摘要:本文深入细致的分析了狄更斯《远大前程》一文中的主要人物皮普的生活经历与心路历程,揭示了英国维多利亚时代人与人之间赤裸裸的金钱关系,展现了生活在那个时代的底层民众的生存状态。

关键词:狄更斯远大前程皮普人物性格

《远大前程》是查尔斯·狄更斯艺术生涯后期最具代表性的长篇小说。小说描述了一个名为皮普的孤儿的生活经历和心路发展历程,艺术的揭示了这位孤儿从对幸福生活的期望到幻想破灭的整个过程。在这本书中“,远大前程”是一句反话,并不是真的指孤儿皮普有什么远大的前程,而恰恰是指的一种“幻灭”,一种幻想的幻灭。但如果读者只是把本书理解成一本描写孤儿幻想破灭的书,那就误解也低估了作者的本意,作者是要在对孤儿皮普的描述中展现19世纪英国维多利亚时代的社会生活,揭露了资产阶级金钱世界的种种罪恶。主人公皮普自幼就失去了父母,作者在小说的开始以第一人称的口吻这样叙述着主人公的身世“:我说皮利普是我父亲的姓,那是有根据的,因为我父亲的墓碑上刻着他的姓,而且我姐姐也这么说。我姐姐嫁给了铁匠乔·葛奇里,现在是葛奇里夫人了。至于我,从来没有见到过父亲和母亲,也没有看到过他们两位的照片。”从这里我们可以了解到,这样一个自幼由嫁给铁匠的姐姐抚养长大的孤儿,在那个时代是不可能获得什么太好的教育的。教育的缺失和家境的情况使得幼年的皮普把姐夫当做理想的奋斗目标。而事实上,在这个由姐姐掌握大权的家里,姐夫也是唯一可以“以诚相待,推心置腹”的人。而“一手”抚养他长大的姐姐呢“,我的姐姐乔·葛奇里夫人比我要年长二十多岁。她一直说我是由她一手带大的,因此在左邻右舍享有很大名气,倍受夸奖。从小我就想了解这里的“一手”究竟是什么含义。我所知道的她的手,是结实笨重而又冷酷严厉的,因为她特别喜欢把她的巴掌打在她丈夫的身上,当然也喜欢打在我的身上。我想乔·葛奇里和我就是这样由她一手带大的吧。”读者可以在字里行间读出作者的良苦用心,但即使在这样充满了暴力的家庭里长大,皮普依然保持着天真、质朴的性格,文中作者还特意用一段对吃面包的描述来展示皮普的天真可爱“:在吃晚餐时,我们有个习惯,要比较一下吃面包的速度,不时地悄悄拿起所啃的面包比一下,并且相互会心地表示赞美。这样,我们啃面包就越啃越有劲。”幼年的皮普也是善良的,这一点即使是在面对逃犯时也未曾改变,也正是这种善良为他日后的命运埋下了伏笔。哈维莎姆小姐的出现,彻底改

