Great Expectations: Secrets

Great Expectations tells the ultimate rags to riches story of the Orphan Pip. Dickens takes his readers through life changing events that ultimately mold the identity of the main character. Dividing these events into sections will provide the basis for interpreting which events had the most profound effect on Pip’s identity towards the end of the novel. These life-changing events provide the catalyst for the development of Pip’s character from childhood, his adolescence, maturing into a social gentleman, and finally becoming a self-aware man of society.

Pip’s loss of ignorance drives his dreams to become a gentleman in the hopes of one day marrying Estella. In addition, Pip becomes so self-conscious of his humble upbringings that he is embarrassed of the home that he lives in. He reflects, “It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home..., and I would not have had Miss Havisham and Estella see it

"Miss Havisham's intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience, a sting for the greedy relations, a model with a mechanical heart to practise on when no other practice was at hand; those were the first smarts I had. But, sharpest and deepest pain of all -- it was for the convict, guilty of I knew not what crimes, and liable to be taken out of those rooms where I sat thinking, and hanged at the Old Bailey door, that I had deserted Joe" (Dickens

This all begins when he is at Miss Havisham’s and her daughter Estella comments on his lifestyle. As soon as he sees her, Pip immediately adores Estella, he thinks she is so beautiful. When Miss havisham tells Estella to play cards with Pip, she responds in a way that is crushing to Pip; “With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!” (Dickens 61). They also comment on Pip’s hands and how they are so course from labouring. Pip never before thought of himself as common and he finds this very insulting. He knows he doesn't want to be classified like this again, especially by the one he admires. From then on, Pip desires to impress Estella. He doesn't live in the biggest house and he doesn't come from the wealthiest family and this upsets him. However, he doesn’t even see how good he has it living the life that he lives in the home that he lives in. This makes him ungrateful and unseeing to the things that once made him happy. Pip is ashamed of what he has: “ It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” (Dickens Ch 14). Pip is so blinded by how he wants to be higher class for Estella that he doesn't see how good he does have it because he is so focused on what more he wants. Because of the way he wants to be seen by Estella, he dreams much of being a gentleman but he

One day Pip is taken to play at a large house, the house belongs to the character Miss Havisham who is portrayed as an extremely eccentric person. It is during these visits that the young Pip meets Miss Havisham’s daughter Estella, who never displays any form of affection for Pip and treats him contemptuously. Nevertheless, Pip falls in love and it his dream to become a gentleman and marry Estella.

She has tried to teach Estella to beguile men for the sole purpose of breaking their hearts. Miss Havisham wants revenge for what her fiancé did to her, and so she attempts to set up other people’s lives to revolve around doomed

Pip in the book changes from an undeveloped boy, poor, and an orphan towards a grown man, rich, and living on his own. Before Pip got the revolution of going to London, he was very unwealthy and when he first arrived at Miss Havisham’s house he “took the opportunity of being alone in the court-yard, to look at my coarse hands and my common boots.”(Dickens 63) This shows the change of his perspective of his way of living and the manner he was living for his whole life. After going to Miss Havisham’s house and seeing that she was so elegant looking and proper and that he was just a blacksmith’s wife’s brother, he wanted to change the way he lives and his future. Pip felt like he wanted more in life and while talking to a friend he says "Biddy," said I, after binding her to secrecy, "I want to be a gentleman."(Dickens 135) This shows how Pip develops the feeling that life isn’t just being a blacksmith’s assistant and when going to see that there is something more for him he wants to take the jump and go for what he wants. As the good things help Pip grow the bad things also come when “Pip is embarrassed by his brother-in-law's crude ways and treats him unkindly.”(Overview: Great) Charles Dickens uses the theme, the people you encounter can form an identity, based off of Pip and how he changes his view on things and the way he wants to

In the beginning of the novel Pip is almost blind to the differences between the social classes. He only knows of the life that he has led. In chapter 6 Miss Havisham sends for Pip to visit. There he meets, of course Miss Havisham, and Estella, whom he is instantly attracted to. On page 34 Estella comments on the state

