The themes that are introduced and emphasised in Chapter 8 of Charles Dickens Great Expectations are a near complete summary of the themes of the novel as a whole and of the conditions in which the English people had to live with in the 1800s.

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BRAMAN THILLAINATHAN                GCSE ENGLISH COURSEWORK                         

IN WHAT WAYS DO THE THEMES OF CHAPTER EIGHT OF ‘GREAT EXPECTATIONS’ REFLECT THE THEMES OF THE BOOK OVERALL?

The themes that are introduced and emphasised in Chapter 8 of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations are a near complete summary of the themes of the novel as a whole and of the conditions in which the English people had to live with in the 1800’s. This chapter epitomises the circumstances in which English people lived and the situations that they faced, and it looks at many different perspectives and takes into account many different factors. The Industrial Revolution was a period in time when everything in England changed rapidly, and Dickens made sure that he captured England’s huge transition in every light he could. Dickens himself lived in poverty for a number of years, and his main motive for writing books (such as Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby) was his desire to see change. These books are based around injustice and the divide between wealth and poverty. Chapter 8 of Great Expectations clearly defines the issues that Dickens sought to deal with through writing.   

The very first thing that happens in Chapter 8 Pip’s uncomfortable breakfast with Mr Pumblechook. Pip states in his narrative that ‘on politely bidding him Good morning’, Pumblechook immediately asked him a mathematics question. The breakfast then proceeds to continues in this manner (‘before I had swallowed a morsel, he began a running sum that lasted throughout breakfast.’) This is a prime example of control. This is one of the themes that come to the fore as the novel progresses. Pip finds that he very rarely has a choice in matters, he is either forced to do something or it would be very foolish or insulting to decline making certain choices. His life his almost completely influenced by others, and he often has no control over it at all. In Chapter 8, he is controlled by Pumblechook (as afore mentioned), Estella (‘”You are to wait here, boy.”’) and Miss Havisham (‘”Play!”’). In particular, Miss Havisham manipulates the lives of Estella and Pip to suit her own twisted, selfish needs to the point where she is remorseful of her actions. Dickens stresses the point that, in this era, the wealthy people dictate the actions of the poorer people. The fact that Pip is sitting back and enjoying the ride, so to speak, is a result of the people around him ordering and demanding things of him. Pip rarely has a choice to make, and is manipulated and used by many people, some with good intentions (Magwitch), some with evil intentions (Miss Havisham and Compeyson). Control and the gulf between inferiority and superiority are perpetual forces in the novel.

Estella’s importance to Pip is also very important. It is made clear that he is enchanted by her as soon as her sets his eyes upon her (‘”I think she is very pretty.”’) She is his unattainable desire. He lusts after her beauty and sophistication. Her mockery of Pip and his language (‘”He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy... And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots!”’ ‘Why, he is a common labouring-boy!’), encourages Pip to believe that he is ignorant (certainly not ‘scholarly’ as Joe Gargery declares him to be) and makes him ashamed of his upbringing, which in turn spur him on to dream of becoming a gentleman. Even after he was indirectly told by her that they would never be together, he never gave up hope, and constantly watches out for her, as he did in trying to warn her that Bentley Drummle was the wrong man to marry. It was in Chapter 8 that they met each other at Satis House for the first time. She was spiteful to him, as a result of being brought up through childhood by Miss Havisham, who reared her to ‘wreak revenge upon the male sex’, although this later backfires on Miss Havisham as Estella is abused by Bentley Drummle, to her shock. ‘Estella’ is the Spanish for ‘star’ and it is apparent that Pip sees her as one. This is taken literally in Chapter 8 when she takes a candle upon entering Satis House with Pip in tow and she has the only source of light to guide them through the dark corridors (‘…she had left a candle burning there. She took it up, and we went through more passages and up a staircase, and still it was all dark, and only the candle lighted us.’) From the moment that Pip met Estella in Chapter 8, he was captivated by her, and was as a result influenced by her for the rest of the novel.

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The fact that people of Dickens’ time were discontent with what they had (i.e. the poor struggled to survive and the rich often lived beyond their means) is also made very apparent by Pip after his visit to Satis House. He goes inside blissfully ignorant of the problems of his era, and comes out with his innocent worldview shattered and feeling ashamed of himself (‘I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry…’) and feeling quite unfairly resentful of Joe Gargery and the way in which he was crudely brought up by him (I wished Joe had been rather ...

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