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook, as a child Pip entertains fantasies of becoming a gentleman. In the eyes of Pip a gentleman is to be wealthy, educated and has a high class, thus Pip's desires. In his mind, Pip has connected the ideas of moral, social, and educational advancement so that each depends on the others. The coarse and cruel Drummle, a member of the upper class, provides Pip with proof that social advancement has no inherent connection to intelligence or moral worth. Drummle is a lout who has inherited immense wealth, while Pip's friend and brother-in-law Joe is a good man who works hard for the little he earns.
’s brother-in-law, the village blacksmith, Joe stays with his overbearing, abusive wife—known as —solely out of love for Pip. Joe’s quiet goodness makes him one of the few completely sympathetic characters in Great Expectations. Although he is uneducated and unrefined, he consistently acts for the benefit of those he loves and suffers in silence when Pip treats him coldly. He was also the boy's best friend. Joe, throughout the book, is one of the most caring individuals, from putting up with Mrs. Joe's abusive behaviour to stoically taking the pain of Pip disregarding him once Pip becomes a gentleman. This is a very strong part in the novel because he is always next to Pip and is always there to lend a hand.
Joe is the symbol of good and caring in the world of deceit and hate. While other people would hate Pip for the way that he treats his father figure and provider, Joe suffers through it silently. Joe is even so kind as to take care of Pip when he comes down sick, and he pays Pip's debts. Joe is the ideal person that others would want in their lives because he will be a friend no matter what. Joe shows that he is a forgiving person. He told this to Pip after Pip was taken ill. Pip was trying to apologize for the way he treated Joe when he came into his fortune. Pip had begged Joe to be cross or to treat him with something other than the total love that Joe was showing because Pip felt guilty about the way he was treating Joe. All in all, Joe Gargery was a compassionate and loving individual.
Joe has a big importance because he has to look after Pip as his parents passed away he’s on his own, so now Joe is looking after him. He is also one of his best friends so he has to boss him about but still be friends with him. Joe shows that he is a forgiving person. He told this to Pip after Pip was taken ill. Pip was trying to apologize for the way he treated Joe when he came into his fortune. Pip had begged Joe to be cross or to treat him with something other than the total love that Joe was showing because Pip felt guilty about the way he was treating Joe. All in all, Joe Gargery was a compassionate and loving individual. So he has a lot of stress on his shoulders.
Georgiana is Joe Gargery’s wife and Pip’s older sister. She is very conscious about appearance and manners. She is hell-bent over the way that she must live in order to take care of Pip and constantly reminds him of her misfortune due to his existence. She must always tell Pip that she raised him by hand and beats him frequently with a stick. She is never seen without her heavy apron on, with pins and needles stuck into it, which tend to get into Joe and Pip’s food. Her apron is like armour that keeps her from tenderness and compassion. She is the one who sets Pip up for his destruction. She becomes paralyzed, she sees the world properly. She realizes her mistake, and even forgives Orlick. It could be that she sees what wealth has done to Pip, and realizes his mistake and hers, and tells Joe to forgive him. Charles Dickens may have used the character of Mrs. Joe Gargery to show the unhealthiest of beating and scolding children. He may also have been discouraging parents’ tendencies to give improper aspirations to their children as Pip’s sister had. So that why she is important.
Money and social status are always on the mind of Mrs. Joe. Wealth drives Mrs. Joe to send Pip to Miss Havisham in the first place. She believes Miss Havisham will generously reward Pip for his services, and the family will make a lot of money. Mrs. Joe assumes that if she receives wealth and social status, she will be more than just the wife of a blacksmith. That Mrs Joe characteristics and as you can see she always want to be top of everybody’s conversation and she wants to have lots of money and a big strong name.
The importance of Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations has two major parts: the significance of the character, and the symbolism of the character. The significance of Mrs. Joe is to complete the figure of Joe. The symbolism of Mrs. Joe is the physical manifestation of Joe's fears, in combination with his desire for a commanding father figure.
Mrs. Joe's reign of terror is obviously necessary for Joe's existence. In the beginning of Great Expectations, Joe requires identification as a major character. Without the weakness that Mrs. Joe in stills in Joe trough her reign of terror, Joe is never able to develop his own character. Joe is identified as a compassionate, sensitive character; the most direct way to display this feature is to have the character appear vulnerable. Mrs. Joe serves as the tyrant for which Joe is made helpless. Joe, unless he is a scared character, does not recognize the friend he has in Pip. Without Joe as a major role in Pip's life, Pip also seems very incomplete.
Mrs. Joe also serves as the comical interlude for an otherwise sombre story.
A fearsome criminal, Magwitch’s escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes 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. Behind the scenes, he becomes Pip’s secret benefactor, funding Pip’s education and opulent lifestyle in London through the lawyer .