变了皮普一生的命运。在这里我们要注意一点,那就是作者查尔斯·狄更斯的哲学思想之一是环境对人思想的影响。狄更斯认为,不同的环境可以造就成不同的人。当然,我们知道,内因才是决定一个人发展的关键因素。皮普如果不是一个天真、质朴的少年,而是一个成熟、倔强的少年,也许这个故事就不会是这样一个结局了。对一个一心想要“报复男人”的哈维莎姆小姐来说,皮普是一个绝佳的工具和发泄对象。让年轻漂亮的养女埃斯特拉去主动接近皮普,却又不断的嘲笑皮普,哈维莎姆的计划是成功的。年轻的皮普就像一个提线木偶,被哈维莎姆小姐和命运玩弄于股掌之间。对爱斯特拉的倾慕使皮普开始厌恶自己“那双粗糙的手和那双笨头笨脑的皮靴”,用皮普自己的话说就是“我现在对这些东西很是瞧不起了,这些东西过去没有烦恼过我,现在却使我烦恼了。它们确是些粗俗不堪的东西。”也开始埋怨起一直“以诚相待,推心置腹”的“伙计”“我决定回家去问问乔,为什么他总是告诉我那些牌叫做贾克,而实际上应该是奈夫。我想,如果当年乔的教养高一些,我也不至于落到这地步。”应该说,作为一个孩子,在虚荣面前有些抱怨还是可以理解的,毕竟这也符合人性。于此同时,从这里开始我们也以看到,狄更斯在《远大前程》中对人物心理的描写比之以往更加细腻、真实,对人物内心世界的探索更加坚决、彻底。与其前期的人物形象相比,皮普的形象更加丰富逼真,这是作者摆脱了人物单一性和确定性的一种表现。也使得皮普这个人物更接近现实,更能反映当时的社会情形。在皮普的身上,我们看不到狄更斯早期作品中那种脸谱化的描写,看不到作者直接定义的人物性格,而是一个有其自身言行举止,内心活动的崭新的形象。对皮普的是非要由读者自己来判断、评价。皮普是真实的,也就是从这一刻开始,那种对虚荣的爱慕情结开始萌动,那种摆脱现状的想法开始不可遏制的出现,并很快的开始实施“一两天后的一个早晨,我醒来时突然想到一个非常好的主意。我要使自己走向不平凡,最为上策的办法是去找毕蒂,学会她所知道的一切东西为自己所用。”从这一刻开始,皮普开始了他的奋斗历程。从这一刻开始

第二篇：《远大前程》中影响皮普性格发展的环境因素研究

The Circumstance Factors on the Development of Pip’s

Characters in Great Expectations

Contents

Abstract.......................................................................................................................1

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Life and Experience of Charles Dickens ............................................................................. 2

1.2 A Simple Introduction to the Victorian Age ........................................................................ 2

1.3 Introduction to the Theme ................................................................................................... 3

2. Pip’s Character Development ....................................................................................... 4

2.1 Changing From Innocence to Snobbishness after His First Visit to Satis House Where He

Meets Estella ............................................................................................................................. 4

2.2 Changing from Arrogance to Sincerity after Knowing the Real Benefactor ....................... 6

3. The Circumstance Factors on the Development of Pip’s Characters ....... 7

3.1 People around Him .............................................................................................................. 7

3.1.1 The Dignity of Joe Cargery ...................................................................................... 7

3.1.2 The Cruelty of Miss Havisham ................................................................................ 8

3.1.3 The Arrogance of Estella .......................................................................................... 9

3.1.4 The gratitude of Magwitch ..................................................................................... 10

3.2 His Terrible Educational Background ............................................................................... 11

3.3 His Poor Family Background ............................................................................................ 12

4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 12 References…………………………………………………………………………14

The Circumstance Factors on the Development of Pip’s

Characters in Great Expectations

Abstract: Charles Dickens is one of the most famous realistic novelists in England in the 19th century. He shows us different aspects of the time he lived in and the cruelty and hypocrisy of the capital society. Great Expectations is one of his later works, where he used the first person to describe Pip’s life experiences and psychological development, revealed vividly his anticipation of becoming a gentleman and the process of mental retrospection after disillusionment. Pip’s character changed greatly from innocence to snobbishness, then from arrogance to sincerity due to the influence of the circumstance factors. This paper studies the combination of the circumstance factors and Pip’s characters through the following three aspects: the people around him, his terrible educational background and poor family background. By analyzing these circumstance factors respectively, we can understand this novel better. Moreover, we can get inspiration on the outlook of value through Pip’s delusion in Great Expectations.

