Great Wxpectations

Introduction.-

It has been traditionally accepted that Charles Dickens, one of the most important writers in the history of English Literature, is a realistic writer. As a matter of fact, he could be said to be the most representative figure of the so- called Realistic Period. And yet, as we are going to analyse, he was far from being a prototypical realistic writer, or at least he was morethan a realistic writer.

In many of his major works, he depicts the society of his times in a very ironical way, and maybe this is the reason why he has been included into the group of writers who dedicate their literary productions to a social or political denouncement. However, Charles Dickens is more than that since in his works he presents not only a realistic perspective about life, butalso a view about the world influenced by Romanticism and with the first manifestations of the yet to come Naturalistic movement.

Summary of the novel.-

First of all it will be useful to include a summary of the novel we are going to analyse, so we can later on refer to its characters and situations in a clearer way.

Pip is an orphan being raised by his tyrannical, ill-tempered sisterand her kind and warm husband Joe, the local blacksmith. One Christmas Eve Pip encounters a convict in the village churchyard. The man scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle.

One day Pip gets invited to the house of a rich old woman named Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is an old woman who was abandoned on her wedding day and has since then being secluded inher house (Satis House), her only companion being Estella, her adopted daughter. Estella is beautiful, but has been trained by Miss Havisham to break men's hearts, satisfying her surrogate mother's desire of vengeance. Pip develops a strong crush on her, a crush that turns into love as he grows older.

Pip frequently visits Miss Havisham, until one day she tells him never to return because thetime has come for his apprenticeship with Joe to begin. Pip is miserable as a blacksmith and constantly worries that Estella will never stop seeing him as horribly common. One night at the village bar a London lawyer, Jaggers, approaches Pip, revealing that Pip has inherited a lot of money from an anonymous benefactor and must leave for London immediately, to become a gentleman.

In London,Pip studies with a tutor and lives with a new and close friend, Herbert. Pip is certain that his benefactor is the rich Miss Havisham. In addition, he becomes convinced that Miss Havisham's financial support is the result of her desire that he may marry Estella someday. Among the people he knows in London are Wemmick, a clerk in Jaggers' office who becomes his friend, and Bentley Drummle, a horriblebrute who begins to make moves on Estella.

One stormy night, Pip learns the true identity of his benefactor. It is not Miss Havisham but Magwitch, the convict Pip fed in the churchyard many years ago, who has left Pip all his money in gratitude for that kindness. The news of his benefactor upsets Pip--he's ashamed of him, and worse yet, Magwitch is a wanted man in England. Pip finds that itis his dreadful duty to help him escape justice. Magwitch is eventually captured, however, and dies not long before he is to be executed and after Pip's discovering that Magwitch is actually Estella's father.

Without money or expectations, Pip goes into business overseas with Herbert. After eleven years abroad Pip makes one last visit to Miss Havisham's house, where he finds Estella wandering.Her marriage (she had married Bentley Drummel earlier in the novel) is over, and she seems to have grown kinder, and wants Pip to accept her as a friend.

Analysis of the novel.-

Now we are going to start our analysis of Great Expectations. What we are going to do is concentrate on some passages of the novel and see how they exemplify this mixture of styles we are talking about, as well as...