Great Expectations ThemesJoin now to read essay Great Expectations ThemesTo be able to locate and analyze themes of novels, such as Great Expectations, it is essential to understand the basic definition of a theme: It is a fundamental and often universal idea explored in a literary work. For instance, if we take a closer look at the story of Pip, we discover that the main idea behind the story is ambition and self improvement, which is correlated to the preceding minor themes, including social class, crime, guilt and innocence.
The most important theme throughout the book can be said to be ambition and self-improvement. Pip at heart is an idealist; whenever he is convinced that something is superior to what he has, he immediately desires to obtain that improvement. This is best illustrated when he sees Satis house, which puts him into a state of mind of desiring to be a wealthy gentleman. In this novel, Pip’s ambition and self-improvement takes three forms: moral, social, and educational. Firstly, he desires moral self-improvement and is very hard on himself when he feels that he acts immorally, by trying to act better in the future. This can be noticed when Pip leaves for London and is disappointed with his behavior towards Biddy and Joe. Secondly he desires social self-improvement, after having fallen in love with Estella, who demands Pip to act according to high society. His fantasies of becoming a gentleman are further fueled by Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook. These fantasies prove to be very significant throughout the plot, since the author uses these ideas of social class to explore the class system of his period. Thirdly, Pip desires educational improvement, which is deeply connected to his social ambition and dream of marrying Estella. Ultimately, through the examples of Joe, Biddy and Magwitch, Pip learns that social and educational improvement are irrelevant to one’s real worth and that conscience and affection are to be valued above social ranking.
Throughout the novel, the author explores the class system of Victorian England, ranging from the criminal Magwitch, to the poor peasants Joes and Biddy, to the middle class of Pumblechook, and finally to the rich Miss Havisham. This theme, being the procedure that people where categorized into classes, is essential throughout the story, since Pip realizes that wealth and class are less significant than affection, loyalty, and inner worth. The most important fact to be remembered about the post-industrial revolution class system is that Dickens ignores the nobility and aristocracy in favor of the main theme of this novel: ambition. The rich Miss Havisham did not acquire her wealth through heredity, but
The protagonist, Dr Gebhard, has to go to the police to stop a mob of young criminals, who have followed Pip on the streets of London by the docks, a crime that has been perpetrated by a mob of high-society families. In order to do so, he has to travel through a maze of sewers, where he meets the beautiful Miss Havisham, whose name is Louise, whose hair is a combination of brown and her mother’s red. Gebhard is forced to put a stop to all the gangs, which in turn results in the introduction of the “Harpoon House” that has a house for the rich.
Lest all of this sound like a simple novel, a simple little story that will probably never get any mainstream attention, I will mention that the opening scene of the novel is the scene where the wealthy Miss Havisham has her first look at her new husband, Charles, who is about to be named Prime Minister. As a result of her looking at the Queen, she gets a sudden desire to kill her husband.
Although, we have seen before that this type of dramatic novel is a kind of political thriller, with the story of the rich and famous moving away, with the poor being exiled, the middle class losing everything they had in common to an evil Empire. In such a scheme, Pip’s quest for her inheritance is interrupted, by an unnamed man with what appears to be more powerful intellect than she could ever have imagined. It turns out that James is not actually Pip, but a woman named Alice. Alice has become Pip’s best friend since her childhood, and although she is aware that James is an extremely smart, highly intelligent man, she is also quite confused about how this person will react to him, even if it is his own stupidity. She also does not understand why this man, who will be known by some as a “Fashion Junkie”, is here, and her own actions are not what makes this person such a threat.
As the scene shows us, Pip knows that “Mr. Pip” is something she has never even heard of. In fact, she is not even aware of his name at all, as the man in question speaks in a low Voice. The “Fashion Junkie” is actually Pip, from the video footage at the end of the short story. Pip has not been through to Mr. Pip as she saw him with this man (that is, at first), even when she visited him in her apartment. Pip realizes that she has seen “Madame Pip”, and that he is also her “Fashion Junkie”. Mr. Pip is a well-respected man who is known to be extremely strong and intelligent, and he is certainly the same guy who helped Pip to get her