Key words: Charles Dickens; Great Expectations; circumstance factors; educational background; family background

摘要：查尔斯·狄更斯是19世纪英国最著名的现实主义小说家之一，他的作品从不同侧面揭示了他所处的那个时代，揭示了资本主义的残忍和虚伪。《远大前程》是他晚期的作品之

一。他用第一人称描述了皮普的生活经历和心理发展，生动地揭示了他想成为一名绅士的愿望和幻想破灭后的精神反思过程。受环境因素的影响，皮普的性格经历了从单纯到虚荣，从傲慢到善良成熟的巨大变化。本文从皮普周围的人、其教育环境和贫穷的家庭背景三个方面来研究环境因素对皮普性格的影响。通过对这些环境因素的逐个分析，我们能更好地理解这部小说。更重要的是，《远大前程》中皮普梦想的破灭给我们价值观带来的启示。 关键词：查尔斯·狄更斯；《远大前程》；环境因素；教育背景；家庭背景 1

1. Introduction

1.1 Life and Experience of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era. With striking force and truthfulness, he pictured bourgeois civilization, showing the misery of common people. He was the son of a navy clerk. The defining moment of Dickens's life occurred when he was 12 years old. With his father in debtors' prison, he was withdrawn from school and forced to work in a factory. This affected deeply the sensitive boy. Though he returned to school at 13, his formal education ended at

15. As a young man, he worked as a reporter, which not only strengthened his willingness and ability, but also gave him a chance to study politics and observe life, so that he could understand the whole society of England in a comprehensive way. In 1834, his lifework of writing began and without rest. At the age of 24, he married Catherine, who is a newspaper publisher’s daughter, but there are great differences in personality and interests between them, which brought misfortune to his creation, especially to his later life. His literary career can be divided into three periods: the first period began from 1836 to 1841 when his novels are full of youthful optimism; the second period, which began from 1842, was a period of excitement and irritation; the third period which was the later period of his literary career when his works show intensifying pessimism, and Great Expectations is just one of his main novels in this period. In his works, Dickens sets out a full map and a large-scale criticism of the nineteenth century England, particularly London. He showed solicitude for the working class people, but was also afraid of revolution. He is a master of humor, often telling the world the truth in romantic and interesting language, so that Marx had to admire to call him "an outstanding novelist".

1.2 A Simple Introduction to the Victorian Age

The Victorian Age usually refers to the British queen Victoria's reign period (1837-1901), but "Victorian age" was not ended until World War I broke out in 1914. In Victorian times, British industry developed rapidly. Science, culture and art came to an unprecedented prosperity. Due to its rapid outward expansion and the establishment of a large colony, England was called an empire where “the sun never 2

set”. In Victorian period, appeared a new literary trend——critical realism. English Critical Realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and fifties. During this period, fiction became widely popular. These critical realists on the one hand reinstated realism of the 18th century and, on the other hand, shouldered the responsibility to criticize the society and defend the interests of the people. Common sense and moral propriety, which were ignored by the Romanticists, became again the predominant preoccupation in literary works. Victorian literature, in general, truthfully represents the reality and spirit of the age. The high-spirited vitality, the-down-to-earth earnestness, the good-matured humor and unbounded imagination are all unprecedented. Victorians were a deeply class-conscious society. There are many things about the Victorian Age that are different from our way of life today. The novel Great Expectations give many examples of the contrast of the present and the past, clearly illustrates the rich and poor extremes of the society. Novelists in this period criticized sharply the greed and cruelty of the bourgeoisie and cared for the masses of the people's life and fate.

1.3 Introduction to the Theme

Great Expectations is a novel of education, which implies many themes: love, good and evil, female, benevolence and so on. By reading this novel, we all know Pip is ungrateful, but according to his self-narration, we can see the innocence accompanying him has never been changed. Pip frankly tells readers his lifetime of frustrations and his heart with contradiction, which reflects his distinct morality——benevolence.

There are two remarkable love stories in this novel: Miss Havisham was abandoned in the weeding night and Pip’s unrequited pursuit of her adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham’s tragedy reflected the darkness of the upper class, which is based on money and venality. Pip fell genuinely in love with Estella even though he knew she just played with him, which showed Pip’s dedication and loyalty of love. In this work, the representatives of good are Joe and Biddy, for both of them are kind and loyal. The representatives of evil are Compeyson and Miss Havisham, because they are both vicious. This novel shows not only the conflict between good and evil, but also the coexistence of good and evil in Pip, which mutually influenced his growth. The happy ending in this novel highlighted kindness and love is the core 3

of humanitarian ideas.

