At Satis House, the introduction of Estella shows how material possessions and desires cause moral values to disappear and be replaced with a developing greed and fantasy of material beauty and value. This is a theme that is central to the novel, as it is as a result of Estella’s enchanting beauty infatuating Pip that changes the course of Pip’s life; from a blacksmith at the forge, to a gentleman in London. Through her contempt of Pip’s commonness, Estella succeeds in changing Pip’s discernment of life, and his perception on contentment:
“‘He calls the knaves Jacks, this boy!’ said Estella with disdain, before our first game was out. ‘And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots!’
I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.
She won the game, and I dealt. I misdealt, as was only natural for me to do when I knew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong; and she denounced me for a stupid, clumsy, labouring boy (Page 58)
I believe that this is a very effective and significant passage of writing in the story line, because it results in Pip changing his perception on values and contentment. Although it is not a dramatic moment, Dickens uses language to portray the humiliation and disgrace Pip feels, for example the word “disdain” is a very strong word, and tells how Estella looks down on Pip because he is not materially valuable in society. It can also be understood from this passage that Pip sees Estella as superior, almost like an animal superior to everyone else, as he describes her to be “lying in wait”; creating prowling imagery in the readers’ minds eye. Furthermore, this passage shows that Pip is vulnerable and easily influenced as to what is right and wrong, such as the kind of person he should be and values he should adopt, because he says “her contempt was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it”. The use of the word “infectious” to describe the way Estella’s contempt spreads makes it sound as though it is some kind of disease, which can be caught as a result of pressure from those seen as superior. This relates to the readers today because I feel that Estella puts pressure on Pip to conform to the way that she expects. The young readers of Great Expectations would be able to empathise with Pip, because peer pressure is a prominent part of growing up in the twenty first century.
Whilst in London, Pip admires Wemmick because he has the ability to have two separate lives; one in London, and one at the Castle. Wemmick is content with his life because he has the ability to disregard what others think if him and his extravagant, fairytale home. Contentment, therefore, also comes through learning to disregard what other people deem you to be. Becoming skilled at this can often take a long time, particularly if you are concerned with status, and so this is a difficult lesson for Pip to grasp. However, by the end of the novel, although it is not made obvious that he has mastered this skill, Wemmick’s positive influence in London helps him to discount the importance of status in his life, and focus more on want he wants for himself, rather then what he feels he should put on show for other people.
With the aim of achieving contentment, this is a factor that Pip must learn to pay no heed to, and so must the readers of the novel.
A strong message that also comes from the novel is that lusting after material value rather than moral values distorts your life, through greed and false contentment. Pip lusts after Estella because she is physically beautiful, and, before he can be truly content, Pip must learn that moral values are more important than material value. Estella makes Pip feel ashamed of himself and his life at the forge, bringing Pip under the delusion that material values bring happiness. However, in order to achieve some measure of contentment, Pip must dispel this delusion.
At the end of the novel, Pip learns that to be happy, he must be a good person with good values; such examples are when he helps Magwitch, and saves Miss Havisham from the fire. It is the realisation of good values, such as those taught by Joe at the forge, that contribute to Pip being able to achieve some measure of contentment. Having decided to return home to the forge, Pip begins to ameliorate:
“The June weather was delicious. The sky was blue, the larks were soaring high over the green corn, I thought all that countryside was more beautiful and peaceful by far than I had ever known it to be yet. Many pleasant pictures of the life that I would lead there, of the change that would come over my character with such a guiding spirit at my side, whose simple faith and clear home-wisdom I had proved, beguiled my way. They awakened a tender emotion in me; for my heart was softened by my return, and such a change had come to pass, that I felt like one who was toiling home barefoot from distant travel, and whose wanderings had lasted many years.” (Page 468)
This rich passage of the novel reveals many deep and complex emotions from inside of Pip. The fact that Pip is appreciating the countryside, his former and true home, shows that Pip is ready to accept a humble lifestyle there. Dickens also shows that Pip realises that it is his home-life at the forge, that he chose to leave, that should have been the guide for his life, because he suggests that when he left that life and took on the life of a gentleman, he “proved” the values of the forge to be good. This is emphasized when Pip says that going home “awakened a tender emotion”, suggesting that the same “tender emotion” had been ‘asleep’, or disregarded, until now, when he returns home to the forge. In addition, when Pip says that he feels as though he is returning home “barefoot”, Dickens uses symbolism because this imagery implies that Pip’s life as a gentleman in London had stripped him of everything that is of worth, such as good values. Being “barefoot” is a good way to depict this because the most lowly and humble people are seen to be those that don’t wear any shoes, especially in the time the novel is set.
