Great ExpectationsLinks to Behind the Scenes at the Museum and The Wife of Bath

Chapters 1 - 3

For each of the following sets of three quotes comes up with a comparative point.

Chapter 1 “My father’s name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip”

‘Experience, though noon auctoriteeWere in this world, is right ynough for me’

‘My name is Ruby. I am a precious jewel. I am a drop of blood. I am Ruby Lennox’

Links• Assertion of identity through articulation of own name• Pip’s name- diminutive one syllable nick name but with the potential for

growth and development- Pip seeks a new identity- reinvent himself and given names such as ‘Handel’ by Herbert Pocket when he arrives in London

• Ruby tries to assert her value –like Pip always feels the inconvenience of her own existence- suffering metaphor ‘drop of blood’

• In contrast, the Wife of Bath’s name ‘Alyson’ is not hugely important- like Ruby and Pip she acknowledges that other’s may not value her- confident that her ‘experience’ will give her narrative authority- her position as a wife is more important than her

“My first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones…of the inscription ‘Also Georgina, Wife of the above’, I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly”

“I want to rescue this woman from what’s going to happen to her (time). Dive into the picture and pluck her out”

“(Sometimes I try to imagine Bunty as a child, but for some reason this makes me unbearably sad – See footnote (vi))”

“They had me yeven hir lond and hir treasoor;Me neded nat do lenger diligenceTo winne her love, or done hem reverence”

Chapter 1

Links• Limited narrator constructing the past• Ruby appears as sexless as she grows up• Pip knows nothing of his parents so must try to construct a history from

objects that remain as links to his past- Ruby does this in the same way by looking at Alice’s photograph leading to the third person narrated footnotes. Contrast- Pip’s journey is away from his family, trying to create his won identity away from his past whereas Ruby tries to delve deeper into her family and tries to work her way into being more valued by them

• Ruby’s and Pip’s perception of the past are often skewed by childlike naivety and personal interest (Ruby makes out that Bunty is a terrible mother- Bunty has had a terrible life and manages well after losing many children) Alyson’s telling of the past is also skewed by her bias and recounting in her own favour

• Alyson presented as a manipulative narrator by Chaucer who presents past marriages from her own perspective (Pip and Ruby naïve and trusting whereas the Wife of Bath is worldly and experienced)

Chapter 2“She made it a powerful merit in herself, and a strong reproach against Joe that she wore this apron so much. Though I really see no reason why she should have worn it at all.”

“Sire olde kaynard, is this thyn array?Why is my neighbores wyf so gay?She is honoured over al ther she gooth;I sitte at hoom, I have no thrify clooth.”

“We love no man that taketh kep or chargeWher that we goon; we wol ben at oure large”

“’I don’t see why a house needs a wife. It’s me that needs the wife!’ Whatever next? Demanding the vote?”

“Despite the mess, the dreaming Bunty experiences a flush of pleasure when she sees how tidy her rubbish looks.”

Links• Bunty and Mrs Joe both strive to fulfil the role of housewife whilst fighting

against their confinement to their homes- Mrs Joe resents having to look after Pip, Bunty dreamed of going to Kansas- condemns them to life of drudgery

• Alyson recognises the expectations of her as a woman and a wife and details these through her husbands voices- she rebels against the role and subverts it striving for power rather than subservience

• Havisham and her house both decay- the house is a symbol of imprisonment/tomb for her- not a home- no maternal affection towards Estella- dry and desiccated.

Chapter 2“I was never allowed a candle to light me to bed”

“After thy text, ne after thy rubriche,I wol nat wirche as muchel as a knat”

“She can hardly wait to get us out them in the morning, yanking back the curtains and tweaking us out from under the covers so that she can eradicate our warm shapes from the sheets as soon as possible.”

“At the time I did blame you. But of course it was an accident”

Links Both Pip and Ruby lack maternal figures of comfort that they desire. Both Mrs Joe and Pip’s anti-maternal figure Havisham act with cruelty and spite, resenting his presence

Bunty lacks maternal instinct and Ruby is aware of this as she grows up and also the resentment of her presence as well. Firstly as an unwanted child (circumstances of the conception) and her assumed responsibility for Pearl’s death- Ruby psychologically represses the reason why Bunty doesn’t show her affection- never understands

The Wife of Bath shows no intention of becoming a mother or showing any maternal instinct- treats her early husbands with cruelty and does not show any affection or submission that would be required- Jankin is the only husband who the Wife gives these things to- Compare with Mrs Joe’s treatment of Joe and Pip (aggressive and violent)

Chapter 2

“As soon as the great black velvet pall outside my little window was shot with grey, I got up and went downstairs; every board upon the way, and every crack in every board calling after me ‘stop thief!”

