Estella on the other hand has been brought up in luxury and wealth, which has led her to feel very confident and proud of herself. That is why for example when Estella looks down and disrespects Pip she is not afraid of it because she knows she will not be punished or told off for it and therefore there is noting much to be worried about.
However in Pips case if his sister was to hear him do or say anything wrong, he knows that there would be consequences that he will have to pay and therefore he will worry or choose not to do it in the first place.
This is a reflection of the way children were treated in the Victorian times. Children who belonged to rich families were dressed up like miniature adults and were seen but not really heard. Children who belonged to poorer families would be working at the age of 5-6 in factories, coalmines or sweeping chimneys in bad exploited conditions, risking their health and life so that they can support their family. These circumstances as we see with Pip and Estella have an impact on their upbringing, which would gradually affect their personality and outlook on the rest of their life.
Among the issues that Dickens portrays in the novel, he continuously emphasizes the differences between the two classes and how it is seen and treated in the Victorian society. This division would separate society in the sense that the two groups would not be seen much to mix or socialize minus vague relationships eg: on employers and employees bases. The rich and wealthy people would tend to look down and pity the lower class to be less then they are. This discriminative system would undermine and patronize the lower class leading many to feel disappointed with their lives and worth not living.
Just like how Pip felt after being treated and spoken to like a second-class person on his first visit with Estella and Miss Havisham. Pip got very angry and upset. His unpleasant experience made him more aware of the existence of the two classes and the differences compared to his. He was so impresses and attracted to the wealthy life and Estella that he became ashamed of his own background and started to withdrawal.
‘…She put the mug down on the stones of the yard, and gave me the bread and meat without looking at me, as insolently as if I were a dog in disgrace. I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, and sorry- I can not hit upon…’ [Page 58]
The above quotation is the comments from the narrator of the novel who in this case is the older Pip. Dickens does this throughout the novel and it gives a comparison between how he felt about the incidents when he was young and how he feels now that he is much older and mature.
In the Victorian society and even now, many wealthy and rich people tend to think that because they can easily access and gain what they want, they are strong and powerful.
When Pip and Herbert meet each other for the first time and ‘play fight’ a very significant message is reinforced; Herbert, a rich wealthy young boy (same aged as Pip), picks a fight with Pip, a ‘common labouring boy’. Meanwhile Estella watching the fight sees Herbert, who thinks he is though and hard, get knocked out three times by Pip who is in her eyes seen just as a ‘common labouring boy’. Here Dickens has shown that strength is not only about wealth and that you can be just as better to impress without.
This scene from the book and other examples in history prove this also, for example the war with China and Britain. The Chinese army looked dirty and unarmed and so the English army laughed and thought that they could easily defeat them. However this was not the case. The Chinese without the wonderful armour and uniform managed to defeat the English and achieved victory.
Nowadays there is obviously still a difference between the wealthy and not so wealthy however, certain resources and benefits are provided whereby people are not poor or homeless. Nevertheless in the Victorian society, there were no such resources or benefits provided, so a majority back then were living in poverty or even in the streets. Dickens saw that if you were wealthy life was easy, but if you were poor, life was miserable. Those who were not so wealthy would admire the life of the rich and hope one day to be like them. Then again some that did make it gradually changed, forget or even denied their true backgrounds.
Similar to when Pip realised that he had turned from a polite, ‘common, labouring boy’ into ‘a rich snob’ when he treats Joe who comes to visit him in London, in a rude and shameful manner when Joe was always polite and caring towards Pip.
Here Dickens is showing that being a gentleman in Victorian times should not have been about how you eat, talk or dress but in actual fact it should and is your manners and heart that matters. Also it emphasizes that no matter what your status you should not forget where you come from and who brought you up to where you are.
In Victorian society, lower class people were taken advantage of because of their status and the circumstances that they were in because of it. Some would easily fulfil a duty or a favour if it meant that they would get paid. Due to this assumption, the upper class people would think that they could easily buy off or ill treat lower class people and that their feelings did not matter because they were not as good and wealthy as they were.
This is shown particularly in two occasions; first when Miss Havisham request for child to come and play with Estella, and secondly when Pip is one of the victims of Miss Havisham’s revenge plan for Estella. However although at the time Pip was not aware of this, he did at one point confront Miss Havisham and told her exactly what he thought. Pip remembers who he was and with more maturity and confidence blames her for ruining Estella’s life just because hers was ruined. Miss Havisham realises what she has done and regrets it, but it is too late and even when she catches fire, Pip risks his own life to save her but unfortunately he is not successful.
This underlines that poor, lower class people might not have money or wealth, but as long as they have the dignity and self respect to be a decent member of society they could be just as better.
In certain parts of the novel, Dickens portrays his views on the unfairness of the Victorian legal system. He criticises the injustices in the trials and cases of such small crimes being punished with serious sentences, without detailed and reasonable enquiries.
He uses Magwitch’s character to represent this in the beginning and in towards the end. When Pip as a young boy helps out the convict and ask her sister questions, we find out that one of the punishments for criminals who steel or do such crime is to be sent away to Australia to stay permanently never to return, otherwise the consequences of you returning were to be hanged. When Magwitch returned back
‘Illegally’ after a couple of years, when he got caught he was sentenced to death but died from illness anyway.
The novel is very significant, in the sense that it uses the characters and the storyline to portray the views and opinions of a highly known writer, on the important issues that are fundamental for the running of a society at the time, and the problems that they can create.
Overall, I think that ‘Great Expectation’, is a novel that tells the story of a young boy’s expectations from life in a society, which is unable to easily accept change in such a demanding system.