As the good values of the forge are realised in his life, Pip becomes more content.
A further central issue that I feel Pip must learn is his own status and identity in society. As a rites-of-passage novel, this proves essential to the plot, because discovering where you fit in to society is a main part of growing up and finding your place in the world. Unsurprisingly, Pip struggles to find his place in society as he is an orphan, being bought up by a hateful, unloving sister. It seems that this adversely affects Pip, and increases his receptiveness to the pressure of obtaining high status in society. This is additionally used by Dickens to reveal the importance of family and parents; knowing your origins when growing up can help a person achieve contentment, an insight likely to be derived from his own broken family background. Pip says:
“As I never saw my father or mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they looked like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my fathers gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn if the inscription “Also Georgina Wife of the Above”, I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly.“ (Page 1)
As Pip says, “never saw any likeness of either of them”, it gives the impression that Pip doesn’t know anything of his origins, and this results in him being confused about his identity. Throughout Pip’s childhood at the forge, he leans on the identity of becoming a blacksmith like Joe, because this is all that he has had offered to him being or becoming. His sister, Mrs Joe, depletes Pip’s sense of self with her constant nagging and his being “brought up by hand”, which adds to Pip’s feelings of self worthlessness. Estella has a similar effect on Pip, because her scorn at Pip’ background knocks down the pride he has in his home and identity. Before Estella, Pip had been quite content with his life, but her introduction causes Pip to feel self-disgust and shame:
“Home had never been a very pleasant place to me, because of my sisters’s temper. But Joe had sanctified it, and I had believed in it. I had believed in the best parlour as a most elegant saloon; I had believed in the front door, as a mysterious portal of the Temple of State whose solemn opening was attended with a sacrifice of roast fowls; I had believed in the kitchen as a chaste though not magnificent apartment; I had believed in the forge as the glowing road to manhood and independence. Within a single year, this had all changed, and I would not have had Miss Havisham and Estella see it on any account.” (Page 103)
This passage shows that although Pip recognises that home had never been a happy place for him, it was home. It was somewhere he could go to and know he was home. The melodramatic imagery and symbolism Pip uses to describe his home show how he felt pride in his humble dwelling. Nevertheless, Pip becomes deluded that the identity the forge offers to him is not for him, but that he is destined to become a gentleman. The last part of the passage shows how it is Estella and Miss Havisham that have caused this desire in Pip to change his identity and become a gentleman.
As a gentleman, Pip uses his money and wealth to display an identity of high status, rather than through his true identity: Pip at the forge. He wears the clothes of a gentleman, owns a boat and servant like a gentleman should, and spends his money extravagantly.