Dickens described a serious of female characters in this novel: rude Mrs. Joe, odd Miss Havisham, beautiful but arrogant Estella, and simple Biddy. Among these female characters, Miss Havisham and Estella are the most unique and complex female images. Their experiences revealed Victorian women’s tragic fate on different sides. At the same time, it showed middle class sense of masculinity and male consciousness.

In this novel, circumstance factors play an important role on Pip’s characters. It is by the influence of Joe and Magwitch that Pip has realized that the true value of a person is not related to his or her social status or the degree of education. Love, loyalty and conscience are more important than wealth and social status. Pip’s story reveals the fact that human beings’ value is more important than money. If a person gives love to others, he will get the same or greater returns. To Dickens, the more important idea is that pure love is a means of atonement to people who have made mistakes, to people who have committed a crime and to people who are cowardly.

2. Pip’s Character Development

2.1 Changing From Innocence to Snobbishness after His First Visit to Satis House Where He Meets Estella

In his childhood, Pip is an unsophisticated, innocent, kind, and timid boy who thirsts for knowledge. He doesn’t have a normal family. He is an orphan without parents, who is not taken care of well by his bad-tampered sister in a small town. His sister treats him cruelly. She has various ways to punish Pip with a variety of unreasonable rules. Consequently, Pip gets more sensitive and timid. Joe, his brother-in-law, is a kind hearted, diligent, sincere man. He has never mistreated Pip, but helped Pip from Mrs. Joe’s abusing. Pip often goes to the graveyard to memorialize his parents. He is nervous, frightened when he meets the convict at the grave. The convict threats Pip to provide him with some food and a file, otherwise he will rip Pip’s heart and liver out. After hearing that Pip feels extremely frightened, but he can’t help having compassion for the convict, he spends the rest of that day managing to steal those things out on time. Pip doesn’t know such questions as: who is he? Where does he come from? Why he appears in the graveyard? But he doesn’t 4

ask any questions to him and keep his promise to help the convict. Here we can see Pip is an innocent boy who knows nothing about the mixed world. Moreover Pip worries about the convict’s safety when he hears the policeman is searching for him. From this action, we can refer that Pip is a kind-hearted boy.

Pip’s life changes totally and dramatically as long as he meets Miss Havisham and Estella. He becomes ambitious and snobbish. When Pip walks into Satis House, he is deeply impressed and surprised. He is totally lost in another world, in which he sees brilliant decorations. Most importantly, he meets Estella, a beautiful but extremely arrogant young lady. Pip loves her at the first sight，but what Estella has done to him hurts his feelings, the following thing that marks the beginning of Pip’s desire to change himself. When playing the cards, Estella mocks Pip by calling him the “knaves,” “Jacks.” She also saw his coarse hands and thick boots. Her contempt was so strong to make Pip feel ashamed.

After his experience in the luxurious house and his meeting with Estella, Pip has a new understanding of his ordinary background and low social status. He begins to realize that he is merely a poor boy without anything, so he is desperate to be a gentleman who can match with Estella. Gradually, he hates what he has now. He doesn’t want to be a blacksmith like Joe which is his original dream. However he is doomed to become Joe’s apprentice to inherit the craft, which makes him only feel dusty and always haunted by the fear that Estella will look down upon him and ignore him. He also feels ashamed of his poor family. Here is an obvious detail: when they went in to supper, Pip felt ashamed of his home than ever, even though the place and the meal looked more homely than before.

After Pip is told to inherit a huge but cryptic property, he knows it’s time for him to realize his great expectations. He is very contented with his fortune, and he thinks he will become a gentleman from then on and Estella will marry him one day. Then his self-interest begins to swell which causes him to become arrogant and look down upon others. In order to go to London to accept the upper class gentleman education, he gives up his career as a blacksmith and abandons his sister who is ill in bed. Pip also believes that he is superior to Joe and Biddy between whom there is a great gap. Pip tells Joe that he wants to walk away all alone when he leaves for London. Actually, Pip is afraid that Joe’s behaviors will make him shameful because he senses the difference between him and Joe, so he would rather walk away all alone. 5

In this period, we can see Pip is snobbish under the influence of Miss Havisham and Estella.

