Love And Loyalty Vs. The Pursuit Of Social Class And Wealth

Pip feels ashamed of himself and thinks he should leave Estella forever. Later on he had an encounter with Drummle at the inn and it didn't go so well. He goes to Miss Havishams home to see Miss Havisham and Estella one last time before he leaves them

However, when Pip pays his first visit to Satis House, his loyalties began to shift (Kappel 116). Like the prodigal son, Pip becomes discontent with his humble origin and longs for a life of prestige. After only one visit to Miss Havisham, Pip already begins to feel discontent and ashamed. Estella’s prideful and scornful attitude makes him feel inferior. Estella derogatorily

Since the first day Pip and Estella set their eyes on each other, Estella has done nothing but play with Pip’s emotions. Miss Havisham raises Estella so that her heart portrays cold and she can break any man’s heart. Pip comes in the picture and becomes her first victim. On her arrival to London, Pip comes to the train station hours ahead of time and he follows her every move and instructions. Pip accompanies Estella in the house of her hostess Mrs. Brandley and he spends a lot of time with her. While keeping Estella company as a suitor, he witnesses the lack of compassion Estella treats the other suitors and the little attention he receives. Pip sees Drummle and Estella flirting, he confronts her and she informs him that her discussion with

In Great Expectations, Pip yearns to become a gentleman in order to win the affection of Estella, the daughter of a wealthy and influential woman. To become a gentleman worthy of Estella’s love, Pip works to improve his education and mannerisms. However, as Pip becomes more educated and knowledgeable about the world, he begins to find his closest friends and family embarrassing and inferior to him. Through the connections he builds during his journey of adopting the role of being a suitable suitor for Estella, he is blessed with the opportunity of becoming an apprentice for a famous lawyer in London which only allows this complex of his to grow. Growing to the point of where he is so embarrassed of his family that he doesn’t want them to be seen by his associates, and views their presence as a chore: “Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many ties; no; with considerable disturbance, some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity,” (Dickens.218). He is talking about his own

If not for Miss Havisham, Pip and Estella would never have the connection that they develop. Next, through all the insolent words brought on Pip by Miss Havisham, Pip learns to be more patient with others. Due to her past of hurt feelings Pip understands that Miss Havisham acts the way she does out of pain, not anger. Finally, by giving Pip and his family money, Miss Havisham shows Pip avarice along with Estella. The role Miss Havisham plays in Pip’s life shows itself in many ways.

Charles Dickens’ aptly titled novel Great Expectations focuses on the journey of the stories chief protagonist, Pip, to fulfill the expectations of his life that have been set for him by external forces. The fusing of the seemingly unattainable aspects of high society and upper class, coupled with Pip’s insatiable desire to reach such status, drives him to realize these expectations that have been prescribed for him. The encompassing desire that he feels stems from his experiences with Mrs. Havisham and the unbridled passion that he feels for Estella. Pip realizes that due to the society-imposed caste system that he is trapped in, he will never be able to acquire

Throughout Great Expectations, Pip encounters varying definitions of acceptable morals and behaviors. Early in the novel, Pip travels to a wealthy woman’s house to play cards. However, the visit only exposes Pip’s insecurities about his life in the country. Pip considers his life, lamenting “on all that I had seen, and deeply revolving that I was a common labouring-boy; that my hands were coarse, that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way” (Dickens 65). Pip dreams of becoming more than a blacksmith, and these

Wealth and its privileges are held in high light for some, but for many others, love and friendship is of greater value. Throughout the classic Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, the links between wealth and happiness are illustrated through a number of characters from largely different backgrounds. Pip was raised by Joe Gargery and his wife, leading an early life of simplicity, and after a benefactor sends him to become a “gentleman” and learn the finer ways of life, Pip is thrown into the world of materialistic wealth and good manners. Dickens reveals through character development that money is merely an item just as wealth is a concept; while neither can buy happiness, both are temptations that have the ability to trap and lure people away from their true selves.

In the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip was an orphan living with his sister and her husband Joe Gargery who was a blacksmith. Pip was met by a convict. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file for him. Pip meets Miss Havisham and Estella. Pip falls in love with Estella, but she can’t love anyone. Miss Havisham raised Estella to degrade men because she was left at her wedding, so she’s getting payback. Pip wants to be a gentleman because of how Estella is rich and silky and not dirty. One day Pip got an anonymous enormous amount of money so he decides to leave for London to be trained like a gentleman. Pip’s wealth and position changes him to a dissipated life of idleness.

