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About
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Great Expectations
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Great Expectations is a Bildungsroman (a novel tracing the life of the
protagonist) by Charles Dickens and first serialized in All the Year
Round from December 1860 to August 1861. It tells the story of the
orphan Pip (short for Philip Pirrip) and his "expectations",
inheritance and plans for progression in his life and status. Great
Expectations is divided into three volumes, each of which corresponds
to one stage of the hero Pip's expectations and his life journey.
The first volume of the work is among the most evocative and varied of
all Dickens' books. The portrayal of the countryside of Kent and the
marshes on the lower regions or the Thames beautifully describe a part
of the county in which Dickens lived and greatly loved. The terrifying
experiences of Pip in the opening chapters are contrasted with humour,
always present in Dickens, of Pip's childish understanding of the
world; such as being beaten is what being brought up "by hand" actually
means. His visits to the forbidding and decaying Satis House, where he
meets the almost equally threatening Miss Havisham, open Pip's eyes to
even stranger worlds. Miss Havisham has been jilted at the altar by her
lover, Compeyson, and her life has been frozen in time from that point
on. Pip also meets Estella at Satis House, a proud, beautiful girl who
is being schooled by Miss Havisham to be as cruel and heartless to
others as she feels the world has treated her. These people and the
themes relating to them affect Pip's future growth.
There is very little agreement amongst readers as to which of Dickens'
novels is the best, but Great Expectations is often placed at the top
of polls. This contrasts with the end of the 19th century, when the
author, George Gissing, in his study of Dickens' works, had to remind
the readers of the plot of Great Expectations as it was largely ignored
compared to his other works. The book's lack of popularity shortly
after it was written and its greater status today is perhaps due to the
fact that it is the least "Dickensian" of any of his books. The usual
grotesque characters common to many of his books are more muted and
believable in this book. The book is also very carefully plotted and
less episodic than many of Dickens' other stories with the central
character's changing viewpoint and perception of the world around him
an important element of the story.
The character of Pip contrasts sharply with the title characters in
such books as Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist.
In these novels, the main character is very simply portrayed and the
characters around them are of far greater interest. Pip, on the other
hand, begins as a likeable, but simple child, but develops into quite
an unsympathetic character later in the book. Dickens draws us into
following the fortunes of the changing Pip from childhood, a subject in
which Dickens is an acknowledged master, on to a rather snobbish and
objectionable adolescent and then to his final reformation. Although he
would probably not like to admit it, Dickens himself was a very clear
model for Pip's personality. Despite having great fondness for the poor
and oppressed and wishing to improve their conditions, Dickens felt
himself superior to them. What he saw as a shameful personal connection
to the poor earlier in his life made his desire to separate from them
more pronounced and this is mirrored in Pip's story.
The ending of the book is another measure of the difference to other
Dickens novels and also greatly affects the readers’ interpretation of
the whole story. Dickens originally wrote an unhappy ending to the book
that was, however, consistent with the book's theme. Dickens rarely did
this and indeed it was very unusual for Victorian novels in general.
After talking to his friends and fellow novelists Wilkie Collins and
Edward Bulwer-Lytton he re-wrote a more hopeful ending which is the one
used in all subsequent editions. Many critics regard the first ending
as far more in keeping with the morality of the proceeding story but
the second ending is acknowledged to be better written from a stylistic
point of view. Both endings though are atypical compared to his other
books and shows an uncertainty or ambivalence in the author's mind as
to how the work should be ended.
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Charles Dickens 