Great Expectations Reviewed
Anonymous
It has been said nobody ever wrote a perfect novel, except Charles Dickens.
It has been said nobody ever wrote a perfect novel, except Charles Dickens. Certainly his
popularity stems from the meticulous care with which he treats his characters; Lev Tolstoy
went so far as to call this regard the author held for his creations to be 'love' (Calder, 11).
Dickens' caricatures of the men and women of Victorian society ring true because the
circumstances of his London are in so many ways comparable to modern Western societies.
Dickens' criticisms of Victorian England are no less harsh than Karl Marx's dialectic attack,
or Friedrich Nietsche's epistemological one; Great Expectations is a superbly crafted freeform philosophical treatise; Dickens was a master novelist, and used the form to its utmost to
effect a meaningful study of how one should live in such a world. Because of its relevance to
contemporary society, moreover, it is important to note Dickens' solutions to the dilemmas
faced by his moral character, Pip.
Aristotle asserted that the form of fiction demanded of every work that the protagonist begin
with a place in the social world; some action in the plot lead to a disruption of this order, the
protagonist losing his rightful position. The classic definition then went on to name a
'comedy' a piece in which the hero at the end of the work successfully re-integrates into the
world of man; 'tragedy,' conversely, refers to literature in which the hero is in some way
barred from the world in which he once played a part.
If one were to judge Great Expectations by these standards, the play contains elements both
of comedy and tragedy, because Pip exists as a character of many detached worlds. It is
possible to find five complete and discrete societies in the England of Dickens' novel; these
five summarize the whole of the transitional period known to postmodern critics as
'Victorian.' The two representatives of the old world's feudal order, are those of village labor
(Joe and Biddy) and aristocracy (Mrs. Havisham and Estella); of the new world one sees the
urban poor (Jaggers' clientele and Pip's 'Avenger
), the working class (Jaggers and
Wemmick), and the entrepreneurs/capitalists(Compeyson and Pumblechook). Pip in his
time samples all five circles, belonging variously to each over the course of the novel, making
it very difficult to assess his 'reintegration into society' at the end
it is certainly impossible
(and almost certainly undesirable) that he should become integrated into them all, so he
must choose his one path; Dickens leaves to his readers evaluation of Pip's success.
The world of Joe Gargery, Mrs. Joe, and Biddy is certainly the most personal, sincere, and
touching of settings presented in the novel. Clearly the novelist meant it to be representative
of pre-industrial, 'village' labor. Joe's occupation (blacksmith) and his thoroughly eighteenthcentury residence in the rural 'marsh country' of Sussex are indicative of this. But Dickens
endows these characters with what Tolstoy calls 'simple peasant virtues
; honest toil instills
in his men such as Joe a sincerity of feeling, and somehow forms men of decency, integrity,
and principle (Pip).
Miss Havisham, on the other hand, stands a representative of feudal aristocracy;though her
family money in fact was made on the brewery adjacent to Satis House(suggestive of
capitalism), her bearing and lifestyle suggest very strongly aristocratic flavor. Pip's language
describing Satis House in many ways denote its 'castleness' (Calder, 84
87). And Pip
himself in remembering his first entrance to her room speaks of her as a 'fine lady' (Calder,
87).
In sharp contrast to this rural civilization lies the town, with completely different characters
and conflicts. Dickens' oppressors here are clearly not of the same level as Mrs. Havisham:
the Pumblechooks, Compeysons, and Drummles are neither majestic nor intimidating
figures in themselves. But in no way does Dickens make them likable, either. Their
businesses are founded upon the toil of workers, and in some way Dickens makes it clear that
the relationship between capitalist and subordinate is a parasitic one.
Pumblechook is a hypocrite of the worst sort, a bumbler with too-real economic dominion
over the working class. For example, Mrs. Joe wants desperately to impress Pumblechook
solely to win his favor, so desperately she misses Christmas Mass in order to finish
preparations for a dinner in his honor. Pip is inevitably unable to impress such a man,
however, because he represents no capital (the only subject of interest to the man). When the
young gentleman comes into his inheritance, Pumblechook assumes a complete attitude
reversal; Pip, because he has money, is now a man the capitalist deems worthy of respect.
