Victorian Age in the Great Expectations

  • Within the novel, Great Expectations depicts Victorian society and the values of the day. These were the manners that the Victorians held in high regard. Throughout "Great Expectations," Dickens portrays various Victorian personalities that we have seen in good working condition or not at all. However, the protagonist, Pip, was dynamic and through several transformations as well as facing various and major ethical concerns. Pip abandoned all the ideals he was raised with when Miss Havisham and Estella shattered his prosperous existence. Greed, beauty, and arrogance were all characteristics of an immoral existence. Other characters, such as Joe and Biddy, remained consistent throughout the narrative and have come to represent what we call idealistic Victorians. Estella, with whom Pip thought he had a romance, was the most prominent heroine in this tale. As a result, Estella has been portrayed as excellent in the sense of potential and transformed into ethically evil. Miss Havisham, the novel's central character, was fundamentally a crooked lady. The Great Expectations illustrated how Victorian society was positioned by major aspects such as social class and the corrupt system that separated rural and urban England. Dickens covered various key topics in Victorian society, ranging from the saddest criminal named Magwitch to the destitute in swamp country, with Joe and Bede serving as emblems of that order .

  • Mariwan Hwayyiz Rustum
  • Journal of University of Garmian
  • 04/12/2022
  • https://jgu.garmian.edu.krd/article_170089.html?lang=en
  • https://doi.org/10.24271/garmian.22090439
  • JGU_Volume 9_Issue 4_Pages 660-670 (1)