Great Expectations Essay

Great Expectations, a novel by Charles dickens, was first published in England as a serial in the years 1860 and 61 thus later as a novel. It runs to 448 pages in modern paperback. The work is considered to be autobiographical and told in first person as a autobiography of the orphan boy, Pip. Dickens thesis is moral in nature, saying that love, the true and a clean conscience are more important than wealth, mixer class and ambition. Pip believes he is in love with the Estella, a shield of the rich Mrs. Havisham and seeks to become a gentleman in order to net profit her heart.He comes to realize his sister and her husband and the convicted criminal, Magwitch, though low in social class, display more character than those he knows of the top(prenominal) class. Dickens, done his protagonist, advances the idea that nobility is not noble by nature, and one rouse advance on his own intelligence and work ethic (183). Mrs. Havishams family earned their money in commerce but she sti ll represents wealth. Dickens depicts her as a bitter and vengeful old woman, full of horror for men. She uses Pip and encourages the like-minded Estella to break his heart (60).Pip comes into money and believes that the fastness class Mrs. Havisham is his benefactress, which is not true. His money comes from the convict Magwitch who wants to make Pip a gentleman for his own reasons (335). Bentley Drummle, while a minor character, is used by Dickens to show that nobility does not confer morality on a person. Dickens proves his thesis by the relating the callous behavior of the upper classes, compared and contrasted to the kindness of his poor family and the lower classes represented. He produces a litany of noble scoundrels and vulgar citizens with high moral fiber for the reader to consider.