“In the evening there was rowing on the river. As Drummle and Startop had each a boat, I resolved to set up mine, and to cut them both out.” (Page 189)
This passage shows how Pip is ready to compete with others, so that he is known as the best, or that he has the best identity. Competing with others around him and trying to keep up with what they expect, for example, in this case, trying to keep pace with “Drummle and Startop” shows again how Pip is easily influenced by others to become what they think he should become, rather than what Pip genuinely wants. His opulence in possessions gives others around him in London the impression that he is a gentleman of high status. Since Pip is unsure of an affluent identity, he attempts to prove it usng his fortune, which demonstrates dissatisfaction of self. In the end, however, he runs into debt, which may be symbolism of how Pip isn’t really destined to be a gentleman; that his wealth can’t pretend to be his identity forever, and it can’t make him content:
“At once I put bills up in the windows, for I was in debt, and had scarcely any money, and began to be seriously alarmed at the state of my affairs”(Page452)
This short passage shows that Pip’s identity as a gentleman, and his sense of self as a gentleman, doesn’t work. He is “seriously alarmed”, not only with his financial state of affairs, but with his mental state of affairs. As being a gentleman hasn’t worked out well for him, he is once again confused as to whom he is, and what he should become. In the end, Joe pays off Pip’s debts for him:
“Enclosed in the letter, was a receipt for the debt and cost on which I had been arrested. Down to that moment I had vainly supposed that my creditor had withdrawn or suspended proceedings until I should be quite recovered. I had never dreamed of Joe’s having paid the money; but Joe had paid it, and the receipt was in his name. What remained of me now, but to follow him to the dear old forge, and there to have out my disclosure with him, and my penitent remonstrance with him,” (Page 463)
This shows how only Joe can rescue Pip and his identity; Joe represents who Pip should have become. Respect and admiration for Joe is once again won for Pip, as “I had never dreamed of Joe paying the money; but Joe had paid it, and the receipt was in his name” shows. As a result of this act of Joe’s, Pip continues to reform into someone with a better identity, an example of which is shown in the passage: “What remained of me now, but to follow him to the dear old forge, and there to have out my disclosure with him, and my penitent remonstrance with him,” as this shows how Pip is willing to be humble toward Joe, and ask for his forgiveness. By seeking after someone else’s pleasure before his own, Pip displays qualities of selflessness, Once Pip has discovered his true identity, he can begin to become someone he is happy and content with, because he cares less about his own problems and so they don’t loom as great and as terrible, and he becomes more content.
A further lesson Pip must learn in his struggle to find contentment is to control his fantasies, phobias and delusions. A phobia is something psychological, that you fear and therefore try to shut out. Pip’s phobia that he won’t be able to obtain Estella controls him so much that he subconsciously creates fantasies to counter-act his phobias. A fantasy is when you dream of something irrational, or a surreal delusion of something that is exaggerated to fit your expectations of what you want that thing to be. Pip gets trapped by many fantasies in the novel, which prevent him living in reality and achieving contentment. A major fantasy in the novel is that Estella is meant for him, and that Miss Havisham is his benefactress, and this fantasy drives Pip into becoming a gentleman:
“’The beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s, and she’s more beautiful than anyone ever was, and I admire her dreadfully, and I want to be a gentleman on her account.’” (Page 125)
This passage is when Pip confides in Biddy why he yearns after being a gentleman, and it shows how Pip has the fantasy that as soon as he is a gentleman, Estella will be his. Later, when he comes into his Great Expectations, he fantasises that Miss Havisham is his benefactress so that he can be fit for Estella, and the fantasy is so strong that he makes himself believe that it is true. A passage that displays this is found on Page 177, when Pip is getting acquainted with Herbert:
“’And as to the condition which you hold your advancement in life-namely that you are not to inquire or discuss to whom you owe it- you may be very sure that it will never be encroached upon, or even approached by me, or anyone belonging to me.’
In truth, he said this with so much delicacy, that I felt the subject done with, even though I should be under his father’s roof for years and years to come. Yet e said it with so much meaning, too, that I felt he as perfectly understood Miss Havisham to be my benefactress, as I understood the fact myself.”
This passage shows how Pip has let his fantasy that Miss Havisham is his benefactress delude him, and how he will manipulate things that may not necessarily mean what Pip wants them to mean, to suit him and his fantasies. In order for Pip to progress in life and achieve contentment, he must learn to let go of these fantasies.
However, it is apparent that Pip is unable to let go of his fantasies, because he is afraid of what the reality might be. For example, Pip makes himself believe that Miss Havisham is his benefactress and that Estella is intended for him, because if Miss Havisham is not his benefactor, who is, and is Estella still for him? To Pip, the answer to these questions are too daunting to recognize, so he fantasises about the answer that he wants it to be. Therefore, when Pip discovers that in reality, his benefactor is an escaped convict, he is in absolute shock and repulsion.