2.2 Changing from Arrogance to Sincerity after Knowing the Real Benefactor

Pip integrates himself into the upper class in London, where he begins to learn how to become a gentleman by wearing fancy clothes, meeting people from upper class, learning dancing with ladies and so on. In order to fit the new environment, he makes new friends and comes to form a class conception, spending money like water. Although he can get pocket money from Jaggers, he is still in debt for purchasing expensive furniture and hiring a servant who is also required to wear decently. Extravagance makes him arrogant and snobbish. He thinks he is superior to lower class people. Take Joe for example. One day, Joe writes a letter to tell Pip that he is going to pay a visit to him. After hearing that, instead of happiness, Pip feels upset and ashamed. Joe, who hasn’t seen Pip for a long time, is awkward and feels uneasy. Here is a fit detail: when paying Pip a visit, Joe calls Pip “sir” and he can’t find a suitable spot to deposit his hat. This shows the gap between Joe and Pip, which implies the loyalty of Joe and the betrayal of Pip. Joe calls Pip “sir” that further proves the gap isn’t easily broken, and they aren’t closer than before. Joe is the original Joe who is kind and faithful, but Pip has changed a lot, for he thinks highly of his own image and social status. There is a gap for Joe and Pip to communicate with each other when Pip is in a higher position.

Although Pip becomes a gentleman in London, he lacks confidence and becomes unhappier than before. Due to the guilt for Joe and the obsession with Estella, Pip would rather visit Miss Havisham than Joe. Moreover, Pip always thinks that Miss Havisham wants him to marry Estella and chooses him as her successor. No one really cares about him in this strange city, except Herbert, his only real friend. Being attracted by upper class, to some extent, he is obsessed with luxury lifestyles, but he is still generous to help Herbert open a shop to do business, which shows that Pip is kind at heart. His moral corruption just means that he loses his nature temporarily. After experiencing these setbacks, Pip restores his nature of conscience form the love of Joe and Magwitch. The news that Magwith suddenly comes back from abroad strikes Pip like a bolt from the blue, which makes Pip realize that his benefactor is Magwitch, the escaped prisoner who he has helped before, rather than Miss Havisham who has no 6

plan to marry Estella to him. At the same time, this incident like a flash of lightening makes Pip revive in moral and realizes that he betrays Joe and his nature of conscience. Pip knows that he can realize his dream of becoming a gentleman is just due to the help of Magwitch, whose social status is lower than his. Many years ago, Pip’s kindness made him help the convict in the wetland. Similarly, now the sense of responsibility motivates Pip to realize that he should help the convict, which reflects his kindness in the depth of his heart. Pip helps him without hesitation, even though he failed to help him escape from the soldiers. He gives love and comfort to Magwitch, but this love has nothing to do with his great expectations. Conversely, this decision is made before he knows his great expectation is destroyed. Therefore, Pip helps Magwitch just out of his willingness, which can’t be seen as a material reward to express his gratitude. Deep in mind, Pip breaks away from the corruptive upper class, backing to himself as the kind nature of ordinary people. It is the convict that stimulates his nature. His great expectations were gained and then lost, but his nature was lost, and then gained.

In the end of the novel, Pip acts nobly to save Miss Havisham’s life instead of hating her, which is a symbol of Pip’s maturity. He rescues her out from a big fire without thinking twice. All of these show that Pip has changed and grown mature finally.

3. The Circumstance Factors on the Development of Pip’s Characters

3.1 People around Him

3.1.1 The Dignity of Joe Cargery

Joe is a good natured and easy-going man, who has deep influence on the growth of Pip. When Pip is young, Joe plays a role of a protector, preventing Pip from the abuse of his sister who is rude and grumpy. On this occasion, like a wall Joe keeps Pip away from his sister’s rudeness, providing him with a peaceful shelter which belongs to his own. By using this method, Joe protects Pip as well as the family. Most notably, Joe shows respect to each member of his family and cares about them. His conception of family impresses Pip deeply. We can deduce that without Joe, Pip will always live a miserable life for lacking of family care. If this continues, Pip will 7

become a narrow-minded person rather than a kind and innocent young man.