At the beginning of the novel Dickens uses Pip's innocence in contrast with Magwitch's evil. This effect gives the illusion that Magwitch’s is actually more evil than he really is. The audience is tricked. Also, due to the text being written in Pip's subjective view, Magwitch’s has been exaggerated greatly, "a man who had been soaked in water, cut by , torn by briars; that limped and shivered and glared and growled." Pip's exaggeration of Magwitch’s persuades the audience to believe that Magwitch’s is extremely villainous, just because of his appearance.
Magwitch’s is isolated through his lack of wealth. This can be seen by the clothes he wears, "course grey...smothered in blood", and also his lack of cleanliness, "soaked in water, cut by flints, torn by briars." He is unable to purchase clothes or wash himself due to his lack of money.
Magwitch’s isolated himself socially throughout the course of the novel. His appearance influences his isolation. His chains naturally inform people that he is a convict, in which they avoid him. Also because of his appearance, people do not want to be around him.
Another reason why he is isolated socially is because later in the novel, he became a farmer, and lived by himself. During this time alone, Magwitch’s changed from being a villain and sent all of the money he earned to Pip. This educates the audience that Magwitch’s has some elements of kindness within him, and that he is not a stereotypical villain. He is not a stereotypical villain because; most villains become evil during isolation, whereas, Magwitch’s changed for the best during his isolation.
Towards the end of the novel Magwitch’s is recaptured by the police and dies in prison, with Pip by his side.
He is very important at the end because it’s a cliff hanger and you want to know whether he is going to get captured or whether he will get killed. Also at the start of the novel its Pip and mawkish talking for ages so that also made him important
Location plays an important role in Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. Dickens uses the differences between town and country in the novel to allow Pip to find out what is most important to him. Pip, who grew up in the country, originally believed that material things were important; through his experience in London, however, he came to realize that such things were not important at all.
Charles Dickens viewed London as a place of economic competition and death. In Great Expectations, he used the prevalent bleakness of the places in London to illustrate the unproductiveness of the social and economic struggle which he viewed as fatal, both literally and figuratively. His depiction of this economic struggle is reflective of the nineteenth century's preoccupation with the rise of the middle-class. Janice Carlisle says, "The most common historical cliché about this mid-Victorian period was that it saw the final consolidation of the social, political, and economic dominance of the middle classes" (5). His association with death depicts the uselessness of this struggle, as well as the corruption associated with the economic endeavour. Unlike most writers, Dickens did not romanticize London, but instead gave us a good hard look at the back streets and alleys where the real life existed. Dickens did not attempt to record the history or describe the eloquent beauty of the Abbey or the Tower of London.
Dickens makes the setting more dramatic by doing the scenes at night when it’s all dark and quiet like when he meets Magwitch’s and its at a church which makes it even more scary. He also uses very strong words
First person narrative
This viewpoint uses the pronouns 'I' or 'we' to tell the story. Frequently, the narrator is who the story is about - the protagonist, but it could be any character within the story. A difficulty of 'first person perspective' is that the reader can only know the thoughts of the narrator; equally, such narrators are restricted in where they can be and in what and who they can know. This makes a first-person narrative somewhat more difficult to tell; however, such stories can be highly effective because the reader can more easily relate to the 'I' who is telling the story. Also, through the use of dialogue, other viewpoints can be introduced. An important consideration when you are analysing such a story is how the narrator becomes trustworthy and believable - and how reliable they are and what this means to the story.
Third person narrative
This viewpoint uses the pronouns 'he', 'she' or 'they' to tell the story. The story appears to be being told by the writer, but it needn't be so. Also the narrator can be created so as to be what is called 'omniscient' or 'all-knowing'; here, he or she seems to know about every character and every place, being able to move around at will - like an 'all-seeing' eye'; alternatively, and very commonly, the narrative voice can be 'limited-third person'; here, the narrator is biased to one of the character's - usually the protagonist. This latter viewpoint is very close to 'first person' narrative. Once again, an important consideration when discussing a story is how the third person narrator builds a sense of trust and believability.
- Pip (Philip Pirrip) - narrator. His ambition is to better himself socially. However, in doing this, he rejects many of his closest friends in order to achieve his goals. His devotes most of his life pursuing Estella.
Pip is seven when he was in the story “Seven-year-old Pip walks through a churchyard on a cold, grey day before Christmas, visiting the graves of his parents.”
The good things about writing a novel the same ways has Dickens has is that the story will be correct and that it will make people remember about the old days.
The bad things about doing a novel this way is that people might get bored easily because its set a long time ago and that its mainly about one character and that character is doing the narration and other parts so it also might become confusing.
