While I was reading Great Expectations I happened to of also been reading a Bible passage form church around the same time. I couldn’t help but notice that the Bible story about Judas and Jesus closely resembles that of Pip and Joe’s.
So for some background on the Bible story; Jesus takes Judas under his wing as his disciple and through this Jesus gains Judas’ trust and also a strong relationship. Eventually, the local priests pressure Judas into betraying Jesus and in return he not only gains good social standing with the church but also 30 silver coins (wealth). In turn Jesus was disappointed but continued to provide unconditional love and forgiveness to Judas.
This simple Bible story kind of breaks down Pip and Joe’s relationship. Judas represents Pip, the oppressor while Jesus represents Joe. As Judas continues to abuse Jesus, Jesus continues to hang on and keep the relationship afloat, much like we often let God down or disappoint him yet he never leaves us to sink. I believe that a lot of our personal relationships in life also follow this same pattern. Relationships with parents, friends, family, etc. will eventually lead to some sort of disappointment, but for the majority of the time the relationship continues to stay afloat and in turn each individual grows stronger and closer.
What other relationships in the novel do you see that follow this pattern?
3 comments:
You make a very interesting point. I can see the comparison that you are making and I think that the relationship between Pip and Estella could also fit this comparison. Pip would be Jesus and Estella would be Judas. Throughout the novel Etsella is constantly betraying Pip and deceiving him just as Judas decieved Jesus, however in the end of the novel Estella and Pip are reunited were as Judas and Jesus are not.
I also see the same relationship pattern with Pip and Herbert, Pip being Judas and Herbert being Jesus. No matter what Pip does in his life, Herbert is always there to support him. It seems to me though, that Pip is always the one messing up or doing the betraying. The relationships he has with Joe and Herbert are filled with forgiveness and grace. This perfectly illustrates the story of Christ. Thanks so much for pointing it out Samm, I never would have made that connection by myself.
After reading Samm's blog post, I was able to realize all of the different connections that can be made with this novel. The connection that I initially thought of is actually a real life connection. Pip and Joe’s relationship in the novel is extremely characteristic of many relationships in today’s society. They had had a big brother-little brother or as some would say a father-son sort of relationship. Pip looked up to Joe and Joe never lit him down, but in time, Pip grew apart, found more important things in life, and betrayed him. This is so much like many relationships today. It is not uncommon to see betrayal in friendships, and time and time again, the friend that was betrayed always comes back and forgives the other. Sometimes we do not understand why this happens, but the main reason is because of human nature to love. It is just human nature to love one another so when a friend betrays another, love always finds a way to forgive and mend the relationship. This is just as Pip and Joe were. They loved one another and time mended their friendship.
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