In addition, Joe plays a role of Pip’s friend in most of the time. When Pip is in difficulties, Joe will immediately help and console him without reserve. We can see from this detail: when Pip is sick in bed due to frustration which results from the disillusionment of his great expectations, Joe comes to his side like a friend, taking care of him till he gets well. It is at this moment that Pip has fixed feelings: “There was no change whatever in Joe. Exactly what he had been in my eyes then, he was in my eyes still; just as simply faithful, and as simply right.” Joe pays Pip’s debts in silence, protecting him from the pain of the prison. Staying with Joe, Pip feels like a child. Everything has been done by Joe; Pip needn’t worry about anything but himself. At this time, the meeting of the two friends is very happy. Pip is moved by Joe and prays for him. Therefore, we can deduce from Pip’s frank words that he has realized his errors and mend his way.

Apart from a proctor and a friend, Joe is his tutor in moral. Even though he is nobody but a silent blacksmith, he teaches Pip with noble character and simple ways he behaves. When Pip tells Joe what he has said about Havisham’s home are all lies, Joe feels so surprised and sad. In Joe’s opinion, for any reasons Pip shouldn’t tell lies. Moreover, when Pip is evaluated by Estella as “ordinary”, he feels so sad and, at this time, Joe will come to comfort him with simple language. Without fancy phrases, his words are simple and plain, but in which we can see a truth——no matter how ambitious goals you have, you must be equipped with sincere attitude and down-to-earth action. Therefore, in Joe’s eyes, being an ordinary person also needs hard work, which makes Pip doesn’t feel frustrated any more.

As a blacksmith without education, Joe uses his words and deeds to affect Pip than deliberately snubs to achieve the goal of education. During Pip’s growth, Joe plays a balancing role. When Pip gets lost in his great expectations, Joe is always there and supports him forever. With his honesty, kindness and calm attitude towards life, Joe sets a good example to Pip in moral.

3.1.2 The Cruelty of Miss Havisham

Miss Havisham is an indifferent, odd and vengeful old woman who lives in a shabby house full of dust and wears a dirty and old weeding dress, which she has never willing to take off. She is a totally tragic character in this novel.

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She was born in a noble family, and was once an innocent girl longing for love. But when she puts all her love on a man called Compeyson, who abandons her on their wedding day and takes away a lot of property, her tragedy begins. For love, she grows desperate and thinks that real love is blind devotion, utter submission and giving all your heart to the smiter. She entertains thoughts of revenging on men, which contributes to her extreme distortion of human nature.

After the terrible experience, she fosters Estella and brings her up as a tool to revenge on men. It is under Miss Havisham’s misleading that Estella becomes an arrogant and snobbish lady with no sympathy and sentiment. She knows that Pip loves Estella, so she misleads Pip to love her. She tells Pip: “No matter how Estella treats you, you should also love her. If she tears your heart to piece, you should insist on loving her.” Not knowing it is a trap, Pip loves Estella as usual. Fortunately, he inherits a large inheritance which can make Pip’s dream of being a gentleman come true. He thinks his benefactor must be Miss Havisham who is now willing to marry Estella to him. Gradually, the self-interest of his heart begins to swell. He becomes arrogant and looks down upon his friends who are common but loyal and kind. He even feels ashamed of his past life and, at this moment, his self-interest is more obvious. Miss Havisham pretends to be Pip’s mysterious sponsor after Pip pays a visit to her before he leaves for London. She makes Pip come to get confused between reality and dream and expand his ambition. Finally, Miss Havisham makes Estella marry a rich man which completely breaks Pip’s heart.

Generally speaking, it is Miss Havisham who makes Pip turn into an arrogant, ambitious and snobbish man. She should be responsible for Pip’s misery. Fortunately, after the disillusionment of his impractical ideas, Pip overcomes his misbehaviors and returns to good nature.

