Great Expectations

Great Expectations

1. Key themes

   • Social Class/Hierarchy
     • Estella makes Pip aware of his working class background - this starts the changes in Pip
   • Ambition/Hopes
     • Pip hopes to make the transition from working class to upper class
   • Wealth
     • Pip has a desire for wealth - results in him getting Herbert into debt
       • Pip does not care - selfish
   • Conflict
     • Inner turmoil
       • The difference between doing what he wants and what is right
         • Steals from his sister to help the convict
   • Innocence/Corruption
     • Pip is innocent at the beginning - wants to be like Joe - a blacksmith - he is unaware of life outside of the marshes
       • When he leaves he is easily influenced by his surroundings - he becomes corrupted - shows his naivety

2. Other readers

   • Marxist
     • Proletariot = Pip
     • Bourgeois = Estella
     • Estella looks down on Pip because he is a 'common laboring boy' - Makes Pip aware of the class structure
     • One of the reasons for Pip's corruption - he tries to make the transition between classes and fails
   • Freudian
     • Orlick - ID
       • He is the dark side of Pip - expresses Pip's repressed feelings
         • Mrs Joe treats them badly - Only Orlick physically fights back
     • Herbert - EGO
     • Repression
       • Magwitch as Pip's benefactor
         • The truth was hidden - when it is brought to the surface, Pip becomes aware of his situation for the first time
       • Estella
         • Mrs Havisham raised her to get revenge on males
           • Estella has been groomed to feel no love

3. Structure

   • 3 parts of the novel represent Pip's stages in his life
     • Part 1 - Innocent Pip
     • Part 2 - Corrupted Pip
     • Part 3 - Pip's redemption

4. Narrative voice

   • Retrospective first person narrative - Pip
     • Makes him unreliable? - He may not be able to remember everything accurately
     • The reader knows Pip will be okay in the end - he survives all the hardships he faces
   • At the beginning he is a child - may have over exaggerated what he say
     • His vivid description of the convict
   • He is fairly honest - acknowledges his faults

5. Key Symbols

   • Pathetic fallacy
     • Dickens uses a lot of pathetic fallacy to foreshadow bad things to come
       • Chapter 39 - stormy night - return of the convict
     • Foggy mist - symbolises Pip losing his former innocent self
   • Satis House
     • Pip's realisation of where he is in the world - working class
     • Symbolises bitter dreams and disappointment
       • Miss Havisham gets left on her wedding day
       • Pip hopes to marry Estella one day
   • Setting
     • Marshes - forshadows Pip's corrupted self
       • Page 5-6
         • 'this bleak place overgrown with nettles'
         • 'dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard'
         • 'distant savage lair'
     • London
       • Negative description
         • Foreshadowing Pip's corrupted self
     • Barnard's Inn
     • Satis House
   • Estella
     • Is symbolic of the bourgeoisie
   • Joe Gargery
     • Is the ultimate symbol