Great Expectations Research Paper

Status. A term that in 1800s London was a word that defined everyone. It defined people, the way they lived, and the way people saw others. If people were not rich and treated respectfully, they were poor and treated as peasant-like and a hinderance. Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens about a boy named Phillip Pirrip overcoming social status. This shows that no one’s class or social standing is set from birth. Charles Dicken’s novel uses motifs, themes, and imagery to make this point clear to its readers. One of the devices Dickens uses to explain status further are motifs. At the beginning of the novel, Pip is forced to go to a wealthy old woman named Miss Havisham’s house so she can watch him play with her daughter, Estella. It is made apparent from the start that Estella thought herself better than Pip because of the riches that she has and he does not. Adding to this, Estella treats Pip like a peasant and criticizes him for his “coarse hands” and “thick boots.” Eventually, a young Pip is led to tears. As Pip gets older he is driven by Estella’s cruelty to become good enough for her, but because of his social standing did not have the money. Later in the novel, even when he is granted with a mysterious benefactor and can live his dream to become a gentleman, he is still
treated like the so called peasant he once was by a wealthy young man named Bentley Drummle. Throughout the novel Dickens also uses themes.
One of the themes is that Pip, when becoming a gentleman, thought that because of his money he was better than others. When Pip had a been a gentleman for a while, Joe, his adopted father, came to visit him and throughout the visit, Pip became embarrassed for Joe’s “lack of manners” even though when Pip was growing up he was taught the same way. Finally when Pip’s mysterious benefactor is revealed to be Abel Magwitch, an ex-convict Pip had helped in his earlier years, Pip claims that the money he received is “dirty” even when it was earned honestly. Because Pip had thought of Magwitch as a convict, his view on the money was
changed.
Dickens also describes social class further using imagery by expressing social standing through the places and objects in the story. In the story, the city of London is used as a wealthy character as opposed to the Kent marshes being a poor character. Although Dickens does not blatantly say these places are characters, they can be interpreted as the distinction between rich and poor. London would be like the wealthy because the city is rich with buildings and people, while the marshes would be as the poor because of its worn down house and lack of materialism.
Charles Dickens, throughout the novel, used excellent motifs and themes as well as brilliant imagery to survey his point that social status is not something that defines people. At the end of the story, Pip goes back to the marshes to see Joe married to Biddy, Pip’s friend, and living perfectly happy with being poor. Pip then realizes his mistakes in judging others based on their wealth or class and truly overcomes class by going from a poor boy raised by his sister to a wealthy gentleman and by being able to see through someone’s status and see their personality.