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CHARLES DICKENS: CONCEPT OF HUMOUR IN GREAT EXPECTATIONS,

PLOT CONSTRUCTION IN GREAT EXPECTATIONS, THE CLASH OF SOCIAL

CLASSES IN GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens explores the class system of Victorian

England, ranging from the most wretched criminals (Magwitch) to the poor

peasants of the marsh country (oe and !iddy) to the middle class ("um#lechook)

to the $ery rich (Miss %a$isham)& The theme of social class is central to the

no$el's plot and to the ultimate moral theme of the #ook"ip's realiation that

wealth and class are less important than a*ection, loyalty, and inner worth& "ip

achie$es this realiation when he is +nally a#le to understand that, despite the

esteem in which he holds Estella, one's social status is in no way connected to

one's real character& Drummle, for instance, is an upperclass lout, while

Magwitch, a persecuted con$ict, has a deep inner worth&

"erhaps the most important thing to remem#er a#out the no$el's treatment of

social class is that the class system it portrays is #ased on the post-ndustrial

.e$olution model of Victorian England& Dickens generally ignores the no#ility and

the hereditary aristocracy in fa$or of characters whose fortunes ha$e #een

earned through commerce& E$en Miss %a$isham's family fortune was made

through the #rewery that is still connected to her manor& -n this way, #y

connecting the theme of social class to the idea of work and selfad$ancement,

Dickens su#tly reinforces the no$el's o$erarching theme of am#ition and self

impro$ement&

Great Expectations is set in early Victorian England, a time when great social

changes were sweeping the nation& The -ndustrial .e$olution of the late

eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had transformed the social landscape,

ena#ling capitalists and manufacturers to amass huge fortunes& /lthough social

class was no longer entirely dependent on the circumstances of one's #irth, the

di$isions #etween rich and poor remained nearly as wide as e$er& 0ondon, a

teeming mass of humanity, lit #y gas lamps at night and darkened #y #lack

clouds from smokestacks during the day, formed a sharp contrast with the

nation's sparsely populated rural areas& More and more people mo$ed from the

country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity& Throughout

England, the manners of the upper class were $ery strict and conser$ati$e1

gentlemen and ladies were expected to ha$e thorough classical educations and

to #eha$e appropriately in innumera#le social situations&

-t is essential to realise that Dickens carefully structured this excellent story #y

di$iding it into three distinct stages& These actually relate to the three $olumes of

the +rst edition when this no$el +rst was pu#lished, #ut e$en though we do not

ha$e this no$el di$ided up now, it is still important to consider the structure and

how and why it is di$ided into three #ooks&

/s a #ildungsroman, Great Expectations presents the growth and de$elopment ofa single character, "hilip "irrip, #etter known to himself and to the world as "ip&

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/s the focus of the #ildungsroman, "ip is #y far the most important character in

Great Expectations1 he is #oth the protagonist, whose actions make up the main

plot of the no$el, and the narrator, whose thoughts and attitudes shape the

reader's perception of the story& /s a result, de$eloping an understanding of "ip's

character is perhaps the most important step in understanding Great

Expectations&

EMILY BRONTE: TWO TYPES OD NARRATORS IN W. HEIGHTS; GOTHIC

ELEMENTS IN W. HEIGHTS, PLOT CONSTRUCTION

2uthering %eights is a no$el #y Emily !ront3, written #etween 4cto#er 5678 and

une 5679& 2uthering %eights is the name of the farmhouse on the :orth ;ork

Moors where the story unfolds& The #ookuality&

/ny serious discussion of 2uthering %eights must consider the complex point of

$iew that !ront3 chose& 0ockwood tells the entire story, #ut except for his

experiences as the renter of Thrushcross Grange and his response to :elly and

the inha#itants of 2uthering %eights, he repeats what :ellie tells him?

occasionally she is narrating what others ha$e told her, e&g&, -sa#ella

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passages, crypts, and catacom#s which, in modern houses, #ecome spooky

#asements or attics, la#yrinths, dark corridors, and winding stairs, shadows, a

#eam of moonlight in the #lackness, a Bickering candle, or the only source of

light failing (a candle #lown out or, today, an electric failure), extreme

landscapes, like rugged mountains, thick forests, or icy wastes, and extreme

weather, omens and ancestral curses,magic, supernatural manifestations, or thesuggestion of the supernatural, a passiondri$en, wilful $illainhero or $illain, a

curious heroine with a tendency to faint and a need to #e rescuedCfre>uently, a

hero whose true identity is re$ealed #y the end of the no$el, horrifying (or

terrifying) e$ents or the threat of such happenings&

The Gothic creates feelings of gloom, mystery, and suspense and tends to the

dramatic and the sensational, like incest, dia#olism, necrophilia, and nameless

terrors& -t crosses #oundaries, daylight and the dark, life and death,

consciousness and unconsciousness& ometimes co$ertly, sometimes explicitly, it

presents transgression, ta#oos, and fearsCfears of $iolation, of imprisonment, ofsocial chaos, and of emotional collapse&

