Great Expectations is a classic novel by Charles Dickens, following the story of an orphan named Pip as he navigates through social class, love, and personal growth. It is a timeless tale that explores themes of ambition, identity, and the impact of social status on individuals.
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Brief Description of Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a classic novel by Charles Dickens, following the story of an orphan named Pip as he navigates through social class, love, and personal growth. It is a timeless tale that explores themes of ambition, identity, and the impact of social status on individuals.
Importance of Writing Essays on This Topic
Essays on Great Expectations are important for academic and personal exploration as they provide an opportunity to delve into the complexities of the characters, themes, and social commentary within the novel. Through writing about Great Expectations, students can develop critical thinking skills and gain a deeper understanding of the literary techniques employed by Charles Dickens.
Tips on Choosing a Good Topic
Focus on a specific theme or character to narrow down your topic
Consider the historical and social context of the novel for inspiration
Look for unique angles or interpretations that have not been extensively explored
Essay Topics
Reflective
Essay Topics
The transformation of Pip's character throughout the novel
The significance of the marshes in Great Expectations
How social class influences the characters' actions and choices
Argumentative
Essay Topics
The role of guilt and redemption in Great Expectations
The portrayal of women in the novel and its impact on the plot
The societal critique presented in the character of Miss Havisham
Analytical
Essay Topics
The symbolism of the convict in the opening scene
The use of foreshadowing in the narrative
The significance of the title "Great Expectations" in relation to the characters' aspirations
Concluding Thought
Exploring Great Expectations through essay writing offers a unique opportunity to engage deeply with the themes and characters of the novel. By examining different aspects of the story, readers can gain a richer understanding of the timeless literary work and its enduring relevance. Happy writing!
Jose de las Luz y Caballero once said “As the fruit ripens, so does the man mature, after many rains, suns and blows.” Throughout the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, the protagonist Philip Pirrip also known as Pip, undergoes many changes from when he...
Great Expectations is the account of a young boy’s transition into adulthood as Pip, the central character, searches for contentment. Born into no particular wealth or distinction, he may have lived wholly satisfied with his modest pedigree had it not been for his association with...
“We have no choice, you and I, but to obey our instructions. We are not free to follow our own devices, you and I.” (265). Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts...
English satirical poet, Charles Churchill once said, “Keep up appearances; there lies a test. The world will give thee credit for the rest.” This was initially meant as a jab at untrustworthy politicians and the lies that they tend to tell. This can also apply...
Within Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, Joe Gargery is presented as the epitome of human compassion and kindness, the moral center of the novel. He is a strange mixture of wisdom, stupidity and generosity, being the most human of all the characters with his strengths and...
Charles Dickens’ bildungsroman Great Expectations (1913) cannot help but impress upon the reader an overwhelming sense of guilt that permeates the novel at various levels. As the plot unfolds, the characters develop; the sense of guilt, however, remains unchanging until the primary character, Pip, completes...
“Tell me your dreams for a while and I will tell you what you are really like.” Written by E.R. Pfaff in 1868, this proverb posits dreams as authentic manifestations of an individual’s identity and character. It makes two conclusions: 1) dreams are a very...
It is difficult to classify the personality of any one person as being entirely one way or another. So, too, it is difficult to classify a rich, round character like Pip in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations as being essentially passionate or essentially moderate. While, as...
Through his novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens emphasizes the perpetually domineering nature of 19th century England’s uncompromising class structure system. Dickens satirizes the socially vital and inflexible natures of this system through characters such as Mrs. Pocket, whose failure to realize her low-class status drives...
Christopher Ricks poses the question, in his essay on Dickens’ Great Expectations, “How does Pip [the novel’s fictional narrator] keep our sympathy?” (Ricks 202). The first of his answers to this central inquiry are: the fact that Pip is “ill-treated by his sister Joe and...
The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain was a time of newfound social freedoms. New inventions and scientific discoveries allowed for faster and cheaper production of goods. Manufacturing processes created jobs and fostered the birth of new industries. For the first time ever, people believed in...
In the 1861 novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens tells the story of a poor English boy named Pip who faces a number of complicated situations and characters on his way to becoming a gentleman. Dickens’ writing style, while indicative of the time period, is notable for...