The expectations that cause Pip's character to become less likable are those that he develops after being introduced to Miss Havisham and Estella. During his first visit to the Satis House, Estella, who considers herself much too refined and well-bred to

Pip’s mindset regarding classes and success in life is drastically altered after his initial visit to the aristocratic Miss Havisham. “She said I was common” (69) spurs the realization in Pip that he is indeed innocent but unfortunately much oppressed. Pip is very distraught with his birth place into society, to the point that he “was discontented” (130) -- he increasingly desires to be a gentleman. He primarily desires this as a means of impressing Estella and winning her over. At this point in the novel, Pip is willing to give away what he loves (Joe – family setting) to obtain a superficial and insulting girl. One day Pip receives word that he now has the ability to grow up to be his ultimate dream, to be a gentleman. Pip awakens to a new world and those he once loved are no longer good enough for Pip. Moving to London, he becomes far more sophisticated, but at the same time loses his natural goodness. (Chesterton 142). Pip is leaving happiness and his real family to attain a life he thinks will make him more content. Before departing, he dreams of “Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing” (148). This relates the dream that Pip has just before he sets out to London for the first time, with all of his "great expectations" before him. Pip’s dream is permeated with the sadness and guilt caused by his imminent departure from Joe and Biddy and his aspirations for a new social station.

The main character, Pip, raised an orphan and destined for blue collar work, becomes determined to “rise” after meeting and becoming enamored with a beautiful girl named Estella. He immediately begins to think of himself as beneath her. “She seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen” (Dickens 62). Even after Estella treats Pip thoroughly harshly and makes him feel ashamed of who he is, he is charmed by her. He later learns that the reason she is so harsh is because she was taken in by Miss Havisham and trained to feel no compassion, remorse, or any sentiment at all; when Pip and Estella are grown and walking in Miss Havisham’s gardens, Estella remarks to Pip, “‘Oh! I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt,’ said Estella, ‘and of course, if it ceased to beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no—sympathy—sentiment—nonsense’” (Dickens 263). As the perfectly beautiful, perfectly high class woman, Estella shirks anything that could truly fulfill her. She is not interested in marrying for love, or friendship, or family; Estella is concerned with money and class, first and foremost. Miss Havisham pleads for Pip to love her; she says, “I developed her

Status is crucial to the people in Victorian England, and Pip is no exception. Anxious to impress Estella, Pip is determined to become a gentleman. However, instead of winning her heart, Pip’s imprudent aspirations strains his relationships with those who truly care for him. He falls into a depression of misery and dissatisfaction. Pip’s ambition is his obsession; instead of discovering happiness, he loses it.

The class system becomes a focal point in young Pip's life. Pip first began to think about his place in society when he was sent to visit the wealthy, old lady, Miss Havisham at her mansion. Through these visits Pip becomes socially conscious and begins to dislike his commonality. Almost instantly he wants to become uncommon. The adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, Estella, becomes a focal point and goal for Pip to obtain. Any morality Pip used to have slips away with each visit. Pip walks in circles in a barely lit room with Miss Havisam holding onto his shoulder and in doing so, Pip is somehow leaving behind all the values he was raised with. Miss Havisham and Estella end up corrupting Pip with the rich life. Greed, beauty and hubris are Pips downward spiral into an immoral life. Pip finds Estella very attractive, but Estella calls him common and this does not sit well with Pip. All of Pip's expectations of becoming a rich gentleman are due to this love of Estella.

When reading the novel Great expectations, one often comes to the conclusion that Pip's sense of social inferiority is the source of his self-antipathy and that this feeling of inadequacy is first conceived when introduced to Estella. However, these thoughts are not formed when he first encounters her and the Satis House, nor are they intensified by her scorn and ridicule. Instead, her contempt gives him a way of coping with the sense of worthlessness he has carried throughout his childhood. Pip’s perception of what is required of him when receiving his inheritance simply obscures the significances of his initial experiences that resulted in him having these emotions.