The Phillip Pirip, better known as Pip, in the novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, is a character of change throughout his adventure in finding himself. Pip is an orphan who lives a poor life with his sister and her husband. His sister, however, thinks of Pip as an aggravation and a burden; she despises him to no end. Interestingly enough, Pip is a character in the novel that dickens never depicts physically. Two unusual occurrences take place that ultimately change his life: Pip aids an escaped convict by feeding him and helping his escape, and Pip is invited to the home of a woman named Miss Havisham to entertain her and her adopted daughter.

Lies and deceit are major components in the development of the plot of Charles Dickens’s nineteenth-century novel, Great Expectations. Deceit, the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth, coupled with lying tend to be the prevailing character trait of many of the characters in the novel. As a matter of fact, Dickens not only inaugurates the story with a lie, but the deception continues to shape the plot until the end.

An individual’s exterior and outward demeanor often hides his or her true being. The classic novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens reflects this theme several times as the protagonist, Pip, an ambitious but lowborn boy, receives money from an unknown benefactor and travels to London to become a gentleman. He goes through many trials on his journey for success, and it is while on this odyssey that he meets many people who tend to hide their true selves, sometimes to escape trouble. The world is full of sneaky persons and it is hard to know who to trust when there are so many pretending to be someone they are not. One of the disguised people in this novel is Mr. Jaggers’ housekeeper, Molly.

Her “life” is anything but, and she spends her days wasting away and watching Estella crush Pip’s heart over and over again. She even encourages Estella’s heartless behavior and finds joy in Pip’s suffering. Yet she tells Pip to keep trying for Estella’s love. “‘Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces-and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper-love her, love her, love her!” (221) Miss Havisham tells Pip in an attempt to keep her game going. Some number of years later, after realizing that it was not a game, Miss Havisham sends for Pip and begs him for forgiveness. “‘Oh!’ she cried despairingly, ‘What have I done! What have I done!’”(366) she cries to Pip. Miss Havisham’s grief is so devastating, she throws herself into the fire, and Pip frantically tries to put the burning woman out. Eventually, Miss Havisham dies, leaving Pip to wonder how someone’s life could take such a horrible turn, and Pip learns that letting go of the past is crucial to a healthy

Estella also is a victim to her guardian in the novel. She too is never given the chance to be her own person and live life to its fullest. Estella is conditioned by her guardian, Miss Havisham, to make men suffer, and in return it is Estella who will be made to suffer for her guardian's actions. Miss Havisham is a severely disturbed old woman who has adopted Estella. Miss Havisham was abandoned on her wedding day and as a result she forever maintains hatred toward men. Thus for her dirty work, Miss Havisham uses Estella to meet this purpose. Pip concludes that Miss Havisham "had done a grievous thing in taking an impressionable child (Estella) and had manipulated into the form that her wild resentment, spurned affection, and wounded pride, found vengeance in". Miss Havisham makes Estella have a fear of men being close to her and not to allow herself to become attached to them emotionally. Dickens’ made Estella an almost identical copy of Frankenstein: trained to perform specific tasks for the pleasure of their guardian. However someday, they crack and see the illness in their lives. Estella was Miss Havisham’s toy. Estella never

Ambiguity draws across anyone; when they are seeking a coherent meaning in their life. The fabric that weaves together existence can be baffling when one seeks to analyze it. The search for self, as well as knowing and trusting one’s self is echoed through out literature in humanity; it could be haunting and cause great trepidation, to hold on to a vision that could alter their judgement, as well can cause a fierce storm in the supreme realm that is objective truth. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, is a coming to age story of a young man named Pip, seeking to establish stability, as well find meaning in his life through love and self identification. The purpose of this assignment is to propose that Pip was personally reflecting upon

the sea as a wild beast in its lair from which the wind as running