“with empty hand men may none haukes laure”

“There’s something eerie about it, with its microscopic plumbing (tiny copper taps!) and little, leather-bound books (Great Expectations!)I would be frightened , I am frightened about being trapped in there”

“Something crackles with evil”

Links• Imagery and guilt• Ruby and Pip possess active imaginations and use vivid imagery to

describe childhood perceptions of the world. In these passages, they both represent their feelings of guilt- Ruby’s unremembered event and Pip’s stealing of food for Magwitch- Atkinson’s intertextual nod to ‘Great Expectations’ she feels as though her character is undergoing the same fearful right of passage as Pip- being displaced in a strange environment without worldly knowledge to deal with it

• Alyson has a lively imagination and uses imagery to bring to life her interactions with her husbands- worm and tree metaphor, animal imagery- also adds extra digressions to her story for the same effect

Chapter 3“Some thing clicked in his throat as if he had workings in him like a clock, and was going to strike. And he smeared his rough, ragged sleeve over his eyes”

Knight learns to submit to female authority. From “lusty bachelor” to offering her authority; “cheseth yourself which may be moost pleasance / and moost honour to yow and me also”.

“It wasn’t the noise that bothered Frank anyway – it was death, or rather how he was going to die…he was terrified of dying without any warning”

“Tom knew that the first woman was right, he was a slacker. He was a slacker because he was terrified out of his wits at the idea of going to the front. When he thought about the war he had this funny feeling that his insides were liquefying”

Links• Masculinity- many men lack this in these works• The depiction of Magwich crying is deliberately contradictory- threating

verb ‘strike’ contrasts with the action of rubbing his sleeve over his eyes- this teaches Pip that common humanity prevails regardless of society’s judgements

• BTS and WOB also show contradictions to the typical notions of masculinity- Afraid of war in BTS but not being able to openly express their fears and WOB husbands and the knight in the tale give authority to women

• Two texts written by men- the modern novel reflects a feminine view. Should the WOB be taken seriously as she is created by a man (undermining her?) Chaucer presents her as selfish, hypocrite and so medieval audience would undoubtedly see her character as a negative presentation of women

Chapter 8“I had never considered being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt for me was so strong it became infectious and I caught it.”“I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.”

“Patricia got a second holiday that year, staying in a mother-and-baby home. When she came back, a mother-and-no-baby, she was a different person somehow.”

“For which oppressioun was swich clamourAnd swich pusute unto the king ArthourThat dampned was this knight for to be dead,By cours of lawe, and should han lost his heed”

LinksShame- in some ways a positive attitude to this by society- understand right and wrongPip’s moment of realisation that he is of low social class and his snobbery towards his background begins to come through- Miss Havisham and Estella ‘infect’ him with this social snobbery and subsequent betrayal of Joe

Social judgement and snobbery seen in BTS- in supposedly sexually liberated Britian in the 1960’s sends young mothers away to give their babies up for adoption- shame represented by the family being told that Alice was ‘dead’ rather than the father admitting his wife had walked out on him with the French photographer Jean

The shame associated with the knight’s actions in the WOB’s tale is expressed by Alyson- from the perspective of others in the tale- the knight appears to feel no remorse and only carries out his act of repentance to save his own life- could reflect her own marriages and the struggle for control

Chapter 8“In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice”.

“I am gripped by a wholly inappropriate urge to shake Bunty back to life and make her be our mother all over again – but do it better this time”

“Thou shalt nat bothe, though thou were wood,Be maister of my body and of my good”

LinksSense of InjusticeThe WOB feels an injustice at her husbands keeping their money from her –

claims not to have financial and body separateness- Chaucer highlights hypocrisy of her grievances- the listener is led to believe that she is the one who wrongs them

Pip and Ruby could, in contrast, be said to be justifiably aggrieved at the cruelty of their upbringings- ‘by hand’ in Pip’s case or in an emotionally ‘autistic’ way for Ruby- Bunty never fully connects with her daughter and the bond is never formed

Chapter 8“I saw that the bride within the bridal drew had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose , had shrunk to skin and bone.”

“That I have had my world as in my time.But age allas, that all wole envenime,Hath me biraft my beautee and my pith”

“I notice how thin her hair is now. She has liver spots on the back of her hands and a funny red mark in the corner of one eye as if a cat’s claw had caught her. I’m suddenly overwhelmed with pity for her and I loathe her for making me feel like that”

LinksOld age and realisation of mortality Alyson and Miss Havisham presented as wilted flowers- lost their ‘pith’ and

‘brightness’- both depicted as shadows of their former selves. Alyson however positively strives to make the most of her maturity ‘sell the bran’ whereas Miss Havisham vows to break the hearts of men

BTS the reader sees the sadness and loss of age from an outside perspective as Ruby feels pity for her mother, a woman who has never invited this emotion and whom she feels wrong pitying- ironic that when Bunty gets older she becomes more patient and affectionate whereas before she never gave Ruby the motherly love she needed

Chapter 8“ ‘Let me see you play cards with this boy’‘With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring boy!’I thought I heard Mrs Haversham answer – only it seemed so unlikely – “Well? You can break his heart.’ ” Pip ignores the truth in front of him- cannot comprehend this

“And al was false ; I dremed of it right nought,But as I folwed ay my dames loore”

“ ‘But you can’t just blot something out ,’ I yelled at her. ‘You can’t just pretend somebody never existed, not talk about them, not look at photographs – ‘‘There are photographs.’ She said. ‘And of course we talked about her; it was you that blotted her out, not us.

