Representation of Women in 'Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens and ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee
GCSE English and English Literature Coursework
Wide Reading
'Compare and contrast the representation of women in two novels'
This essay will compare and contrast the representation of women in two novels; 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. 'Great Expectations' is a pre 1900's novel, written in 1860-61, whereas 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was written in 1960 and set between 1933-35.
When 'Great Expectations' was written, the social structure of England was changing. Educational opportunities had increased, therefore making economic prosperity possible for more people than before. This said, the middle and working classes were suspicious of each other, and were frowned upon by the upper class. The novel is set before the expansion of education, so trying to illustrate how negative the old education system was. The central character in this novel suffers from this. The legal system was amended during the nineteenth century; from the time when the novel is set you could be executed for many crimes, and Magwitch, a convict who was sent to Australia, is set to be executed for returning to England; where as in today's society may be able to escape imprisonment. This was abolished in the 1860's, however.
'Great Expectations' is a novel about a boy called Pip, and his journey through life, from being a young boy to adulthood. He was a working class boy brought up harshly by his cruel sister after the death of his parents, and after being sent to go and visit an intimidating and haunting woman, Miss Havisham, turns his back on his roots in Kent and goes to London to be a gentleman. His reason for doing this is to win the love of his sweetheart, Miss Havisham's daughter, an ice maiden called Estella. He has a secret benefactor who supports him, but later loses his money and learns valuable moral lessons.
'To Kill A Mockingbird' was set between 1933-35 just after the American Civil War, the novel being set in the south, who were defeated by the North in a war which stemmed from the fact that the North and South's views on slavery diverged. This loss for the South left feelings of bitterness among them. This was also a period of economic hardship after the stock market crash. The wealth in the south mainly came from plantations worked by black slaves. They backed this up by insisting that black people were naturally inferior. There was a lot of racial prejudice in the south, along with social snobbery; the people wanted to preserve their rich, leisurely lifestyle. Tom Robinson, is a black man who is accused and sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit; and although people know he didn't commit the crime, his word is up against a white persons, so in that society he cant be believed. That shows how prejudice the society was. The actual time of writing was in 1960- a period of the civil rights movement that demanded equality and more rights for black people.
'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a story about a young girl called Scout who grows up in a prejudice society in the south of the U.S. Scout is the narrator of the novel, and in some stages of it she is telling the story as it happens; and in others, she is looking back on her childhood as an adult. The story spans approximately two and a half years of her life, and she, like Pip, learns many lessons during her childhood. Perhaps the most important lesson is being able to empathise and see things from another person's ...
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'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a story about a young girl called Scout who grows up in a prejudice society in the south of the U.S. Scout is the narrator of the novel, and in some stages of it she is telling the story as it happens; and in others, she is looking back on her childhood as an adult. The story spans approximately two and a half years of her life, and she, like Pip, learns many lessons during her childhood. Perhaps the most important lesson is being able to empathise and see things from another person's perspective.
Great Expectations is an old English novel, and was written more or less at the time it was set, and the language by each character could have a say upon their background and place in society: 'I though you was late. But I knowed you couldn't be that.' This is the type of language that Magwitch the convict uses, incorrect and common. This contrasts with Miss Havisham's cold ward, Estella; 'What do you play, boy?', though in a sense she is described throughout this scene as talking with great disdain and being disrespectful.
'To Kill a Mockingbird's characters contrast in their speech also, from Scout and Jem being American children and using vocabulary such as: 'Shoot, we can rake him up in a jiffy' to their father Atticus, whose profession is a lawyer, who has been represented as a technically correct speaker: 'I'm afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation by the more learned authorities'.
Miss Havisham is a major character in the novel 'Great Expectations'. She is an intimidating figure, probably due to her unpredictable mood swings and outbursts, stemming from her constant state of depression. Her prolonged depression stemmed from when she was 20 minutes away from her wedding, and was jilted by her husband to be. Her mental state shows when Pip enquires about a certain day of the week and she replies 'I know nothing of the days of the week', showing that she is so mentally distraught that she doesn't care, and that time stands still in her house. Pip is certainly intimidated and frightened of her each time he goes to visit her as a child.
Mrs Dubose, in some ways is represented quite similarly to Miss Havisham; when the children get close to her they feel scared, and she verbally abuses them, shouting things such as: 'Don't you say hey to me you ugly girl'. Scout describes a meeting with her as a 'ruthless interrogation'. Like Miss Havisham, she is genuinely nasty, but unlike her, doesn't front her feelings.
