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Pip discovers during the course of the novel, what are the really important things in life. I agree with this phrase because at the end of the novel Pip is a true example of a real gentleman, someone who knows themselves and the truth. Someone who doesn t live life in a world of fantasy and accepts things and people for what they really are. Someone who is honest, justice and loyal. To become this he goes through a lot and realises the important things in life.
Pip s innocence at the start of the novel is gradually replaced by ambition based on the prospect of social advancement. As a child he is intelligent, imaginative and eager for knowledge, but also sensitive and timid. He goes from a +small bundle of shivers' to a mature man with a strong sense of loyalty, justice and honesty. There are many common, familiar clich s about illusion versus truth.
All that glitters is not gold and Things are seldom what they seem are the most universal overused phrases, but they do not cover entirely every aspect of appearance versus reality. In Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations, there are several differences between the illusion and the truth. The appearance of certain things is often detrimental to the outcomes of characters when the reality of a situation is revealed. These illusions are revealed through Pip, a lower class boy caught in the struggle of the social classes of 19 th century England. Throughout the book, Charles Dickens emphasizes the difference between appearance and reality through Pips expectations of something better, social status, and settings in the book.
The most important illusion in Great Expectations is Pips confident expectations of a better life. In the beginning of the novel we see how Pip hasn t had that much experience in life and that all he knows is from the marshes and around him. We see his close relationship to Joe and how he looks up to him, wanting to be just like him. We also see how Pip is caring and brings back the food for Magwitch but still says +I am glad you enjoy it. ' Pip gets a chance to see another side of life when he is invited to go and see Miss. Havisham. Here he sees different kinds of people and a different side that he has never experienced before.
He falls in love with Estella who is nasty to him but he doesn t know any better and doesn t know what she is brought up to be like and do. How much is Pip s life really is affected by his childhood? How much of a role does it play in making him realise the important things in life? I think his childhood has a lot to do with it.
When we are young we try and build up our character and self-esteem and so we are more sensitive. A child s surroundings very often affect the way in which their character develops. As with Pip we can see that this is true because as soon as money came into his life, his character started changing. Walter B Miller suggests that twenty-five percent of juvenile delinquents suffer from emotional disturbance; most of these serious cases can be traced back to poor family life.
He then moves to London to become a true gentleman and he thinks that Miss. Havisham is paying for him to go. He had expected London to be the world, the beginning of a new future, and the start of a new life. However, it did not meet up with his anticipated expectations. The reality of London was dreary and dismal, unlike the appearance of it from afar.
Before leaving the marshes he is ashamed of Joe and when leaving he doesn t want to be seen with him because he already assumes that he is of a lower class now. The acquisition of wealth is clearly associated in Pip s mind with the status of +gentleman. ' The lure of money and the prospect of marrying a girl of education and +breeding' lead Pip to adopt a life style, which does not resemble that of a true gentleman. But through a series of trials which see him neglecting his true friends, chasing after an unattainable love and gradually discovering his true self, Pip emerges a wiser man with a prospect of happiness. In London he meets Herbert who becomes a good friend to him. Pip still thinks that Herbert is poor and Pip is in an upper class to him and therefore needs to help him. Pip shows a very snobbish attitude through most of the novel which shows he doesn t really know about the important things in life.
Pip finds out that his benefactor is Magwitch and he is appalled. He thinks about not accepting his money anymore because he is a convict and he wishes he had never met him. This shows the snobbish and selfishness in Pip and that he isn t thankful for the money but really regrets it. Pip was very rude about Magwitch coming to see him and not thankful at all, +All his actions were uncouth, noisy, and greedy. ' Magwich's intentions were to turn Pip into a gentleman through the use of his money because of a hard lesson that Magwitch learned.
Magwitch had been a poor man and had worked for a rich man named Compeyson. Compeyson had the appearance of a gentleman. He set up fur a gentleman, this Compeyson, and hed been to a public boarding-school and had learning. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a dab at the ways of gentlefolk.
He was good-looking too but hed no more heart than an iron file, he was as cold as death, and he had the head of the devil afore mentioned. Pip tries to get rid of Magwitch and thinks of a plan to do so. When Magwitch spoke of Compeyson in front of soldiers deciding their fate, he even stated that the appearance of a gentleman is often confused with the truth. Hes a gentleman, if you please, this villain.
When told this, a soldier said, Youre not much to look at. He of course was judging by mien. In this illusion of the social classes of society, one horrible, wealthy man is placed above a good poor man because of the false appearance that the upper class is better. Meanwhile he goes back to the marshes to see Estella and he is going to go and see Joe but Estella says to him that since he now is rich then he can t go and see someone lower class to him so he decides not to go. This shows how Pp has betrayed his family and how they mean nothing to him anymore on the outside. Magwitch is captured during their escape and he is put in prison and he is very sick.
This gets Pip to realise many things and it gets him to wake up to reality. He sees Magwitch in a different way, like a father. Pip realises what he s been doing, +I could not forget that I had once meant to desert him. ' This shows how Pip is becoming more of a true gentleman and he is realising things. He feels so guilty about Magwitch+s death and he realises what kind of person Miss. Havisham really is. He starts to wake up to reality and sees who is close to him and who isn t.
He goes back to the marshes to see Joe and Biddy and hears they are getting married. First it comes to him as a shock but then he is happy for them because he realises that they deserve each other. He says to Joe and Biddy, +as you have both been to church today, receive my humble thanks for all you have done for me, and all I have so ill repaid. ' This shows how he has changed, how he realises that there are more important things in life than just money and himself. By the end of the novel Pip becomes a true gentleman and realises what are the really important thing in life. Friends. The mendacity of the characters and the settings in this book enforce that if you can pursue reality, the truth can be found behind an illusion.
Pips expectations were thwarted because his actual dreams were shattered when the truth was revealed. The social status of 19 th century England was just a forefront to rate people by their financial and economical advantages and disadvantages. In reality, social status does not mean that those richer lead better lives. In actuality, the lower class is above the upper classes because of the moral merit that they possess in comparison to those above them. The settings in Great Expectations emphasize the differences between appearance and reality in that illusions are not always the truth.
Free research essays on topics related to: 19 th century england, joe and biddy, true gentleman, things in life, appearance and reality
Research essay sample on 19 Th Century England Things In Life