“The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread I had of him, the repugnance with which I shrank from him, could not have been exceeded if he had been some terrible beast.” (Page 313)
Dickens’s cleverly uses language in this passage by repeating the same thing three times in different ways, as each of the parts of the passage that Pip describes Magwitch with all tell of his hatred and revulsion of him, but the build up of these things adds drama to the scene, emphasising Pip’s shock at the reality instead of his fantasy.
Once Pip understands that Magwitch is his benefactor, a reformation begins in Pip, and he becomes a better, happier, more altruistic person.
“Where I might go, what I might do, or when I might return were questions utterly unknown to me; nor did I vex my mind with them, for it was wholly set on Provis’s safety. I only wondered for the passing moment, as I stopped at the door and looked back, under what altered circumstances I should next see those rooms, if ever.” (Page 425)
This passage depicts how Pip has controlled his phobia of lower class status, because he is willing to help Magwitch and develops a self-sacrificing love for him, because, as it says in this passage, Pip is willing to give up everything that he has ever consciously wanted, which is being an eligible gentleman, for Magwitch’s (Provis’s) safety.
As a result of his self-centred fantasies, phobias and delusions, Pip becomes very selfish and self-concerned whilst he is in London, but when he begins to seek humble forgiveness from Joe and Miss Havisham because his fantasies have been ruined by reality, he becomes less selfish. Selflessness contributes to Pip’s happiness at the end of the novel, which is part of Pip learning to become like Joe, who demonstrates selflessness throughout the novel. When Pip seeks after other’s happiness before his own, he becomes more able to grow and develop into a better person:
Giving of self makes you unselfish, which in turn makes you happy as you make others happy. This consequences in you being outward looking because you want to look for more opportunities to help others, creating less focus on your own faults and more contentment and satisfaction with yourself. For example, when Pip saves Miss Havisham from the fire, or lends Herbert money for his business, Pip forgets about his own needs and safety. The injury Pip gets as a result of the fire at Satis House does not prevent Pip from wanting to save Magwitch by helping him escape the law and Compeyson by fleeing the country, instead, he wishes he could do more:
“I felt mortified to be of such little use in the boat,; but there were few better oarsman than my two friends.” (Page 426)
This shows how instead of dwelling on his own unfortunate circumstances, and the fact that he felt “mortified”, Pip thinks in a complimentary manner about his two friends: “but there were few better oarsman than my two friends.”
Pip learning how to become less self-centred and dispel his fantasies and phobias partly leads to the level his contentment at the end of the novel.
An additional lesson that Pip must learn before he can achieve some level of contentment, and a fundamental lesson for anyone growing up, is learning to listen and take advice from others. There are many points in the novel where Pip is offered good advice, usually by someone of trust or worth to Pip, and he doesn’t take it. Once Pip learns to take the advice given to him by those superior to him in experience, he can begin to make better and more informed decisions, which consequences in his being happier, more satisfied and more content.
The first major turning point in the novel, of Pip desiring to be and becoming a gentleman, could have been avoided if Pip had listened to this advice given to him by Biddy:
“’Biddy,’ said I, after binding her to secrecy, ‘I want to be a gentleman.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t, if I were you!’ she returned. ‘I don't think it would answer.’
‘Biddy’, I said with some severity, ‘I have particular reasons for wanting to be a gentleman.’
‘You know best Pip, but don’t you think that you are happier as you are?’” (Page 124)
This passage shows how Pip thinks that he knows best, as he speaks to Biddy with “severity” at not being able to understand why he wants to be a gentleman. When Biddy questions Pip, if he is not happier now, it shows that Pip is striving for contentment, although he attempts to find it in the wrong way, as Biddy cleverly picks up on:
“‘Do you want to be a gentleman to spite her, or to gain her over?’ Biddy quietly asked, after a pause.
‘I don’t know,’ I moodily answered.
‘Because if it is to spite her,’ Biddy pursued, ‘I should think -but you know best- that might be better and more independently done by caring nothing, for her words. And if it is to gain her over- I should think- but you know best -she is not worth gaining over.’” (Page 125)
Here, Biddy is offering Pip very good advice; that Estella really isn’t worth it. However, Pip thinks that he “knows best”, as Biddy says, and continues to follow the prospect of becoming a gentleman for Estella. If Pip had taken Biddy’s advice, he would have been able to achieve contentment in his life quicker than he does as he pursues the life of a gentleman, because he would have learned to forget Estella, become apprenticed to Joe, and lived the life of Joe, who is content with his life.