It is the entrepreneurs of the novel whom, for the most part, Dickens blames for the abject
poverty, decadence, and criminal malevolence of those at Smithfield and Newgate. The
riffraff of London, at least, respect Jaggers for his competence; Dickens endows his lower
classes with keen acuity, discernment of capability far greater than that of the those who
actually wield economic power. Dickens' men of station are, without exception, either
irretrievably stupid (Drummle) or entirely corrupt (Compeyson).
Dickens seems to find the greatest virtue in London's working class, the lower middle class:
the Herbert Pockets, Jaggerses and Wemmicks. Though (inevitably) there is much for the
novelist to criticize in their values and mannerisms, these characters tower as prominent
examples of the most virtuous of the London crowd. These men do not actually own great
wealth or possess political or economic stature, but instead serve as the actual achievers,
those who get work done.
Dickens' middle class possesses almost schizophrenic dichotomies of character. Its rational
half cherishes and treasures a very detached and reserved, 'rational' manner, which Jaggers
and Wemmick epitomize; Jaggers' extreme disinclination to recommend anyone or anything,
his disdain of emotion or 'unbusinesslike airs
, and his late-revealed support of the helpless
(evidenced in his support of Molly, Estella's mother, after her breakdown) serve to make him
an exceedingly multifaceted character. Wemmick is very much the same, and even a better
example: the dual character of the clerk mystifies Pip at first. This is perhaps best evidenced
in Chapter 48, when Jaggers, Wemmick, and Pip dine together. In front of Jaggers,
Wemmick assumes a tacit, efficient but impersonal manner: 'Wemmick drew his wine when
it came round, quite as a matter of business
that came round
just as he might have drawn his salary when
and with his eyes on his chief, sat in a state of perpetual readiness for
cross-examination.' (404). Pip, bewildered, supposes himself to have dined somehow with
Wemmick's '
wrong twin all the time
only externally like the Wemmick of Walworth.'
(404). Pip's bewilderment is compounded by the suddenness of Wemmick's malleability:
'
we had not gone half a dozen yards down Gerrard-street in the Walworth direction before
I found that I was walking arm-in-arm with the right twin, and that the wrong twin had
evaporated into the evening air.' (Calder, 404). Wemmick discusses 'portable property' with
the utmost pragmatism and respect, while simultaneously living in his 'castle' of
knickknacks, gadgets and toys which cherish the human spirit
Dickens summons from his readers a remarkable pathos for London's lower classes. In
Chapter 20, Pip recounts Jaggers' encounter on the street with several of his clients.
Disreputable, transparently villainous, these pitiable characters nevertheless evoke from
Dickens' readers a feeling of sympathy. Part of this identification the reader feels for them
lies in the fact that they are clearly capable human beings; their tragedy lies simply in the fact
that the Victorian work ethic allows no sympathy for 'unsuccessful' men in society; in some
way it is they, and not industrial capitalism, who are felt to be at fault for their position. The
author of Great Expectations, it may be said, disagrees. Clearly it is London's economic
structure which makes them what they are; the novelist hopes to make clear to his readers
that the miserable are not guilty in any way of choosing their present social station. But never
are they cast as good or virtuous, either.
It is easy to see, in conclusion, why Dickens felt his novel to be a 'tragi-comedy' (24). Poor Pip
yearns to be a member of his rural, working world, but finds he cannot because it ignores the
realities of the modern world and has no notions of 'higher things.' He would like to be
genteel like Miss Havisham and Estella, but finds himself incapable of their aristocratic
coldness. Similarly his depth of understanding and compassion forbid his becoming a
capitalist. None of the urban lower class choose their position, and it has little if any appeal
to Pip. But he also finds himself somewhat disturbed by the unreconciled double-sidedness,
sort of unconscious division common to his friends of the working class. The novel ends a
tragedy according to classical definitions, because Pip ends unreconciled to any of his
options, an aloof, solitary bachelor. To be sure he obtains work with Clarriker and Co. and his
comrade Herbert, visits Joe and Biddy and 'young Pip,' and comes to an understanding with
Estella, but he is somehow in a greater sense, alone.
Works Cited:
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations. Angus Calder, ed. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books,
1965.