Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is the subject of this Essay, Research Paper.
The texts Great Expectations and Oliver Twist refer to well-known literary works.
Charles Dickens wrote several books during his lifetime. While each book is unique, they also share many similarities. Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, two of his books, exemplify the various differences and similarities present in his work.
These two novels may share similar qualities because they reflect painful experiences from Charles Dickens’ past. During his childhood, Dickens endured maltreatment from his parents, which is often portrayed in his novels. In Great Expectations, Pip frequently discusses the mistreatment he received from his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery. He once mentioned, “I soon found myself being heavily bumped from behind in the scruff of the neck and the small of the back, and having my face shamefully pushed against the wall, because I did not answer those questions at sufficient length.”
At the orphanhood, Oliver from Oliver Twist endured a great amount of maltreatment. For example, when he was starving and malnourished for a long time, the other boys at the orphanhood selected him to ask for more gruel at dinner one evening. After making this simple request, “the master (at the orphanhood) attacked Oliver’s head with the ladle; restrained him in his arms; and yelled loudly for the beadle.”
The opening of Oliver Twist draws from Charles Dickens’ childhood memories working in a shoe polish mill, which was overshadowed by the presence of the Marshalsea Prison. Dickens experienced immense humiliation during his time at the mill, and this theme is heavily portrayed through Oliver’s experiences in the orphanage before being sent away.
Throughout his lifetime, Dickens seemed to have developed a fondness for “the bleak, the sordid, and the austere.” 5 For instance, a significant portion of Oliver Twist is set in the lowest slums of London.6 The city is portrayed as a labyrinth filled with darkness, anonymity, and danger. 7 Various scenes, such as the hideaway of a pickpocket, the surrounding streets, and the bars, are also depicted as dim, gloomy, and bland.8 Meanwhile, in Great Expectations, Miss Havisham’s house is often described as depressing, aged, and lonely. The objects within the house had not been touched or moved for many years. Cobwebs were clearly visible, along with an abundance of dust. Even the wedding dress that Miss Havisham constantly wore had turned yellow with age.9
However, there are not only similarities found in the scenes. The two main characters of the novel, Pip and Oliver, are also similar in many ways. Both young boys were orphaned practically from birth. However, while Pip is sent to live with and be abused by his sister, Oliver is sent to live in an orphanage. Pip is a very curious young boy. He has an intense and eager imagination. Yet, Oliver is well-spoken. Even when his life was in danger while in the hands of Fagin and Bill Sikes, two deceitful thieves, he refused to participate in the theft that he strongly opposed. All Oliver really desired was to escape from harsh living conditions and evil environments that he had grown up in. However, no matter how tempting the immorality may have been, Oliver remained true to his beliefs.
Therefore, Oliver can be described as someone who possesses the qualities of “ideal and incorruptible innocence.” According to passage 12, it is Oliver’s genuine and unwavering love, which seems to have been given directly from Heaven, that protects him from disaster and death.
Many critics have doubted that Oliver Twist, being a male child, could remain innocent, pure, and well-spoken considering the long time he spent in an environment filled with immorality and injustice.14
Pip, however, is a daydreamer. His imagination is always helping him to create scenarios to compensate for his difficult times. For instance, when asked about his first visit to Miss Havisham’s house, he fabricated an elaborate story to make up for it.
Instead of admitting to being ridiculed and criticized by Estella and Miss Havisham while playing cards all day, Pip makes up a story about playing with flags and blades, while indulging in wine and wearing fancy clothes. However, Pip possesses a rare quality for a young hero – instead of being constantly hurt himself, he wrongs others.
Both Oliver and Pip have had encounters with inmates. Fagin, the leader of a gang of young thieves, spends a significant amount of time trying to corrupt and pervert Oliver to prevent him from inheriting his fortune. Oliver sees Fagin as a means of escaping his previous misery, as Fagin also helps him overcome fears of hunger and loneliness.
Just as Fagin serves as Oliver’s means of escape, Magwitch, a fugitive, is Pip’s. However, while Fagin helps Oliver escape from misery, Magwitch tries to help Pip escape poverty by becoming his anonymous benefactor.
Clearly, flight plays a significant role in both Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. Despite having different objectives, both Pip and Oliver seek various ways to escape their unhappy circumstances: Pip from his poverty and Oliver from his loneliness and hunger.
Given that hiding and escaping seem to be unsurprising actions, it is no wonder that death also plays a significant role in both stories. Both novels use death and coffins as symbols of a desirable and peaceful way to escape from harsh realities. In Oliver Twist, the suggestion is made that only loneliness and cruelty exist in the world, contradicting the notion of a heaven on earth.
Another important theme in the novel is the concept of two separate and conflicting dualisms: one, social, between the individual and the establishment; the second, moral, between the respectable and the criminal. Most of Oliver Twist suggests that “it is better to be a thief than to be alone.” This suggests that Dickens favors the criminal aspect of his novels over the moral side.
Dickens’ unfavorable judgment of societal unfairness, particularly towards the poor, arises from the struggle between the person and the establishment. In addition, he employs sarcasm to challenge the notion of fortune being enjoyable.
Dickens employs various devices in his novels, aside from sarcasm. One frequently used device is happenstance. For example, in Oliver Twist, Oliver coincidentally ends up at Mr. Brownlow’s house, who was once a close friend of Oliver’s father. Later on, Oliver finds himself at Rose Maylie’s house, who happens to be his aunt.
The usage of happenstance in Great Expectations is also evident. For instance, Pip discovers the parentage of Estella long after first meeting them – Magwitch and Molly, Mr. Jaggers’s servant. Additionally, Pip coincidentally visits Satis House (Miss Havisham’s former residence) at the same time as Estella.
The novel “Oliver Twist” introduced a new style of English prose with its abrupt, truncated chapters. Both “Oliver Twist” and “Great Expectations” rely heavily on the use of abstraction, which involves intentionally omitting various details.
In Great Expectations, the perspective is conveyed through the character of Pip. Therefore, our perception of the other characters greatly depends on Pip’s feelings and his opinions about them.
Despite their differences, the two books diverge significantly from each other. For example, Pip seeks wealth while Oliver seeks security, and while Pip grows up in a domestic setting, Oliver is raised in an orphanage. Nevertheless, both books contribute greatly to society by addressing numerous issues that still persist today, such as child abuse and injustice towards the poor. To overcome these immoralities, it is crucial to first comprehend them, and Charles Dickens excels at elucidating the severity of these experiences.