3.1.3 The Arrogance of Estella

Estella is an arrogant girl who is raised by Miss Havisham and used as a tool to take revenge on men. Pip loves Estella when seeing her at the first sight. On the contrary, Estella despises him very much. Staying with her for a long time, Pip is deeply influenced by Estella and has developed many bad personalities like Estella, such as arrogance, pride, prejudice and indifference. We can see Estella is arrogant everywhere, for example:

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“As we were going with our candle along the dark passage, Estella stopped all of a sudden, and, facing round, said in her taunting manner with her face quite close to mine…”

It is Estella’s arrogance that makes Pip looks down upon himself and even his family. Pip is a shy, sincere and innocent boy before he goes to Satis House. He hopes to become a blacksmith since the childhood, but after his meeting with Estella everything has changed. He turns to be a more ambitious man and tries his best to shut his past out. In order to match with Estella, Pip wants to get up-class education and pursue his great expectations. As time goes by, Pip loses his previous virtues and becomes ungrateful and indifferent. He regards himself as a gentleman superior to common persons. After these experiences, Pip becomes a sophisticated man of dramatic vanity. Estella used to be contented with which Miss Haviaham has given her. She is tired of this kind of dumb life. In order to get rid of Miss Havisham, Estella has no choice but marry the rough guy.

At the end of the story, Pip encounters Estella and persuades her to leave the past behind and go with him. After experiencing ups and downs, Pip really grows up both physically and mentally and, he can forgive a girl who has hurt his heart deeply.

To a large degree, Estella has bad influence on Pip’s character, but Pip finally returns to good nature, forgiving and accepting her, which marks the maturity of Pip. At the same time, Estella also gets touched and moved by Pip

3.1.4 The gratitude of Magwitch

Magwitch has great mercy on Pip because Pip is the only person who gives him warmth and kindness. When Pip is a little boy, he provides foods for Magwitch who is a convict and hasn’t eaten anything for a long time. In order to absolve Pip from being blamed, Magwitch takes all responsibilities for escaping from the prison before he is arrested. From then on, he determines to train up Pip into a gentleman with his hard-earned money. He even takes the risk of hanging, coming from Australia to the UK to see Pip——a gentleman made by himself. In the beginning, Pip has a strong aversion to Magwitch, because they belong to different classes. When Pip realizes his great expectations come from such a person, he feels like standing upon the edgy of an abyss. However, Magwitch regards Pip as his son as he says; “Look’ee here, Pip. I’m your second father. You’re my son——more to me nor any son.” All these show 10

that there is a natural bond between Pip and Magwitch.

Pip wants to get away from Magwitch, which is his original thought. But after a fierce battle on his conscience, he realizes that Magwitch is his benefactor who is grateful to him even at the expense of his life. After knowing the old man has experienced many hardships, Pip forgives him and even helps him from arrest. Under Pip’s care, Magwitch becomes more moderate than ever and gives people such a kind of impression: if he is in a favorable environment, he may become a good person. When Magwitch is arrested, Pip still keeps in touch with him and takes care of this dying old man. In moral, Pip has reached the higher spiritual realm.

Pip breaks away from the great expectations of bourgeois society in thinking, back to himself as the good nature of the poor children of the working class. Pip once said: “…it was for the convict…that I had deserted Joe.” It is Magwitch’s love that finally wakes Pip’s conscience and kindness up in his deep heart. Unfortunately, Pip fails to help Magwitch run away, but he regains his kindness.

3.2 His Terrible Educational Background

Readers will imagine that if Pip could receive some formal education, maybe he would know the world better and become satisfied with his life. But the reality is cruel. Pip has no parents and his sister is a cruel woman who has bad temper and often abuses him. She often claims to others that she brings Pip up by hands. Joe, Pip’s brother-in-law, always gives Pip support and care like a father. He is a kind man but is almost an illiterate. In order to let Pip acquire knowledge, he sends Pip to a night school. Surprisingly, he finds it is not a formal school, where there is no textbook and no teacher in the real sense. What they do for study is to eat apples, play some games such as passing the book from one to another with hands. It is obvious that such terrible education background can’t cultivate Pip to have the right value of standards. Pip loves Estella, but he knows he doesn’t match with her, so he wants to study hard and then he thinks he will be superior to others. Fortunately, he gets the chance of going to London to get upper-class education, where he learns from Mr. Pocket. At that time, his purpose of receiving education is only to decorate the status of gentleman. Although Pip is eager to learn knowledge, no teacher tells him the truth of society and life. Throughout the process of receiving education, Pip learns a little from his teachers and what he has learned is from his sufferings. There is a long 11

