Initially we see Pip as an innocent child, untainted by others and clearly a child of his environment. Dickens’ use of realist techniques encourages the reader to believe in Pip’s world by providing ‘certain codes of communication to persuade us to accept the illusion of reality’ (Barthes, 1915-80 p.15). Perhaps one of the most obvious examples of this is how characters such as Magwitch, Mrs Joe and Joe ‘speak the idiom of their class’ (Nochlin, 1971 p.35), thus allowing the reader to see the working class in their natural environment. The writer’s choice of words, for example, ‘conwict’, ‘indiwidual’, ‘unnerstand’, ‘partickler’ etc, conveys the reality of who the characters are. It is important for us to see Pip in this world in order to measure his growth and relate to his character, and his aspirations.
However, although realist techniques play a significant part in the novel, the reader may question whether Joe’s character is too idealistic. Seemingly the most moral of the characters, Joe is a decent hard working individual with no apparent flaws. He stands by Pip regardless, and his kindness is always evident. For example, his portrayal of Mrs Joe is somewhat different to that of Pip. Joe refers to her as ‘a fine figure of a woman’ (p.57), even though the reader is aware she treats him terribly. Similarly, when Magwitch informs him he stole the pie Joe sympathetically responds by saying ‘we don’t know what you have done, but we wouldn’t have you starved to death for it, poor miserable fellow-creatur’ (p.39). Nevertheless, the reliability of first person narration could also be questioned as the reader only sees the events and characters through Pip’s eyes. As events are narrated by a mature Pip, it is questionable whether the reader might query if accounts from his childhood memories can be trusted and relied upon. He only remembers Joe’s finest qualities because he was the only person to ever show him any real love and affection.
As Pip grows, his thoughts and perceptions change. His introduction to the upper class world, when he first visits Miss Havisham, marks the change in his perception of morality. As Pip’s love for Estella deepens, compassion for Pip also deepens as his love for Estella becomes clear and we learn of Miss Havisham’s intention for Estella to ‘break his heart’ (p.59).
The writer’s use of dialogue to present the character of Estella is also an effective way of encouraging the reader’s sympathy for Pip, and indeed Estella herself. The dialogue between Pip and Estella during his visits to Satis House evokes sympathy for Pip by providing the reader with a truthful representation of the actual words spoken between the two characters, thus allowing the reader to judge for themselves the cold heartedness and manipulation that Pip suffers at her hands. When Estella cruelly mocks Pip for calling ‘knaves Jacks’ and refers to him as a ‘common labouring boy’ with ‘thick boots’ and ‘coarse hands’ (p.59), Pip begins to question his upbringing. Furthermore, when the reader becomes aware that the words spoken by Estella are a result of Miss Havisham’s manipulation of her, it invites sympathy for Estella too. Estella is raised by Miss Havisham who cruelly influences her to be a cold, heartless mirror image of herself.
However, although the reader will also make a moral judgement about Miss Havisham’s deceitfulness towards Pip, as she leads him to believe she is the source of his wealth, the reader’s view later changes. The repetition of her crying out ‘what have I done!’, ‘what have I done’ (p.394) encourages a sympathetic response as we learn Miss Havisham has finally come to realise the pain and suffering she has endured on both Pip and Estella.
The treatment of both Pip and Estella – and how it is realistically narrated by Dickens - encourages the reader to become involved in the moral dimension of children’s upbringing; the notion of children being seen and not heard and showing respect for their parents or guardians is brought into question by both Mrs Joe’s and Miss Havisham’s behaviour. In today’s society we see this as cruelty, but in their society it was considered the correct way of bringing up children.
The reader soon discovers the influence the class system has on Pip. Soon after meeting Miss Havisham and Estella, Pip’s desire to become a gentleman gradually overshadows any loyalty he feels towards his family as social improvement and wealth become more important to him. He is ashamed of his upbringing and wishes Joe had been raised ‘more genteelly’ (p.61) so that in turn he may have been. Pip’s ‘mortification’ and dread at Joe’s visit, and his admission that he would ‘certainly have paid money’ (p.215) to keep him away, clearly demonstrates the strong divide between upper and lower class, which invites the reader to make a moral judgement about Pip’s indifference towards Joe.
Although we sympathise with Joe on numerous occasions throughout the novel it is Pip’s feelings towards Joe during this time that evokes the strongest sympathy in the reader. The narrative at this point gives the reader a clear insight into how much Pip has changed, perhaps making us less sympathetic towards him, as he inwardly finds fault with Joe’s clothes and mannerisms. Similarly, the dialogue that follows where Joe tells Pip it is an ‘honour’ to be in his company and continually addresses him as ‘Sir’ (p.220), also shows the reader how their relationship has changed and encourages us to question Pip’s and society’s morality, which seems to place higher value on someone’s class than their attributes and qualities as a human being. We are shown, through this, how the man who has brought Pip up has to show deference to a man who has been raised as if he were his own child.
When Pip learns that Magwitch is the source of his wealth, not Miss Havisham, he is mortified and at first wants no association with him. However, we gradually realise Magwitch’s good qualities and begin to feel sympathetic towards him, as does Pip. Pip’s fondness for him grows and he begins to see in him virtues that he himself has been searching for. When on his death bed, the words spoken by Pip, for example, ‘Dear Magwitch…’ and ‘O Lord be merciful to him…’ (p.455), show how much Pip’s attitude and feelings towards him have changed. Dickens uses first person narrative and only Pip’s direct speech in order to further increase the reader’s sympathy for Magwitch as he lay dying. Had he spoken, the compassion felt by the reader for Magwitch may not have been so intense, which shows how Dickens uses the first person narrative as a means of eliciting involvement and sympathy with his characters.
It is after the capture and death of Magwitch that Pip learns his greatest lesson. His ‘heart was deeply and most deservedly humbled’ (p.416) as he thinks of Joe and realises that what he has been searching for his whole life has always been there and that real self-improvement is in no way connected to social advancement or material gain.
Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens actively invites the reader to make moral judgements and become sympathetically involved with the characters experiences. By presenting his characters using realist and narrative techniques the reader is encouraged to question the characters and their morality. It is as we follow Pip through his life, during a time where social status was often considered more important than a person’s virtues that we are able to sympathise with the character’s lives and experiences.
Bibliography
Dickens, C. (1998) Great Expectations, Oxford World’s Classics, London, Oxford University Press
Nochlin, L. (1990) Realism, St Ives, Clays Ltd
Padley, S. (2001) Approaching Prose Fiction, Kent, Thanet Press Ltd
Walder, D. (1995), The Realist Novel, Oxon, Routledge
