Resumo de Great Expectations - Socio-economic Examination Part 1

Marxist Criticism, which is a form of literary approach based on thepolitical and economic theories of Karl Marx, interprets literature asa byproduct and manifestation of the socio-economic classes of thetext?s particular era. The major concerns of the Marxist criticalapproach, also known as materialism, are the issues of class, labour,wealth and power and its role in the structure of any given society.Marxist Criticism unveils the ideological system of the society andestablishes a strong link between the values, morals and economicposition of the class members and the works being produced.Additionally it heralds the down-trodden of socio-economic class asbeing the most fundamental component in the functioning of society,whilst challenging the implemented concept of social elitism andeconomic superiority. These properties of society that Marxistcriticism reveals is precisely what Dickens?explores at the heart ofGreat Expectations but is elusively juxtaposed against thebildungsroman tale of Phillip Pirrip (Pip). This seemingly opaque storyof Pip forms a striking narrative singularly, however, employingMarxist criticism enables us to see that the story of Pip is merely aninstrument in which Dickens? uses to explore and uncover the rigidityof Nineteenth Century life and the associated beliefs, values andmorals of the classes.Though, no imprints of Dickens? own observationsare as strongly evident in the novel as his own perspective of theinherent British class system. Unlike many British citizens of the age,Dickens? had experienced both the brutal and deprived conditions of theworking and under classes along with the self-importance and idlenessof the wealthy.With this immense knowledge of the classes, Dickens?interjects a vast array of remarkable characters into GreatExpectations, all of various class and stature, which allows therelatively un enlightened reader to see that Nineteenth Century Britishsociety was separated into three major sectors, each distinguishedaccording to the power, authority, wealth, working and livingconditions,lifestyles, life span, education and religion eachpossessed.It is the language and, most particularly, the actions ofthese same very fictional characters that furthermore permit thecarefully and consciously positioned reader to ascertain the differentvalues and morals in members of any particular class. An example ofwhich is Estella?s and Miss Havisham?s treatment of Pip which is highlyindicative of class elitism.The key to interpreting the Nineteenth Century and consequently the keyto the thematic understanding of class in Great Expectations stems fromthe Industrial Revolution and the changes that occurred as a result.Prior to the Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, the British economywas based purely on manual labour, but when Industrialisation was setin motion, the economy shifted to be dominated almost solely bymachinery and factory-based industry.Such a drastic change had nighincomprehensible implications to the socio-economic structure andculture of British citizens and altered almost every facet of short andlong-term life. The stellar modification made to English society, atleast regarding Dickens? novel, was the sudden introduction of truefree enterprise and the capitalist system, which is still operating tothis very day, brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Though theentry of industry and factories provided minimal benefits to thecommonplace working individual other than a slight incrementalpossibility of employment, it handed staggering potential of successand acquisition to the middle-classes who had up until that time beenstifled by the aristocracy. In turn, the middle-class triumphed tobecome the most powerful and influential class of all as they owned themeans of production and therefore means of incredible financial gain.The ascending middle-classes, who were forging great companies andservices,forcibly nudged their way to power and began obsessivelycraving respectability. The aristocracy, with very limitedpossibilities of financial expansion, contemptuously sneered at themiddle-class and their ?new money?made from trade and commerce. It ishere that Great Expectations uses the aristocracy as the sole symbol ofsnobbery and hypocrisy in NineteenthCentury society; the wealthy andaristocratic held fortune earned by trade in contempt even though theirinherited fortunes were at some point in time a product of commerce,and Miss Havisham is an illustration of this, as her fortune derivesfrom the now-decaying beer brewery attached to Satis House.Yet Dickens?doesn?t focus on the actual act of middle-class achievement, butinstead on the exploration of the stark contrast between the existingsituation founded on wealth and privilege and the Revolution-inspiredexpectation that anyone could amass a fortune by confronting andconquering opportunities. Universal education was unavailable to allbut the wealthy as well as no social support services except for thepoverty-stricken homeless, and thus the working poor had very fewopportunities to better themselves or attain improvement, however,theNineteenth Century was also a period of immense energy and optimism andmankind believed that anything was within man?s grasp. It was widelythought that no obstacle was beyond man, therefore acting as much lessof a deterrent to succeed as in modern-day society, and this sanguinityin turn yielded the mighty expectations of the masses. Inaddition,Dickens? intentionally delves deeper into the expectations ofthe middle-lower classes and unearths the accompanying feelings ofambition, self-improvement and an almost ingrained desire to berespectable and recognised. A representation of this expectation andambition is no more encompassing than that within Pip; which Dickens?uses as the very epitome of developing expectations at the beginning ofthe novel. Shortly after meeting Miss Havisham and Estella byinvitation, his idealistic nature leads him to despise the status intowhich he was born and raised and to form a deep desire to improve hismoral, social and educational self and seize any possible form ofpersonal advancement.

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