However, once Pip is in London, it is a whole new world to him, one that he struggles to cope with at first because of the spectral difference between London and his “marsh country” home. As a result of this, Pip needs to be taught how to survive in London and he is now willing to learn and listen to the advice of others, which in turn helps him to achieve a degree of contentment.
I believe that this is one of the most important lessons that readers today can get from Great Expectations; that in order to achieve contentment, you need to be able to listen to the advice of those that are older, more experienced and more knowledgeable that you are, because they are more likely to know how to best achieve it. The readers can learn from Pip’s ignorance not to make the same mistakes themselves.
Dickens cleverly uses setting throughout the novel to depict different qualities of life, or levels of contentment. The marsh country Pip originates from represents a humble lifestyle, but those that live there, such as Joe and Biddy, and Pip at the beginning of the novel, seem to be more content with their lives than those that live in London, which represents the wealthy, extravagant lifestyle. Dickens uses this irony to show how money and wealth do not necessarily bring contentment, which is a further essential lesson that Pip must learn. Miss Havisham lives in Satis House, which comes from the Latin meaning ‘enough’ or ‘satisfaction’. This is ironic because from the outside, the house represents a life of wealth and grandeur, which people often assume to bring satisfaction, but on the inside, the residents of the house lead a bitter, frozen lifestyle, and Miss Havisham is so unsatisfied with her life that she lives it to wreak revenge on all men.
These circumstances are used by Dickens to show how wreaking revenge does not equate to contentment; Pip must learn that if he is to be happy, he must not seek revenge from anyone, even those that have especially offended him. Nobody’s life works out perfectly, and Pip’s is evidently no exception. An example of a situation where Pip would need to learn to ‘forgive and forget’ is when Mrs Joe, his sister dies. On contemplation, Pip reflects:
“Whatever my fortunes might have been, I could scarcely have recalled my sister with much tenderness. But I suppose there is a shock of regret which may exist without much tenderness. Under its influence (and perhaps to make up for the want of the softer feeling) I was seized by a violent indignation against the assailant from whom she had suffered so much; and I felt that on sufficient proof I could have revengefully perused Orlick, or anyone else, to the last extremity.” (Page 272)
This passage discloses Pip’s thoughts as he moves from feeling bitter toward his sister: “I could scarcely recall her with much tenderness”, to seeking revenge upon the person that caused his sister anguish: “I felt that on sufficient proof I could have revengefully perused Orlick, or anyone else, to the last extremity”. It is a successful piece of writing as Dickens’s uses pairs of effective adjectives such as “shock of regret” and “violent indignation”, which creates more impact on the reader and helps them to empathise with the way Pip is feeling. This then results in the reader feeling more of a connection to Pip as he strives to achieve contentment, and so helps them to learn more from the novel.
In conclusion, it believe that Dickens’ rite-of-passage novel Great Expectations is successful at presenting useful lessons to it’s readers as to how they themselves can achieve contentment, despite being written in the 19th century. These are portrayed through Pip’s own struggle to achieve contentment, many of the struggles relating to Dickens’ own life, such as the issues like overcoming debt, unrequited love, family problems and poor education. Dickens shows in the novel how these things can be overcome, and contentment and satisfaction achieved, through the realisation of moral values, the dispelling of delusions and fantasies, and learning how to respond to people around you. However, despite this, the most important lesson, that comes through the novel, in learning how to achieve contentment in life is living it. Pip says that he was happy at the forge before he went to London, but he was not content (Page 315). Therefore, this suggests that the novel recommends that the best way to gain contentment is to live your life and learn through the experience of it; otherwise you would feel unsatisfied with your experience of life. And with your experience would come the lessons that Pip must learn in order to achieve contentment; good and bad values, to be able to control fantasies and phobias, listening to the advice of others, recognising that wealth does not bring satisfaction and, most importantly, to live your own life how you feel best the best way to live it is.