LinksDeception/ Self-deceptionPip ignores evidence that he is presented with. Havisham’s manipulation of Pip though

her control of Estella could be argued to be far from deception- she openly urges her to ‘Break his heart’- similarly Ruby is presented with photographs of Pearl and mentions of her but chooses not acknowledge them- psychoanalytically could be interpreted as being deemed to painful to deal with

Alyson wilfully sets out to deceive her husbands citing the passed down wisdom of her ‘dames’ as her inspiration- Bunty and the family do not deliberately set out to deceive Ruby regarding Pearl

Chapter 39“‘Stay!’ said I. ‘Keep off! If you are grateful for what I did for you when you were a little child, I hope you have shown your gratitude by mending your way of life…I am glad to believe you have repented and recovered yourself.” Pip unpleasant in dealing with Magwich- pompous

“ ‘Dooth as yow list; I am heer at youre wille’In al the courtr ne was ther wyf, ne mayde, Ne wydwe that contraried that he sayd,But seyden he was worthy han his lyf”

“She is off on a quest – to find her own child, the one she parted from so long ago in Clacton.”

LinksSelf Improvement and Atonement- important in development of identityAll works set in revolutionary periods- roles and attitudes open to negotiationPip immediately passes judgement when he realises that the man in front of him is the

‘convict’ and reluctantly evaluates Magwich’s transformation (Pip becomes Magwich’s object of self-improvement) Pip uses his improved social position to judge him but doesn’t realise that Magwich is responsible for his improved status

The Knight in the WOB tale is agreed by all to have succeeded on his quest for atonement and therefore is spared his life- reader does question whether this is genuine due to his immediate attraction to the dancing maidens in the forest- Also question whether Alyson has learnt her lesson (curses all men who won’t let women have power at the end of the tale)

In ‘Redemption’ Patricia redeems herself by returning to find the daughter that she had had adopted- Ruby Patricia and Bunty all reach a truce through Bunty’s senility- they can forgive her and she can finally show them the motherly affection they never had

Chapter 39“I would not have gone back to Joe now, I would not have gone back to Biddy now, by any consideration: simply, I suppose, because my sense of my own worthless conduct to them was greater that every consideration. No wisdom on earth could have given me the comfort that I could have derived from their simplicity and their fidelity; but I could never, never, never, undo what I had done”

“I have been to the world’s end and back and now I know what I would put in my bottom drawer. I would put my sisters.”

“and Jhesu Crist us sendeHousbondes meeke younge, and fresh abedde,And grace t’overbide hem what we wedde.”

LinksRegretBoth Pip and Ruby regret not appreciating those who had been good to them (Ruby

not so aggressive about her mother by the end) Neither protagonist valued the input of these people and tried to distance themseleves from them- these quotes epitomise their adult realisations that they were wrong and should have done things differently- self-reflective characters

WOB contrasts with this- she concludes her tale with a contradictory statement to all she has supposedly learn from her experience- could conclude that she does not learn what is needed for a happy marriage and personal fulfilment and never will

Critics- complex characters are created through their ability to change- WOB, written in the 14th century, more simplistic in terms of personal development (a stereotype character) complexities lay within her psychology- Ruby (more emotionally complex) and Pip (has moments of this complexity) are created as complex characters

Chapter 39“Down, down, down. I hurtle down through space and time and darkness. Sometimes I accelerate and can feel the centrifugal force strapping the organs to the inside walls of my body” Black Humour involved?

“At the truth of my position came flashing on me; and its disappointments, dangers, disgraces, consequences of all kinds, rushed in in such a multitude that I was born down by them and had to struggle for every breath I drew.” Sheer panic, questioning his belief

“A fair womman, but she be chaast also,Is like a gold ring in a sowe’s nose.”Who wolde wene, or who would suppose,The wo that in myn herte was, and pine?” An exposure of her as a person

LinksRealisationsEach passage demonstrates a life-altering realisation for the protagonists- Ruby

experiences such emotional distress at discovering Pearl’s existence that she takes an overdose- Pip struggles for breath as he realises his status and fortune is imbued by the man he looks down upon

Alyson’s realisation comes surprisingly not with Jankin’s act of violence but with his criticism of women who are ‘unchaste’- she realises she no longer holds worth in his eyes

Chapter 39“Crist wol we clayme of hym oure gentilesseNat of oure eldres for hire old richesse”

“I resented the sort of bright and gratified recognition that still shone in his face. I resented it because it seemed to imply that he expected me to respond to it.”

LinksSocial Hierarchy and Snobbery

The Wife of Bath, in her tale, asserts that nobility comes through actions rather than through birth- very controversial to hear for a medieval audience- Chaucer born into merchant family and moves to the nobility through marriage to John of Gaunt’s daughter

Victorian era- Pip is part of a social group who were able to increase their fortunes through education and opportunity- we learn that Magwich has been away and made his fortunes overseas and that Pip has not bettered himself but it is Magwich who has bettered him- Pip wants to become part of the elite social group- when Pip has to work for his money he becomes a nicer person

Think about how narrator are products of their times- context, stereotypes, how do things change from medieval to Victorian