Ch. Dickens, Great Expectations

PLOT:

1^st publication in book - 1861

MATURATION NOVEL:

= A BILDUNGSROMAN - a kind of a novel where the author presents the psychological, moral and social shaping of the personality of the protagonist,

• describes the process of Pip's growing up,

• it is divided into three parts:

1. general chronicle of a young man (his views change, events shape him),

2. formal education of protagonist,

3. development and orientation of artist (an artist becomes mature and comes up with his artistic credo).

Maturation novels follow the same patters:

• a boy comes from village / small town,

• conflict with father (generations),

• a boy abandons his house and goes to a big city,

• once he gets there, he is disappointed,

• pursuit of self-fulfillment,

• he realizes that whatever he rebels against, escapes from, he returns to home,

• love element - romantic involvements of protagonist (girl left behind).

• In the end he returns home and finds his place in society.

PRESENTATION OF PIP:

• a young orphan boy being raised by his sister and brother-in-law,

• Pip is not a nice person ( but: people feel sorry about him because of his childhood),

• he loses his innocence when he grows up,

• he wants to be a gentleman and tries to polish himself in order to suit Estella,

• Pip is passionate, romantic, and somewhat unrealistic at heart,

• he tends to expect more for himself than is reasonable,

• Pip also a powerful conscience, and he deeply wants to improve himself, both morally and socially.

PRESENTATION OF LONDON:

• it is always dark, dangerous place,

• not very attractive place,

• Many of the London locations are in the area of the law courts, close to Newgate prison.

The imagery of crime and criminal justice pervades the book, becoming an important symbol of Pip's inner struggle to reconcile his own inner moral conscience with the institutional justice system.

NARRATING I vs. EXPERIENCING I

• Narrating I - sb who tells us the story, does not hide or improve anything, reason: to justify his inner self

• Experiencing I - young Pip who grows up, special distance between him and act of narrating (?) - emotional distance. Pip is able to convey the viewpoint both of his younger self (from the simple child of the novel's opening to the young prig of the middle chapters) and of the mature narrator.

NARRATION:

• Pip is the protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations,

• throughout Great Expectations, the narrator uses images of inanimate objects to describe the physical appearance of characters,

• Pip the narrator gently pokes fun at his younger self, but also enables us to see and feel the story through his eyes,

• Pip the narrator judges his own past actions extremely harshly, rarely giving himself credit for good deeds but angrily castigating himself for bad ones.

THE IDEA OF A GENTLEMAN, MONEY:

- In the novel we are introduced to two different ideas of what makes a gentleman:

1. a gentleman is made what he is by his social status or class: this is measured in terms of his understanding of rules of social etiquette habits of dress and speech and the standing of his family

2. being a true gentleman is a matter of virtue and honesty, of having a station in life which one can fill with dignity, as Biddy says of Joe.

• Pip - sense of shame grows with him, he is ashamed of his origin, lack of manners. He thinks he is inferior; by educating himself he joins the upper-class. He really wants to be a gentleman (behave well, have fortune, acquire proper education) -> he obtains it all but he is not a gentleman,

• Mr. Pocket - he is well-educated, owns school for young men, teaches good bahaviour and manners. He is not well-off but it does not mean he is not a gentleman. His son Herbert is gentleman as well, they do not ridicule people but treat them kindly,

• Magwitch - he wants to be a gentleman too, Magwitch attempts to make Pip a gentleman because he knows that he can never attain that position himself. The convict is said to "buy" a gentleman.

Money:

• spent foolishly by a group of empty "gentlemen" (Finches of the Grove + Pip),

• reducing people to objects (an offer to buy the woman Pip loves),

• Pip has an exaggerated respect for money,

• a belief that money and power demand respect.

Gothic Elements in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens:

• The melancholy ruin of Satis House

• the bride frozen in time

• the domineering aristocrat Bentley Drummle

• the child (young Pip) and the young woman in distress

• the monster (Orlick) presented

• the suspenseful entrapments of Pip and Magwitch

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