How Does Dickens Present the Character Mrs Joe Throughout Chapters 1-7 of Great Expectations?

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How Does Dickens Present the Character Mrs Joe Throughout Chapters 1-7 of Great Expectations?

Throughout the first seven chapters, Dickens presents Mrs Joe as the main antagonist. It appears that when she isn’t seeking credit for the fact that she brought Pip up “by hand”, she has an agenda to make him and the other characters she encounters suffer. Clearly, she is the opposite of the ideal Victorian woman.

Mrs Joe is not given a name in these chapters and is known only as “Mrs Joe”. This makes her relationship with Pip very formal, especially considering that they are in fact brother and sister. It is ironic that Mrs Joe be referred to as “Mrs Joe” constantly, when there does not seem too much of Joe in her. The main purpose it serves is probably to characterize Mrs Joe as a more masculine, and therefore typically more commanding, character. In the tradition of marriage, the wife usually gives up her last name to show that she is "property" of the man; therefore it is especially ironic that she be called Mrs. Joe when it is clear that Joe belongs more to her.

Dickens also presents her as having a rather obvious dissatisfaction with her life. She blames Pip and Joe for this, stating “you’ll drive me to the churchyard betwixt you and oh, a pr-r-rectious pair you’d be without me!” She appears to believe that Pip and Joe should feel guilty for putting her through the woes and horror that her life is, but still feel grateful that she endures it instead of upping and leaving.

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This makes the reader see her as rather arrogant and snobbish. There are several times where we can point out and make a reference to her snobbery, for example, on Christmas day in chapter four. Mr. Pumblechook visits for Christmas dinner and, when she greets him she exclaims "Oh, un-cle Pum-ble-chook! This is kind!" From the manner this sentence is written we can understand that she says this with a register different to the one with which she usually speaks, suggesting that she adopts a specific sociolect when in Pumblechook’s company. He seems to be the only character she speaks ...

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