Great Expectations

Charles Dickens

1812 [Hampshire, England] – 1870 [Kent, England]

Context

Great Expectations is set in early Victorian England, a time when great social changes were sweeping the nation. The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists and manufacturers to amass huge fortunes. Although social class was no longer entirely dependent on the circumstances of one’s birth, the divisions between rich and poor remained nearly as wide as ever. London, a teeming mass of humanity, lit by gas lamps at night and darkened by black clouds from smokestacks during the day, formed a sharp contrast with the nation’s sparsely populated rural areas. More and more people moved from the country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity. Throughout England, the manners of the upper class were very strict and conservative: gentlemen and ladies were expected to have thorough classical educations and to behave appropriately in innumerable social situations.

These conditions defined Dickens’s time, and they make themselves felt in almost every facet of Great Expectations. Pip’s sudden rise from country laborer to city gentleman forces him to move from one social extreme to another while dealing with the strict rules and expectations that governed Victorian England.

Rochester - Pip's village located near here.Chalk - Model for Gargery's forge located here. Dickens honeymooned here in 1836.Cooling - Cooling churchyard is where Pip's family is buried, Pip meets Magwitch here.Chatham - Dickens lived here as a child.Gad's Hill - Dickens walked with his father by a mansion here as a child. Dickens bought the house in 1856 and lived there the last 12 years of his life.Kent Road - Route Pip takes between London and home.Thames - Pip practices rowing between London and Erith. Attempt to escape with Magwitch from London to near the Cooling Marshes.The Nore - Sandbank off the Isle of Grain.

Form

In form, Great Expectations fits a pattern popular in nineteenth-century European fiction: the bildungsroman, or novel depicting growth and personal development, generally a transition from boyhood to manhood such as that experienced by Pip.

Great Expectations Economy

Victorian Era Five-Pound Coin (1887)

Understanding Victorian English Currency

Farthing= ¼ penny

½ Penny= ½ penny

Penny= 1/240th pound=1/12 shilling

Sixpence/tanner= 1/40th pound= ½ shilling= 6 pennies Note:”pence” is plural for pennies

Shilling/bob= 1/20th pound= 12 pence

Half Crown= 1/8th pound= 2 shillings & 6 pence

Crown= ¼ pound= 5 shillings

farthing ½ Penny

PennySixpence

Shilling

CrownHalf Crown

Understanding Victorian English Currency

Half Sovereign= ½ pound= 10 shillings

Sovereign= 1 pound= 20 shillings

1 guinea= 1 pound= 20 shillings

2£ coin= two pounds= 40 shillings

5£ coin= five pounds= 100 shillings

Half Sovereign

Sovereign

Two Pound

Five Pound

“’Pip has earned a premium here,’ she said, ‘and here it is. There are five-and-twenty guineas in this bag. Give it to your master, Pip.’” (p. 93)

“’You’ll want some money. Shall I leave you twenty guineas?’” (p.130)

“’I suppose you make it twenty pounds,’ said I, smiling. “ (p.182)

“ I was afraid of stating it, for it sounded a large sum. ‘Nine hundred pounds.’” (p.364)

Quotes

Victorian Social Classes

“‘BIDDY,” SAID I, AFTER BINDING

HER TO SECRECY, ‘I WANT TO BE A GENTLEMAN.’”

(P.117)

Victorian Social Classes

Upper Class

Middle Class

Working/Lower Class

Upper Class

Wealth came from inheritance “’But he [Miss Havisham’s father] softened when he

was dying, and left him well off, though not nearly so well off as Miss Havisham.’” (p.165)

Completed education signified availability for marriage “’Abroad,” said Miss Havisham; “educating for a

lady, far out of reach; prettier than ever; admired by all who see her.’” (p.107)

Either called a “gentleman” or a “lady”

Being a Gentleman

Usually joined various social groups and societies “At Startop’s suggestion, we put ourselves down for election into a

club called the Finches of the Grove…” (p.251)

Chivalric moral code

Respectable occupation “‘I don't know why it should be a crack thing to be a brewer; but it

is indisputable that while you cannot possibly be genteel and bake, you may be as genteel as never was and brew.’”

Must be educated “‘It is considered that you must be better educated, in accordance

with your altered position, and that you will be alive to the importance and necessity of at once entering on that advantage.’” (p.128)

Middle Class

Only men provided the income

Made up of the gentry “It further appeared that the book I had seen Mrs.

Pocket reading in the garden was all about titles, and that she knew the exalt date at which her grandpapa would have come into the book.” (p.176)

Consisted of bankers, shopkeepers, merchants, and other professionals

Newest social class in the Victorian Era

Working Class“I TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY OF BEING ALONE IN THE COURT-YARD

TO LOOK AT MY COARSE HANDS AND MY COMMON BOOTS. MY OPINION OF THOSE ACCESSORIES WERE NOT FAVORABLE.” (P.56)

Most lived in villages secluded from cities “The journey from our town to the metropolis was a journey of about five

hours. It was a little past midday when the four-horse stage-coach by which I was a passenger got into the ravel of traffic frayed out about the Cross Keys, Wood Street, Cheapside, London.” (p.148)

Had very little chance for education, and if they had the privilege, very poor quality “Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt kept an evening school in the village’ that is to say,

she was a ridiculous old woman of limited means and unlimited infirmity who used to go to sleep from six to seven every evening in the society of youth who paid twopence per week each for it…” (p.39)

Poor living and working conditions

Heavily segregated from upper classes “’two persons.. One, the younger, well brought up, who will be spoken to as

such; one, the elder, ill brought up, who will be spoken to as such…’” (p.321)

Cultural and Historical

Cultural

Prison Hulk

A prison hulk was a hulk used as a floating prison. They were used in Great Britain, the Royal Navy producing a steady supply of ships too worn-out to use in combat, but still can float.

“… Hulks are prison-ships right’ cross th’ meshes.”

 Queen of Denmark

“The Queen of Denmark, a very buxom lady, though no doubt historically braze…” (234)

Kettle Drum

“… her waist being encircled by another, and each or her arms by another, so that she was openly, mentioned as ‘the kettle drum’.”(234)

Queen of DenmarkLouise of Hesse was born in September 7, 1817 and died on September 29, 1989 of age 81. She was a German Princess and the queen of Denmark. Louise was married to her cousin Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg and had two daughters. She ruled through November 5, 1863 to September 29, 1898.

Kettle DrumA type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet.

“…my sister leading the way in a very large beaver bonnet, and carrying a basket like the Great Seal of England in planted straw...”(91)

“… I have seen hanging up cathedrals.”(283)

Cathedrals

Is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop.

BonnetsBonnets are a variety of headgear.

Pip lives in the country side with his sister and Joe.

But then he has the chance to move to London to go study.

Historical'Industrial Revolution'

A period of major industrialization that took place during the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Industrial Revolution, beginning in Great Britain, quickly spread throughout the world. This time period saw the mechanization of agriculture and textile manufacturing and a revolution in power and had a massive effect on social, cultural and economic conditions. Also it had child labor, which the children whose family needed more help in money to feed their families.

Pip had the choice to go to London and study from the help of Mrs. Havisham. But the other children who had to work didn’t have the same luck as Pip. Pip is very lucky.