Great Expectations - 2D Characters

        Pip, the narrator of the Great Expectations, is one of the most important characters in the book. He is not only the narrator but also the protagonist of the novel, whose actions make up the main plot of the novel and thoughts and attitudes help portray the reader’s perception of the novel. Pips inner life is reveled because of the fact that Pip is narrating the story many years after the events occurred and as a result creates two different Pips – Pip the character and Pip the narrator. This distinction of the two Pips is skillfully carried out and is most obvious at the beginning of the book, when Pip, the character, is a child and enables us to see and feel the story through his eyes. The first incident is in chapter 6, volume one, is about the illegally stolen file, showing to us Pip’s loyalty to Joe, “In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong”. Hence showing to us more that Pip is honest and does not want to offend family and friends.

        Furthermore, “there seems to be no change in them (characters) in the novel” is also a false statement. This can be seen by looking at Pip, who appears eccentric and is tagged with extreme names, such as Pip Pirrip, and mannerisms so that, in the main they appear to become more like caricatures than real people. What’s more is that Pip progresses from a child living on the marshes of Kent with his sister and her husband, the blacksmith, to a gentleman who begins to act as he thinks a gentleman should act which consequently results in treating Joe, the blacksmith and Biddy snobbishly and uncaringly. Additionally, Pip is a very generous and sympathetic young man, which can be seen in numerous acts of kindness throughout the three volumes in Great Expectations. The fundamental proof to prove the statement ‘Dickens characters are two dimensional … and there seems to be no … development in them in the course of the novel’, is not true because of the fact that Pip’s main line in development in the novel may be seen as the process of learning to place his innate sense of kindness throughout the novel and conscious above his immature idealism

        The next incident in chapter 27, volume 2, shows how Pip as a character has developed and proves the statement, “Dickens characters are two-dimensional” are false. This incident occurs when Joe comes to visit Pip in London – during his stay Pip worries whether or not Joe will disapprove of his wealthy lifestyle, “‘Joe’, I interrupted, pettishly, ‘how can you call me Sir?’” Thus showing that Pip has changed from being looked after by a poor blacksmith to a young gentleman living a sumptuous lifestyle, fulfilling his great expectations.

The third incident is from chapter 43, volume three. This arose because, Pip, ashamed that his rise to social prominence is owed to such a coarse, lowborn man, and as a result feels that he must leave Estella forever. This incident shows how Pip has developed as a character because of the fact that from the very first moment he saw Estella he fell in love, but after an unpleasant encounter with Drummle at the inn, he travels to Satis house to see Miss Havisham and her daughter, Estella one more time.

Altogether, “Dickens characters are two dimensional. We do not catch a glimpse of their inner life and there seems to be no change or development in them during the course of the novel”, is a false statement. By looking at the narrator and character Pip, as a young boy at the beginning of the novel, to Pip a young gentleman living in the prosperity of London, it proves that the characters are not two dimensional and they do develop during the course of Great Expectations. 

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