distance from Estella and Pip, and so Pip wants to shorten the distance by learning more. However, life is just his only textbook. The reality is so cruel that Pip can’t change himself in such a situation. The reason why Pip becomes so snobbish is that he is eager for beautiful Estella and for the upper class life. Therefore, he must bear all the consequences.

3.3 His Poor Family Background

Pip is an orphan who is brought up by his sister. Living in a poor country, he is quite sensitive and ashamed of his family. Pip’s sister, who is very vulgar and irritable, often scolds the whole family. She punishes him in lots of ways such as using the tar water as medicine, hitting him with a feather duster. She also likes to tell others she suffers a lot for bringing up Pip by hands. But his brother-in-law is kind and honest, and he is the only one who really cares about Pip. As Pip’s best friend, Joe often gives Pip support when in trouble. But what Joe can do is too little to help Pip, and without a good living situation as well as a good education, Pip forms the false values about wealth and the wrong outlook of the world. His childhood is full of frustrations, which makes him always dreaming of being an upper-class person. When meeting with Miss Havisham and Estella, Pip begins to hate his social status, and he even tries to get rid of it. He loves Estella, but he realizes that he is inferior to Estella who is an elegant and beautiful girl and it is impossible because of his terrible family situation. Therefore, Pip thinks the only way to match with Estella is to become a gentleman. Fortunately, he gets the chance of being a gentleman by which he can get rid of his low social class. He believes he will be upper class person and wastes money every day. Gradually, he loses himself in his sweet dream.

It is obvious that Pip’s poor family situation can’t give him good education and right value of life and wealth, which makes him go astray. It is not wrong that Pip want to become a gentleman. Everyone has his own right to pursue his dream, but the premise is that we shouldn’t be blind and desperate on the way of dreaming.

4. Conclusion

Great Expectations demonstrates clearly Dickens’s human nature and moral values. It not only reflects a generation of experiences, but also vividly exposes the 12

reality of mid-19th century British society. It involves around the growth of the main character Pip, who undergoes the disillusionment of his great expectation, and finally he realizes that what he has pursued in the vanity world is worthless. Through these ups and downs, Pip finds himself back. He learns how to find the real happiness, knows what is the real friendship and love, and the most important is that he understands what are the right values and worldviews.

Through the analyses above, it is not hard to find that Pip’s character is deeply influenced by the environment around him, which includes the people around him, his terrible educational background and poor family background. Mainly due to the influence of cruelty and hypocrisy of the capitalist society, Pip changes from innocence to snobbishness. But finally he changes from arrogance to sincerity due to the genuine friendship of Joe and fatherly love of Maggwitch. Everyone will make mistakes during their lifetime, and Pip is no exception. But admitting mistake is of great importance and what’s more encouraging, Pip does it and he starts a brand-new life.

This novel criticizes Pip’s obsession with upper class society, explores the loss of human nature in this fascination and also displays the return of human nature and the discovery of conscience. The disillusionment of Pip’s dream makes him sober and grow mentally up. He realizes that the really great expectations don’t consist in wealth and status, but in upright and kind soul as well as laborious and flexible hands. To Dickens, the more important idea is that pure love is a means of redemption to people who is cowardly and guilty. To us, we should depend on our own ability to create a bright future for there is no free lunch. Living in an information age but lacking the spirit of self-reliance, we shouldn’t rely on our family in order to develop our ability of independence. During this period, we may suffer setbacks, but we mustn’t be fooled by immediate interests. Only in this way, can we achieve great expectations and make it last forever.

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