Great Expectations basically revolves around the appearance of things and how they are not what they seem.
In the novel, Pip deceives himself with the idea that he can marry Estella. However, Pip can only marry Estella if he moves social classes, which means that he must deceive society.
Through these acts, Dickens shows us that the greatest act of deception is self-deception and through this that one truly cannot delude himself into happiness.
Pip chooses to self-destruct on himself because he believes that in the end it will bring him to Estella. Seriously, Pip? If a girl claims she doesn’t have a heart, you might not want to go down that road.
Throughout the novel, Pip receives advice. Pip is advised to beware of appearances and dig deep for the truth by Jaggers, who is arguably one of the most honest characters in the novel. Don’t be deceived. It’s great advice for Pip, but one of Pip’s fatal flaws is that he doesn’t listen to the people who care for him.
Thinking about it more, this novel is definitely in some ways a response to the people who were spreading rumors that Dickens was cheating on his wife before he left her. Dickens was probably really upset that they didn’t have any proof and had no idea what his situation was.
2 comments:
I can't say that I necessarily agree with this. Pip cannot decieve society. The only way in which Pip is esteemed in society is when he is awarded money and there is no deception that the money bought him class. When he was a boy wanting social status, all Estella saw was his blacksmith hands and boots, there was no deceiving herself in that. Yes, Pip sought to tell himself that he was to marry Estella, but I believe this mistake was a mistake more based on the assumption that Miss Havisham provoked,suggesting that she was Pip's benefactor.
Moreso than that, I truly don't see Jaggers as an honest character. Nearly all of his work is based on deception. This is seen clearly in his case with Estella's mother. The way he shows off her strong wrists so pointedly suggests that she was completely capable of strangling the other women. Thus, Jaggers' whole job in that case was to decieve the judge into believing that a woman so seemingly delicate as Estella's mother could never have had the strength to murder the other woman, a deception that led the judge to let a murderer be deemed innocent. Deception at its finest in my opinion.
The last paragraph of your blog is rather interesting though. I never knew that about Dickens and I'm sure your right in that it most likely was played out somewhere in his novel.
#expectopatronum
I have to say I agree with Paige here. There's no humanly possible way Pip can deceive society. It is obvious that money buys power, which entails social class. Therefore everything related to Pip's social status is self-explanatory.
However, Pip never deceived himself concerning Estella. He knew perfectly well that he could never and would never have her. He knew that she would never love him. Yet, he meandered down that path anyway. In my opinion, this is the apocalypse of mistakes in Pip's life because it consumes his entire being making it impossible for Pip to progress or move forward with his life for many, many years. If anything, Pip was fooled by Miss Havisham into believing Estella could one day be his. He does realize the harsh reality and chooses to ignore it.
My thoughts about Jagger are still forming, I can see it both ways. Your insight about Dickens and his private life though is really helpful. It explains to me why parts of his novel are so dark.
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