THOMAS HARDY: CONCEPT OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, MORAL

DILEMMA (DID SHE DESERVED THE PUNISHMENT OR NOT), CONCEPT OF

NATURE, PLOT CONSTRUCTION

nfairness dominates the li$es of Tess and her family to such an extent that it

#egins to seem like a general aspect of human existence in Tess of the

d'r#er$illes& Tess does not mean to kill "rince, #ut she is punished anyway, =ust

as she is unfairly punished for her own rape #y /lec& :or is there =ustice waiting

in hea$en& Ahristianity teaches that there is compensation in the afterlife for

unhappiness su*ered in this life, #ut the only de$out Ahristian encountered in the

no$el may #e the re$erend, Mr& Alare, who seems more or less content in his life

anyway& For others in their misery, Ahristianity o*ers little solace of hea$enly

=ustice& Mrs& Dur#ey+eld ne$er mentions otherworldly rewards& The con$erted

/lec preaches hea$enly =ustice for earthly sinners, #ut his faith seems shallow

and insincere& Generally, the moral atmosphere of the no$el is not Ahristian

=ustice at all, #ut pagan in=ustice& The forces that rule human life are a#solutely

unpredicta#le and not necessarily welldisposed to us& The preAhristian rituals

practiced #y the farm workers at the opening of the no$el, and Tess's +nal rest at

tonehenge at the end, remind us of a world where the gods are not =ust and fair,

#ut whimsical and uncaring& 2hen the narrator concludes the no$el with the

statement that Hustice' was done, and the "resident of the -mmortals (in the

/eschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess,I we are reminded that =ustice

must #e put in ironic >uotation marks, since it is not really =ust at all& 2hat

passes for usticeI is in fact one of the pagan gods en=oying a #it of sport,I or a

fri$olous game&

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4ne of the recurrent themes of the no$el is the way in which men can dominate

women, exerting a power o$er them linked primarily to their maleness&

ometimes this command is purposeful, in the man's full knowledge of his

exploitation, as when /lec acknowledges how #ad he is for seducing Tess for his

own momentary pleasure& /lec's act of a#use, the most lifealtering e$ent that

Tess experiences in the no$el, is clearly the most serious instance of maledomination o$er a female& !ut there are other, less #latant examples of women's

passi$ity toward dominant men& 2hen, after /ngel re$eals that he prefers Tess,

Tess's friend .etty attempts suicide and her friend Marian #ecomes an alcoholic,

which makes their earlier schoolgirltype crushes on /ngel seem distur#ing& This

de$otion is not merely fanciful lo$e, #ut unhealthy o#session& These girls appear

utterly dominated #y a desire for a man who, we are told explicitly, does not e$en

realie that they are interested in him& This sort of unconscious male domination

of women is perhaps e$en more unsettling than /lec's outward and selfconscious

cruelty&

-mages of #irds recur throughout the no$el, e$oking or contradicting their

traditional spiritual association with a higher realm of transcendence& !oth the

Ahristian do$e of peace and the .omantic song#irds of Jeats and helley, which

sym#olie su#lime heights, lead us to expect that #irds will ha$e positi$e

meaning in this no$el& Tess occasionally hears #irdcalls on her fre>uent hikes

across the countryside? their free expressi$eness stands in stark contrast to

Tess's silent and constrained existence as a wronged and disgraced girl& 2hen

Tess goes to work for Mrs& d'r#er$ille, she is surprised to +nd that the old

woman's pet +nches are fre>uently released to By free throughout the room&

These #irds o*er images of hope and li#eration& ;et there is irony attached to

#irds as well, making us dou#t whether these images of hope and freedom are

illusory& Mrs& d'r#er$ille's #irds lea$e little white spots on the upholstery, which

presuma#ly some ser$antperhaps Tess herselfwill ha$e to clean& -t may #e

that freedom for one creature entails hardship for another, =ust as /lec's free

en=oyment of Tess's #ody leads her to a lifetime of su*ering& -n the end, when

Tess encounters the pheasants maimed #y hunters and lying in agony, #irds no

longer seem free, #ut rather oppressed and su#missi$e& These pheasants are no

.omantic song#irds ho$ering far a#o$e the Earththey are $ictims of earthly

$iolence, condemned to su*er down #elow and ne$er By again&