Resumo de Great Expectations - A Socio-economic Examination Part 2

Though Pip is of consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness and good basicconscience,his new-found expectations overshadow his virtuous qualitiesby the ambitious drive of forming himself as a gentleman of society andwinning Estella?s heart.This newborn and deep-seated ambition causeshim to treat Joe and Biddy harshly and wretchedly as well as turninghim into veritable middle-class prig. The novel?s title itself, GreatExpectations, is a reflection of this; both Pip?s ?great expectations?for his future, and the general expectations many had for themselves inthe Nineteenth Century, which is slightly but most evidently ironic.Likewise, Dickens? choice of title firmly cements and then challengesthe common assumption that held sway over Nineteenth Century societywhich detailed that any enterprising individual could gain social andpersonal advancement given a determined work ethic.Magwitch,thefearsome criminal fugitive, who pounces on Pip during one of his manygraveyardwanderings of childhood is both one of the most memorable andinstrumental creations in Great Expectations.Pip?s immense kindness,though stemming partly from fear, has a profound impression uponMagwitch who decides to return the favour. After being transported toAustralia as a convict, Magwitch amasses a fortune through which toelevate Pip into a higher social class and make him the most idealgentleman. This in itself is an enormously confronting challenge to thesocial conventions and orthodoxies o fEnglish society; a convict, oneconsidered the lowest of life by all, becoming a wealthy benefactor ofPip?s opulent lifestyle would be greeted with abysmal disgust by anyoneof stature. Even Pip, once educated as to the identity of his anonymousbenefactor, downcasts him as dirt-smeared villainy, and only onceMagwitch is facing death and Pip facing the loss of his fortune andthus expectations, does he become conscious of his morally bad ways.Hence in essence, Magwitch serves the dual purpose of symbolising theunder-classes possibility of achievement and their desire forrecognition and respect as well, but as a rousing figure who isultimately one of good inner virtue, which ironically and unjustly wasconsidered one of the most important aspects of the gentleman from thenoble?s perspective. Simultaneously,however, Magwitch serves as achallenge to Nineteenth Century society and the 'anyone can achievetheir desire? attitude: Magwitch could only compile a large fortunethrough leaving the country and the boundaries of society and thenreturning in secret as a fugitive of the law.So whilst he is a threatto the middle-upper classes for he is walking proof that anyone canmake money and achieve great things no matter what status one derivesfrom and that even the lower members of society wish for recognition.Magwitch also represents the unfortunate fact that many of the workingand lower classes would never be able to attain their desires or reachtheir expectations within the confines of the restrictive andsuffocating Victorian Era.The wealthy, manic and eccentric MissHavisham, who lives in the manor of Satis House nearby Pip?s formervillage, is Dickens? representation of gender roles within NineteenthCentury Victorian society. Unlike the established foundation of genderequity standing today, women in the Nineteenth Century, as well asbefore and after, were confined and restricted in both opportunitiesand lifestyle. The working classes aside, a financially adequatewoman?s primary hope of further social advancement, and respect wouldbe to marry a gentleman of fortune and ability and ride the wave ofrespect to the apex of society alongside him. Thus embedded in theage-old value of the man owning the fiscal means and the woman residingat home, was that the expectations of women in Nineteenth Centurysociety lay squarely, if not solely, on espousing into a man of greatermaterial possessions and status. Miss Havisham, the wealthy dowager,fell short of her expectations, and indeed the very expctatios held bymost wealthy women, when she was jilted by her rich fiancé just momentsprior to her wedding which resulted in her becoming an obsessivelybitter and vengeful old wreck who is determined to reign havoc on allmen as a result of her failed expectations. The surrounding objects ofMiss Havisham?s are representative of her crashed expectations and thatfor some, falling short of their ?great expectations? was falling shortin life. The objects? grounds for representation is because when shehad learnt of her fiancé, Compeyson?s, betrayal she had not yet put herother shoe on, nor her gloves, handkerchief or lace, and it was atprecisely twenty minutes to nine when she had first learnt of histreachery, all of which is echoed in the relevant passage.Through theexploration of the nature of class structure and Nineteenth Centurysociety, Dicken?s overall concluding judgement, the subtle satiriccriticisms aside, is one of morality and authentic virtue. Dickens?presents the reader with Pip?s supreme desire to obtain improvement inall facets of existence and the subsequent and, to a certain degree,consequent fall from the moral highground into virtuously and morallydishonourable ways. As the reader is taken by Dickens? and made tojourney beside Pip, we see the development of expectations, theconsequent snobbery and immorality instilled in him, and the redemptionhe gains when faced with the loss of his fortune and ?greatexpectations?.Thus because we, the readers, have been positioned to seethese changes; it forces us to question whether social status and theassociated wealth, recognition and property,necessarily correspondswith moral stature. Albeit Dickens? has presented much of thehypocrisies, the injustices and the farcical nature of the classstructure of Nineteenth Century English society in his ownidiosyncratic style, his underlying conclusion, perhaps even advice, isthat moral purity and ethical consideration to yourself, your friends,family and to life in general are the true aspects of inner virtue andthat warmheartedness, faith, loyalty and conscience are of considerablyhigher value and real worth than social advancement, class, wealth anderudition.

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