Many Victorian Bildungsroman were considered to be autobiographical and it is clear that Great Expectations is also an autobiographical but it isn't an autobiographical of Dickens but rather an autobiography of a fictional character, Pip. It is evident through the tone of the character that Pip is speaking from the future and almost playfully scolding the younger Pip. We see this at the beginning when Pip worries that the police have come looking for him after he frees' the convict from the shackles by giving him food and a file. As Pip grows and meets Ms. Havisham and Estella, he begins to grow fond of Estella but is ashamed of his nature that he is an blacksmith. He dreams of being adopted by Ms. Havisham so that he can begin his gentleman training and marry Estella. This is his "search for meaningful existence within society". We see his happiness and eagerness when he finds out that he has inherited a fortune, "My dream was out; my wild fancy was surpassed by sober reality; Miss Havisham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale." (Chapter 18)
To understand why Pip so fondly desires wealth and why he wants to be adopted by Ms. Havisham, the reader knows about Pips' beginnings and his hardships. He goes through discomfort through his childhood because he was an orphan ever since he was born and has been raised by his sister Mrs. Joe "by hand". Joe who is a blacksmith by trade, assumes that Pip will join in his footsteps and apprentice to Joe but after he meets Ms. Havisham his view about the "common people" is immediately changed even though he is a commoner himself. He despises his "course and rough hands" and even wishes he wasn't brought up by the way Jim brought him up. He does not have a close relationship with anyone even his sister because she is almost twenty years older than him, the closet person he can relate to is Jim who does not understand him once he beings to see Ms. Havisham. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Joe hates Pip and often beats him for the simplest reasons thus forging a mutual friendship with Joe. As Pip explains, ""[Joe] always aided and comforted me when he could, in some way of his own, and he always did so at dinner-time by giving me gravy" (Chapter 4). Although Pip considers Joe to be a friend he is not a fatherly figure since Joe often lacks the strength and the masculinity for he fears Mrs. Joe. The lack of fatherly figure severely effects how he perceives the world due to no fatherly guidance.
His perception of the social class changes almost immediately when he inherits his great fortune, Pip is rude to Biddy and shows his depreciation of Joes' manners. Even when Joe visits him in London while Pip is going through his gentlemen training, Pip is ashamed of his visit he is worried that Drummle would see him and insult him. He is annoyed by Joes' manners about how he eats and only shows his interest when Joe informs about Estella. When Pip decides to visit Ms. Havisham he chooses not to stay at Joes' excusing his ignorance that "Ms.Havisham would want me to stay close to her" and he stays at a hotel. Pips' attitude changes dramatically as he realizes that money is the solution to all the problems and he even goes as far to say that, " If I could have kept him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money" (Chapter 27). Pip is astonished to learn that Magwitch is actually his benefactor not Ms. Havisham, his dream shatters as he realizes that he is in reality not meant to marry Estella as he explains, "Estella is not designed for me". This can be viewed as Pips' turning point as he realizes that his "expectations" have been fake and he has hurt the people he cared about the most who are Joe and Biddy. He matures and realizes Biddy's' love over Estella and reconnects with Joe and Herbert, a critical characteristic of Bildungsroman.
Pip ultimately comes in terms with the society, he becomes a gentlemen in business and even forgives Ms. Havisham for what she has done to both Estella and Pip. He tries his best to save Magwitch but Magwitch is hanged. This shows that Great Expectations is indeed a Bildungsroman but to top things off Dickens slightly changes up the ending so that Joe marries Biddy and Estella and Pip finally reunite. Estella leaves Drummle but the what the readers don't know is whether they finally marry or if its' just a finally meeting before they both depart.
MLA Formatting
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. United States of America: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1999. Print.