Great Expectations Introduction
By: Charles Dickens
Is it childish to dream about a future completely different
from what you expect to happen?
Let’s give examples…
Pip is at first
content with his
future as a
blacksmith’s
apprentice.
The blacksmith,
his brother-inlaw Joe, is much
nicer than Pip’s
own sister—who
has brought him
up “by hand.”
One day Pip wanders across the marshes to
visit his parents’ graves…
But instead, he finds a runaway convict
who demands that Pip help him escape
from his chains.
Although the man is later caught, Pip feels
horribly guilty.
He is sure Joe will be
disappointed if he finds
out what Pip has done.
But this frightening
episode fades from
Pip’s memory when he
encounters even more
remarkable people.
He is invited to rich
Miss Havisham’s house
to be a playmate for
Estella, the proud girl
in her care.
Years ago, Miss Havisham’s
fiancé stood her up at the
altar.
Ever since, she has
remained in her wedding
dress, let no sunlight into
her house, and let the clocks
stop. Everything is left just
as it was the day of her
heartbreak.
Pip’s friends all hope that
Miss Havisham will “do
something” for him—give
him money.
However, for Pip, the
appeal of Miss Havisham’s
house isn’t just the thought
of money or the elegant
lifestyle: It’s Estella.
And then, the unexpected happens!
An anonymous benefactor sends money to pay for Pip’s
education in London!
Is Miss Havisham giving Pip the money?
Does she hope to make
Pip into a gentleman for
his own sake?
Or is it for the sake of
someone else?
Let’s get a visual!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob
7qUkYfF-g
Great Expectations: Background
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was deeply
concerned about the struggles of the poor and
mistreated people.
•During this period, people who
simply could not pay their bills
often went to debtors’ prison.
Debtor’s Prison
•A criminal who was
considered dangerous might be
sent to what is now Australia
to serve time.
Great Expectations: Background
In Dickens’s time, London was a rich city,
but poor people lived in terrible squalor.
• Children of those in debtors’
prison often had to support
themselves.
• A child might work up to
sixteen hours a day.
• Labor in a factory or work
pulling a cart earned only pennies
a day.
Great Expectations: Background
Shortly before his own father was sent to
debtors’ prison, twelve-year-old Charles
was sent to work at a shoe
polish/blackening factory.
• Dickens’s unfinished
autobiography describes the
suffering he endured as a child
laborer.
• He worked long hours in a
cramped room infested
with rats.
Great Expectations:
The unique history of Australia is
tied to a thread in Great
Expectations.
• In Dickens’ time, British
convicts were often punished in
a way that might seem “cruel
and unusual” by today’s
standards.
• Convicts thought to pose some
threat to society might be
shipped off to a distant British
territory—what is now
Australia.
Background
Great Expectations: Background
During the time when Australia served as a
penal colony for England, prisoners were
deposited near what is now Sydney.
• Only the strongest
and hardest-working
people could prosper
in the harsh
conditions.
• Once sent to
Australia, a convict
was frequently
forbidden to ever
return to England.
Great Expectations:
Neighbor Discussion
Discuss (1)
Orphaned and then cared for by a harsh older
sister, Pip stumbles upon great opportunity.
• Is it best to jump at whatever opportunity
comes along? Or should a person consider
staying in familiar territory?
• What problems might come from dreaming of
a better future? What rewards?
Great Expectations:
Neighbor Discussion
Discuss (2)
Loyalty and gratitude are themes running
through Great Expectations.
• What are the qualities of a loyal friend?
• Should a friend’s loyalty have limits?
• Should a successful person show gratitude to
those who have helped along the way?
Understand…
Reading Dickens is a challenge, an
opportunity, and a delight…
• The challenge arises from persuading
you all to overcome your fears about
reading a thick, nineteenth-century
novel with some unfamiliar references
• The opportunity is to help you develop
your vocabulary through context
• Delight will come when those barriers
are crossed and you are swept away
by the twisting plot and memorable
characters
• Think about responding to the terror and comedy of the
convict on the moors, to the implacable Mrs. Joe, to Pip’s
longing , self-absorption and short-sightedness, to the
ghastly sight of Miss Havisham’s wedding table at Satis
House, and to the final revelations about all the
characters!
• Think about this novel as a kind of soap opera in which
the audience gets to know the characters intimately and
the plot develops slowly and often bizarrely.
• Dickens has lasted. His inventiveness of plot and
character, his generous spirit, and his observant eye and
ear continue to entertain and reward readers.
• Reading Dickens links you to the past and demonstrates
that the past has much to say to the present.
• It is unusual because Great Expectations is considered by
leading scholars to be a work of genius, but it is also very
widely-read by ordinary people.
A few of MANY Themes
• Guilt and Shame
• Class Distinction
• Personal Ambition
What is Dialect?
• A variation in pronunciation, meaning
or usage from standard language
whose origin may be attributed to
geography, social class, or culture.
• Regional language differences:
Depending on the part of the country
you live, usage or pronunciation of
certain words may be different.
Common words
• Do you pronounce envelope:
"ehn-ve-LOPE" OR "AWN-ve-lope"?
• Do you pronounce the: "thee" or "thuh"?
• And what about "aunt"?
• Bostonians eat “tomahtos” while Midwesterners eat
“tomaytos.”
• “You” “You all” “ya’ll” “yawl”
• Other examples?
Dickens Dialect
• What characters say and how they
speak is one of the ways in which we
get to know about them
• GE is rich in dialogue and in the dialect
of the working class and the poor.
• Dickens uses dialect principally in two
ways: to indicate social class and/or to
make a humorous or ironic point about
a character’s simplicity, ignorance, or
self-importance
• Dialect often presents a challenge.
Omitted vowels and consonants,
letter substitutions, drawn-out
words and mispronounced words are
hurdles that are hard to leap over.