Great Expecta

tions

Victorian Era Named for Queen Victoria Reigned from 18 years old (1819) until her

death at 81 (1901) Major industrial change = social change

- Factories, trains, steam boats Could finally have wealth without a birth right People left farms to make money in cities Wealth spread, while poor became extreme

Charles Dickens

1812 – 1870, England, Height of Victorian Era Dad was terribly in debt – put in debtors’ prison when

Charles was 12 Charles’s 7 siblings and mother moved into prison Charles lived and worked on his own for those 3

moths – hated it Put labels on bottles in a warehouse – too good for it Dad was released – Charles returned to school Dickens worked as a law clerk, then a court reporter,

then a novelist First book: Pickwick Papers (funny!)

Serial Story Told in installments (typically magazines) Dickens’s magazine: All the Year Round Magazine lost popularity after a bad serial

written by someone else Dickens wrote Great Expectations to improve

sales, more $$$ Great Expectations was released in weekly

installments, 2 chapters at a time Immediately published as a book after last

installment

Genre: Bildungsroman German: “A novel of self-cultivation” Novel that focuses on the protagonist’s growth Typically from childhood through adulthood Can be adulthood to death, as well “Coming of age” story; character is literally

coming to a certain age Novel ends with the protagonist understanding

himself better and his new place in the world

Characters Pip: protagonist, main character, first person narrator The Convict: floats in and out of Pip’s life Joe Gargery: Pip’s brother-in-law, blacksmith, cares

deeply for Pip Mrs. Joe: Pip’s sister, married to Joe, she is

overbearing, ambitious Miss Havisham: wealthy, mentally unstable after

being left at the alter years ago Estella: Beautiful girl, Pip’s age, lives with Miss

Havisham Jaggers: lawyer, watches over Pip as he moves social

classes Keep this list going!!