Unqualified Mothers In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

The various, unqualified mothers of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations inflict major, negative consequences on their children in both mental and physical ways. Two of the female characters, find themselves ill-equipped for their position because of pride, jealousy, and a general inability to support their offspring. Furthermore, the other two abusive mothers raise their offspring with menace and ruthlessness which leads to major social complications in their childrens’ lives.
To begin, two of the motherly figures, Belinda Pocket and Molly, find themselves to be completely unable to care for their children due to their personal affairs and contemptuous behaviors. The useless and disdainful Belinda Pocket allows her pride and trust in her lineage to consume her ability to care for her numerous children and renders herself unable to protect the children from harm. The several Pocket children, raised by Mrs. Pocket and protected by the
maids, “[are] not growing up or being brought up, but [are] tumbling up”(145) and she refuses to “allow anybody to interfere”(151) with her methods.
Moreover, the children are exposed to many dangerous situations each day and most are triggered by Mrs. Pocket’s own carelessness. Belinda Pocket’s obvious detachment from reality and attachment to the past has a profound effect on her children and could lead to major physical and mental disabilities or even death for her offspring. After relenting to the iron grip of jealousy and brutally murdering a woman, Molly, mother of Estella, renders herself unable to care for her child and chooses to relinquish any chance that she has of raising her child to maturity. After killing the woman in a barn and being saved by Jaggers “[Molly] [goes] into his service immediately after her acquittal, tamed as she is now”(308). Furthermore, Molly choses to have Jaggers take her
child to someplace safe because she would not be able to take proper care of it. Molly’s decision to send Estella away results in the girl being brought up by Mrs. Havisham who ruins the child’s life. This characterizes Molly as an unable and irresponsible mother simply because of her anger and actions toward the woman in the barn. In the end, these two mothers display an incompetence and inability to raise a child to maturity without issues in the child’s physical or mental state. The other two motherly figures appearing in this story, Miss Havisham and Mrs. Joe Gargery, use violence and harshness to raise their children which results in social disabilities and emotional impairments that last a lifetime. Mrs. Joe Gargery, Pip’s older sister, causes Pip immense amounts of pain a suffering throughout his childhood which eventually leads to a desire to leave the Marshes as well as a painful and overwhelming love for an unattainable woman. Mrs. Joe Gargery uses her torture device, the Tickler, which “[is] a wax-ended piece of cane, worn smooth by collision with [Pip’s] tickled frame”(6). This constant beating and abuse could be one reason that Pip is so attracted to Estella. She symbolizes many things and charmed Pip in many ways, but one main reason that Pip loves so much is that she appears to be a way to leave the Marshes and go to a less painful place. This of course leads to Pip being led on by Estella and eventually having to endure a painful heartbreak because of his stubbornness and desire to leave. Finally, the mysterious and heartbroken Miss Havisham desires to protect Estella from the pains of love and betrayal, this escalates to Miss Havisham using Estella as a weapon against the male sex and destroying the child’s social abilities at the same time. At first Miss Havisham “[means] to save her from misery like [her] own”(312), however as time goes on she continues to abuse Estella’s heart and soul until “[she] [steals] her heart away and [puts] ices in its place”(313). Moreover, Miss Havisham’s abuse becomes evident when Estella attempts to leave her and marry Drummle to gain independence. Moreover, Estella’s lack of heart is shown when she refuses to marry the caring Pip and instead goes for the heartless Drummle. Miss Havisham does not abuse Estella in a physical way but instead tortures her emotionally. This emotional abuse leads to Estella becoming unable to express love in any form and ends with Estella being beaten and abused by Drummle. This illustrates the lasting and prominent effects of Miss Havisham’s abuse. Overall, the two sadistic mothers torture their children in different ways, one more physical and one more mental, but the end result is major social and emotional disabilities for the children. Mothers play an important role in the plot development of Great Expectations, they inflict damage on their children in many different ways including physical and mental abuse and simple inability to support the child. These actions result in the children maturing into emotionally disabled or physically hindered in some way. In the end, the motherly figures in Great Expectations reflect those in Dickens’ life and in our society today, some mothers are nurturing and loving, but others are violent, abusive, and irresponsible.