Weather

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." (e-text)

Throughout Great Expectations Dickens refrences Shakespeare multiple times. However, one connection between the different pieces of literature is maybe a little more hidden to readers - weather. In Great Expectations, the weather is hardly ever sunny. Dickens uses weather to set the tone for his novel by connecting bad and stormy weather with intense events. This can easily be connected to Shakespeare's Macbeth.For example whenever the witches appear in the play booming thunder and frightening lightning always accompanies them.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1400/1400-8.txt

"SparkNotes: Macbeth: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 24 Jan. 2010. .

Allusion (2)

“Her face looked to me as if it were all disturbed by fiery air, like the faces I had seen rise out of the Witches’ cauldron.” (201)

Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens makes many references to Shakespeare. The reference to Macbeth is used so readers can make a connection to another and familiar piece of literature. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth murders Duncan and then is forced to face serious guilt. This can be connected to Pip's feelings of guilt when he chooses to leave Joe and Biddy.

Miss Havisham/The Satis House

“I strolled round by Satis House. . .” (449)

At a first glance, one would think that the Satis House was merely a representation of upper class. However, this house more greatly represents death. In the house, all the clocks are stopped - this is Miss Havisham's attempt to freeze time. Although the clocks never move, time still elapses symbolizing that time waits for no one. The wedding feast and wedding dress are a representation of being stuck in the past. Dickens includes this to show reader's the importance of memories but also the greater importance of living life in the moment.

Mrs. Joe

"Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself."

Growing up without a mother and father, Pip is raised by his sister, "Mrs. Joe" and her husband. Charles Dickens developes Mrs. Joe into a stern character radiating with a quality that makes a lot of other characters uneasy. Although she is completely harsh and cold towards Pip, she brags to others about how she was able to raise Pip all by herself. However, although they do live under the same roof, she does not raise Pip - Joe does. Moments before her death, she reflects back on her life, and realizes how poorly she treated Joe and Pip. She then decides to apologize although it is their decision whether or not to except.

"Google Image Result for http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/mclenan/6.jpg." Google Images. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. .

Estella, Star

". . . and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw the shadow of no parting from her." (479)

Like many other great authors, Charles Dickens uses lightness and darkness as powerful representation. In Great Expectations, lightness is represented in a unique way. Estella, meaning star, is the name of the beautiful women that Pip is in love with. Estella's radiant beauty contrasts with all of the negative events going on around Pip - lack of a traditional family, insecurity and near death experiences.

"Estella - meaning of Estella name." Baby Names | Name Meanings | Baby Boy Names, Baby Girl Names. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. .

The Mist

"The mist was heavier yet...and a flourish of his tail." (15)

In Great Expectations Charles Dickens uses the mist of the marshes to represent mystery as well as danger. Pip has a handful of dangerous encounters in "the mist" which gives it an extremely negative connotation. An example of one experience that takes place in the mist is when Pip is almost murdered. Ever since Pip was a child Joe's day worker, Doldge Orlick was always harassing Pip. However, later on in life the harassment developed into attempted murder. Although no one was killed, Pip's sister, Mrs. Joe, was forced to face serious trauma and became a mute.

"Google Image Result for http://www.nps.gov/mwr/pgallerycontent/p/l/20080918141117.jpg." Google Images. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. .

Parenthood

"We were equals afterwards, as we had been before; but, afterwards at quiet times when I sat looking at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart." (56)

As I child, Pip was faced to grow up faster than other children his age. Having to grow up without his real parents, Pip was forced to face struggles that others would never have to deal with. Being raised by his sister and brother-in-law, he did not get as much loving as he would of from a mother and father. However, Joe, Pip's brother-in-law, worked to give Pip the attention and loving that he deserved as a child. Charles Dickens shows that despite Pip's mood swings and immaturity, Joe always stayed loyal to him, and may have been the only person who was always "true" to Pip.

"Google Image Result for http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/mclenan/19.jpg." Google Images. Web. 15 Jan. 2010. .

Allusion

". . .as it now appears to me, something like a religous cross of the Ghost in Hamlet with Richard the Third. . ." (27)

In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens makes a handful of references to Hamlet throughout the novel. Although at first reader's may not be able to connect the two pieces of literature, they have a great deal of similarities. The most apparent connection between the two works is Pip and Hamlet. Pip grows up his whole life as an orphan child forced to face the struggles of his deciested parents. Although Hamlet does not grow up as in orphan, he does face the challenges of not having parents or family to rely on. Both novel's teach you the only person you can rely on is yourself.

"Student Paper on Great Expectations and Hamlet." University of MichiganDearborn. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .

Truth... or lack of

". . .I shall be able to believe that you can trust me, and think better of me, in the time to come!” (453)

Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens manipulates his characters to conceal the truth to try and get ahead. For example social class is something that is almost impossible for characters to change. The dream of obtaining a higher social class is not achieved by hard work, but instead through lies. Although lies work to a certain extent, without the "key" to society, the mobility of changing social classes stays "locked." The symbol of a lock and key represents the cookie cutter lifestyle that was lived in the 1850's as well as the secrets the lied behind every innocent (and non-innocent) face.

Original photo: http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/size:large/view:main/2783030-2-under-lock-and-key.jpg

Editing and quote by Emily Deane

Social Barriers

“So unchanging was the dull old house, the yellow light in the darkened room, the faded spectre in the chair by the dressing-table glass, that I felt as if the stopping of the clocks had stopped time in that mysterious place, and while I and everything else outside it grew older, it stood still….It bewildered me, and under its influence I continued at heart to hate my trade and to be ashamed of home.” (125)

Although this novel was published roughly 150 years ago, society today can easily be related to this novel. Charles Dickens was way ahead of his years while writing about the barriers between social classes as it still plays a role in today's living. In Great Expectations Pip has a desire to improve his social status or "rank." However, deciding what social class you fall into does not come by choice, it is something you are born into and forced to cope with for the rest of your life. Although today, people can work there way up to different status', they can also just as quickly fall to the bottom level in today's unsteady world and economy.

"Victorian Social History: An Overview." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 05 Jan. 2010. .