Elements of the
Bildungsroman, mystery,
and love story in Great
Expectations
by Yakir Forman
Bildungsroman
• Development from childhood to adulthood
• Often, protagonist is an orphan who seeks
to find his own identity since he has no
parents to define it
– “I never saw my father or my mother” (p. 1)
– “…that the small bundle of shivers growing
afraid of it all and beginning to cry was Pip”
(p. 2)
Bildungsroman
• One part of the protagonist’s development
is his education
– Education is one of the first things stressed by
Mr. Jaggers as important for Pip’s becoming a
gentleman:
– “‘It is considered that you must be better
educated, in accordance with your altered
position, and that you will be alive to the
importance and necessity of at once entering
on that advantage’” (p. 147)
Bildungsroman
• The protagonist often has a desire to leave
his provincial life and become his “own man”
in a large city
– In Pip’s case, the provincial life is symbolized by
the apprenticeship to blacksmithing, the family
job, and the large city is London
– “…I have felt for a time as if a thick curtain had
fallen … to shut me out from anything save dull
endurance any more. Never has that curtain
dropped so heavy and blank as when my way in
life stretched out straight before me through the
newly-entered road of apprenticeship to Joe” (p.
113)
– “…and the world lay spread before me” (p. 169)
Bildungsroman
• The protagonist usually experiences a
series of epiphanies where he continues
uncovering his place in life
– “My first most vivid and broad impression of
the identity of things…” (p. 1)
– “Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a
mere dream; Estella not designed for me …
those were the first smarts I had” (p. 344)
Bildungsroman
• A near-death experience often encourages
the final stage of the protagonist’s
maturation
– Limekiln incident: “‘You’re dead.’ I felt that I
had come to the brink of my grave.” (p. 453)
– Illness: “‘If you take me from here, I think I
shall die by the way.’” (p. 492)
• Finally, maturation is complete
– “‘Tell me of my ingratitude.’” (p. 493)
Mystery
• A mystery novel centers around a mystery
being revealed.
In Great Expectations, there are two
mysteries:
– Who is Pip’s benefactor?
– What is Estella’s lineage?
Mystery
• Detective
– Pip – “What purpose I had in view when I was
hot on tracing out and proving Estella’s
parentage, I cannot say” (p. 434)
• Red Herrings
– “I always supposed it was Miss Havisham” (p.
355)
– “‘Miss Estella—that’s her niece, I think’” (p.
70)
Mystery
• Clues for both the reader and the detective
– A convict with Joe’s file gives Pip two pounds
– “Him and Compeyson had been in a bad thing
with a rich lady some years afore” (p. 368)
– “What was it that was borne in upon my mind
when she stood still and looked attentively at
me?” (p. 251)
– “The young women presented herself before
Provis for one moment, and swore that she
would destroy the child” (p. 431)
Love Story
• Protagonist falls in love
– Pip falls in love with Estella and remains in
love throughout the novel
– “I think I would have gone through a great
deal to kiss her cheek” (p. 97)
– “I must give one chapter to Estella. It is not
much to give to the theme that so long filled
my heart” (p. 319)
Love Story
• Obstacles to love
– “pondering…that I was a common labouring-boy;
that my hands were coarse; that my boots were
thick…and generally that I was in a low-lived bad
way” (p. 67)
– “She had admirers without end. No doubt my
jealousy made an admirer of every one who
went near her, but there were more than enough
of them without that.” (p. 321)
– “‘I don’t care for what you say at all’” (p. 384)
• “‘Have you any idea yet of Estella’s views on the
adoration question?’…‘She is thousands of miles
away from me’” (p. 262)
Love Story
• Other characters
– Drummle (Estella’s other love interest)
• “I felt we could not go a word further without
introducing Estella’s name, which I could not
endure to hear him utter” (p. 378)
– Biddy (Pip’s other love interest)
• “She was not beautiful—she was common, and
could not be like Estella—but she was pleasant
and wholesome and sweet-tempered.” (p. 132)
• “‘And now, dear Biddy, if you can tell me that you
will go through the world with me, you will surely
make it a better world for me, and me a better man
for it” (p. 503)
Love Story
• Other characters
– Herbert (Pip’s friend who tries to detach him
from Estella)
• “‘Not being bound to her, can you not detach
yourself from her?’” (p. 264)
• “Happy ending” allows principal lovers to
be together
– “I took her hand in mine…I saw no shadow of
another parting from her.” (p. 516)