In Great Expectations, the word “taint” describes Pip’s soiled conscience and shame for his identity, which he confuses with low class status and physical filth (Dickens 249). Pip’s usage of it in the passage about his feeling of ‘taint’ shows the way he conflates its...
Biddy is introduced early in Great Expectations and is mentioned regularly throughout, though she is not one of the major characters. She does, however, serve as a constant reminder to Pip of what he is leaving behind and, as she is more of a peer...
Since its publication in 1860, Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations has garnered a reputation as one of the most powerful and moving works of the nineteenth century. Great Expectations follows the story of a poor young boy named Pip into his more fortune adult years...
As simplistic and politically impartial as Victorian novels and their common familial themes of love and companionship may seem, there is customarily a greater sociopolitical concern inserted within the narrative for the reader of the time to have registered. Paul Thomas Murphy expresses this in...
We would always look in the darkest places for monsters: under the bed, in the closet, out in the woods where light could never penetrate the trees. We would always let our imagination wander to depict creatures that replicated hairy beasts with angry fangs and...
Throughout the novel Great Expectations, numerous meals which have symbolic resonance repeatedly take place. This essay will argue that the meal in the novel is a recurring motif with three primary functions. Firstly, they are indeed ceremonies of love or dark manifestations of the absence...
In literature, an author will often choose to portray a turning point in a novel through a change in setting. This transformation alerts the reader to take notice of not simply the plot development but also many other things about the work. For example, the...
In his 1987 study The Way of the World, literary scholar Franco Moretti states that the Bildungsroman “stands out as the most obvious of the (few) reference points available in that irregular expanse we call the “novel””. Indeed, while the reader may be unfamiliar with...
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations focus on the themes of money and social class. In both novels, money plays a significant role in shaping and directing human motives and actions. A direct connection can be drawn between the two protagonists...
Bennett and Royle, in their book `An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory’, state that `the relationship between literature, secrecy and secrets is fundamental1’. In the novels I have chosen, this `fundamental’ dynamic is seen in their representation of secrets as being both hidden and...
Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectation is recognized as one of the most important examples of bildungsroman, that is, a “novel of personal development or education” of its main character (Rau). In this novel, using a first-person narrative, Dickens tells the story of Pip and how...
In Dickens’s Great Expectations, the alienation of the amiable Joe Gargery speaks volumes about the values of high society at that time. Joe represents the epitome of friendship and love, but he is constantly out of his element when around noblemen or -women such as...
Victorian literature is over-populated with orphans. The Bronte sisters, Trollope, George Elliot, Thackeray and Gaskell all positioned orphans as leading characters in their novels. This trend continued into the Edwardian period, as Frances Hodgson Burnett created the orphaned protagonists Colin, Mary, and Sara. Made-to-order essay...
Great Expectations is a novel which, in its first part, focuses largely on the education and upbringing of a young boy, Pip. Orphaned at a young age, he is raised “by hand” by his older sister and her husband, a blacksmith. Written from the adult...
The fledgling years of post-industrial Britain were tumultuous ones, as are the beginnings of all eras that dismantle century-old beliefs and traditions. It was the advent of capitalism, signifying endless opportunities for wealth through industry and commerce. However, this new system also made immorality a...
The societal aspects of their writing made Dickens and Shaw two of the most influential figures of revolutionary and socio-political writing. William Blake, however, was also significant, especially through his work Songs of Innocence and Experience where he gave the marginalised figures of society a...
A key theme in both Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations[1] and Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles[2] is cruelty. Both authors treat this cruelty in such a way as to expose the flaws of a society in which the powerful, either in terms of class, physical...
In Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, the characters of Biddy and Orlick play significant roles in shaping the protagonist, Pip’s, journey of self-discovery and growth. Biddy, a kind and compassionate young woman, serves as a moral compass for Pip, offering guidance and support throughout his...
Novel, Bildungsroman, Graphic Novel, Social Criticism, Fictional Autobiography
Characters
Pip, Estella, Miss Havisham, Abel Magwitch, Joe Gargery, Jaggers, Herbert Pocket, Wemmick, Biddy, Dolge Orlick, Mrs. Joe, Uncle Pumblechook, Compeyson, Bentley Drummle, Molly, Mr. Wopsle, Startop, Miss Skiffins