Miss Havisham sends for Pip as a young boy to visit her and her beautiful daughter, Estella. The aim of this is to taunt and patronise Pip, and get him to fall deeply in love with Estella, but at the same time she treats him scornfully and makes malevolent remarks about him. Miss Havisham has trained Estella in this way, for one reason: to take revenge on the male sex after she was jilted. This selfish way is how she spends her life, and has corrupted her daughter in the process. She is represented as a greedy woman, who gets satisfaction from a boy saying that her daughter is pretty: 'Does she grow prettier and prettier, Pip?' And when I said yes (for indeed she did) would seem to enjoy it greedily', when she knows his heart will be broken. She indirectly teaches Pip about the importance of family, your roots and the ability to forgive.
When Pip is older, he revisits her, and shows his anger after understanding her actions. She begs for his forgiveness, and is legitimately sorry for her actions as Pip makes her realise what she has done. She is forgiven, which shows real strength of character on Pips part, and as says she will do anything, she is asked to become a benefactor to Pips friend Herbert, who was ironically one to fall like Pip under her selfish regime. She is also asked to thaw Estella out of the ice that she created around her from an early age, as evidently Miss Havisham had not considered the fact that bringing Estella up the way she did could be detrimental to her daughter. The end of the novel demonstrates a turn around of her character, after realising her mistakes, but it comes at too late a stage.
Contrasting from that, is Mrs Dubose, who was terminally ill. She took morphine, as a painkiller that her doctor had prescribed her, and she had became addicted to it. She instructed the children to come and read to her, after Scouts brother Jem had destroyed her flowers in a minute of blind rage when the children had been insulted. Mrs Dubose let the children go at a later stage every day, which was time for her morphine. By doing this she taught the children a lesson about courage, and being brave, as she fought her addiction and died free. This is an important lesson in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. This shows that she was not properly in control of her actions, and had a different side to her that was not visible at the beginning. A selfless character in some respects, she educated the children and was the opposite of Miss Havisham.
From 'Great Expectations', Pips sister, Mrs Joe who is additionally his carer, displays outright selfishness throughout his life. She is brutal in her behaviour, attacking her younger brother for negligible reasons. What is so bizarre is the fact that she always enjoys reminding everyone how arduous her work is, and has 'brought him up by hand'. She is a vile character, who Charles Dickens has created for readers to have absolutely no sympathy for. She tells Pip: 'Ask no questions and you'll be told no lies'. This is disabling communication between families and it is a wrong thing to teach a child. To add to this she is a hypocrite, cruel at home and polite in front of others.
Aunt Alexandra is Scouts aunt in 'To Kill A Mockingbird', and comes to stay with Scouts family during a gruelling time, as they are motherless. Not on quite the same wavelength as Mrs Joe, she does not show unnecessary aggression but is snobbish, and not particularly liked by Scout or her brother. She is an uncompromising woman, who has traditional views and tries to change Scout from being a tomboy to a polite charming young lady. The novel picks her out to be quite unpleasant, but this is because she is trying to force Scout into new pastures, ones which Scout is not accustomed to, and to add to this Scout is the narrator so views of readers will be slightly biased. A factor which could put her on a parallel with Mrs Joe is the fact that she harbours racist views- she doesn't want her niece visiting the house of their black cook, and wants her brother to sack her. 'Aunt Alexandra fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand into a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me. She tries to deprive Scout of her normal freedom, and believes that people should act in a certain way according to their gender.
Aunt Alexandra becomes more sensitive later into the novel, and a change of character is visible, but not one as significant as Miss Havisham's because she was not a monster, just someone who tried to bring some discipline into the life of the narrator. She then contrasts with Mrs Joe, as Mrs Joe's character is constant throughout her life as an able bodied being? Alexandra's racist views seem to vanish as the reason for her sensitivity is the disgraceful imprisonment and shooting of an innocent black man in an extremely prejudiced society. She provides a true motherly input by caring, and calling Scout 'darling'. After her turnaround she is the only character out of the four analysed who really cares about the children's well being, although Mrs Dubose is not counted as she is too old and in a bad state.
The similarities between Mrs Joe and Aunt Alexandra are evident in small proportions at the start, with them being uncompromising and oblivious to views of others and continue up until Alexandra becomes more sensitive when the similarities vanish and the contrast increases.
Miss Havisham and Mrs Dubose both intimidate the two children and are not liked, but Miss Havisham is a selfish character, concerned solely about seeking revenge, and Scout misunderstands Mrs Dubose until she dies and Scout discovers the courage that she possessed to fight her drug addiction.
I have the most sympathy for Mrs Dubose, purely for the fact that she directly taught Scout and her brother an important lesson. I feel that she has been represented as the strongest out of the four women characters, and the only real fighter. Aunt Alexandra became somewhat of a 'changed character', at the beginning her sometimes prejudice views and traditions stemming from the fact that she is a southern American woman, who had been brought up like that, and she did change for the better towards the end of the novel. Miss Havisham's bad side outweighs her good, and Mrs Joe has been portrayed as an evil woman so no sympathy can be due there.
