Wealth in Great Expectations Essay

Examine Dickenss treatment of wealth and its effects on individual characters in Great Expectations.

Great Expectations is a bildungsroman based on the development and growth of Pip; a boy at the beginning of the novel who is a seed of his own planting in a hostile environment. In the beginning, Pip is a commoner oppressed by the hard and heavy hand of his sister, Mrs Joe. He helps a convict, later found to be named Magwitch, in the marshes as he is a genuinely kind and genteel boy. However, as Pip is introduced to the character Estella (a seemingly cold-hearted young girl), he realizes he is coarse and common and wants to change. Pips obsession with Estella drives him to desire wealth above everything else, and he eventually alienates Joe his loving father figure. His relationship with Estella is much like his with the woman he believes to be his benefactor Mrs Havisham: it is obsessional; Havisham is obsessed with trying to destroy the lives of men, and Pip is obsessed with trying to become worthy enough for Estella. It is clear that money has corrupted Pip, as he desires to change into a gentleman without gentility; whereas it has not corrupted his friend Herbert, who makes his own fortune and is not unkind in doing so. It is clear that Pip will only find redemption through his advancement with Joe he will have to become the boy who went out of his way to help the convict Magwitch again. Moreover, there is a parallel relationship between the clerk Wemmick and The Aged, and Joe and Pip: Wemmick generates money to take care of his father; whereas, Pip gains money just for himself and in doing so has alienated the man who has cared so much for him. Dickens shows through the characters of Pip and Havisham, that money can corrupt those who exploit it as a means to carry out their own selfish and negative motives; and through Wemmick and Herbert, he reveals how money can be used positively in ways to help others in a selfless manner.

Joe is shown to be very caring and protective of Pip even concerning the smallest things: Evidently made uncomfortable by what he supposed to be my loss of appetite. Joe protects Pip from his sister and the Tickler, as he quietly fenced [Pip] up there with his great leg. Pip feels guilty for not eating his bread as he is saving it for the convict, showing at this point that he feels genuine emotion: Deposited that part of my conscience in my garret bedroom. As Mrs Joe tells Pip that people are put in the Hulksby asking questions, Pip thinks that he will be sent to the Hulks as he naturally asked questions this reveals his innocence at the beginning of the novel. Pip then goes out his way to get a pork pie for the convict: Put away so carefully in a covered earthenware dish. This shows his kindness, at a time when money is absent from his life. Pip is scared Joe finds out that he stole the wittles for the convict: I was in an agony of apprehension. Here, Pip cares about Joes respect and opinion of him. However, Pip is introduced to Miss Havisham and Estella. Estella is Havishams weapon to destroy men due to being left at the altar. Pip is blinded by his obsession for her however, and feels self-conscious after a game of Beggar your Neighbour as she says: He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy.

He has coarse hands and thick boots in Estellas eyes. His desire for self-improvement forces him to look up to Estella. This process of change is immediate: he wont allow Estella to see him cry, and therefore he will not show her his inner feeling: he is beginning to internalize. This can be seen as the start of Havishams plan to take down Pip: she has allowed Estella to beggar his soul: fundamentally, it is the first sign of Havisham using her money for her selfish desires. After his visit to Satis House, Pip lies about Havishams dreary and gloom house, saying they had cake and wine on gold plates. Mrs Joe and his Uncle Pumblechook stop abusing him after this, and therefore Pip has found protection through money. However, Pip feels bad for lying again looking at Joe, Pip was overtaken by penitence. He is clearly still a genuinely kind young man. Soon enough, however, Pip becomes so engulfed by his obsession for Estella, and thus his obsession for self-change, that he isolates himself from the people who love him. After Pip leaves for London on account of his secret benefactor, he begins to become embarrassed of his former poor status, and thus is embarrassed for Joe: If I could have kept him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money. This reveals he is using money to distance himself from true love, thus supporting the idea that money is reductive. Pip feels in the forge he wont find half so much fault inJoe. This emphasizes the fact that Pip must return to that environment as the boy he once was in order to find redemption in himself, and also to respect and honour and love that Joe offers. Pip little realises that the things he is discarding, such as love and respect, are the very things that make him a kind gentleman, worthy of love.

After being rejected by Estella for the wealthy gentleman Drummle, however, Pip begins to reveal more redeeming qualities. The change is as immediate as it was when he first cried in front of Estella. He is told by Wemmick that Magwitch is being hunted down and now feels pity for my convict. They try to escape down the river and Pip actually uses his money to buy a boat, showing that he is now using money for the needs of others this is a moment of fleeting redemption for the young man. Pip accepts that Biddy and Joe are married and is happy for them and moreover, he finds his redemption when Joe names their child after him, and when Pip settles with Estella eleven years later. This is his ultimate admittance of his social standing as he is with a woman of the same low class as he.

Wemmick, one of Jaggerss clerks, makes a distinct division between his private life in Walworth, and his office and work in London: The office is one thing, and private life is another. At his Walworth castle, Wemmick enjoys fun and escape from his office life, in which he endures no enjoyment; Pip on the other hand does not distinguish work from private life and so he has no fun at all. Wemmick built his castle himself (he is his own Jack of all Trades) he is very proud to own his freehold and he built it for the Aged P because he wants to tend to his father: Its a freehold, by George! Furthermore, the house is almost mythical punch was cooling in an ornamental lake. Wemmick proves that this is his way of escaping work: Brushes the Newgate cobwebs away, and pleases the Aged. Wemmick relishes taking care of the Aged and enjoys seeing him excited by the gun-fire from Wemmicks cannon, the Stinger: Its the Ageds treat. He has used his money to build a sanctuary for his father and therefore he has used money for good purpose. Conversely, as Pip generates more money, he just impulse buys selfishly. He employs an errand-boy for himself whom he names the Avenger this is ironic as Pip has no errands for anyone to attend to: I sometimes sent him to Hyde Park-corner to see what oclock it was. Pips relationship with Joe drastically changes after he becomes a gentleman instead of helping the man who brought him up as a father figure, Pip uses his money only to his own ends. The juxtaposition of Wemmicks relationship with his father, and the relationship between Pip and Joe, emphasizes the difference in character between Wemmick and the protagonist: Wemmick uses his money to aid his father, but Pip uses his money selfishly.

Pips relationship with Estella is much the same as Havishams relationship with her they are both obsessional. Havisham is using her inherited money to wreak havoc on the male form through Estella. Pip is obsessed with Estella, and it is this that drives him to become uncommon and to desire money and wealth so he is worthy of her love. Through this it can be deduced that money is corrupting Pip as he almost has no control, because his obsession with Estella is too powerful. Indeed, Pip often fantasizes about how Havisham will engage himself and Estella he feels he is the Knight of romance. Pip loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness. As the reader learns that Havisham was left at the altar, it is clear that Estella is an instrument of her intention to destroy Pip: Well? You can break his heart.