Moral Ambiguity In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

Great Expectations has been one of Dickens’s novels with most adaptations, being on cinema or television. This novel presents one of the most cinematographic characters, Miss Havisham, who is eccentric in both her appearance and behaviour. An event from her past traumatised her and makes her a unique complex character. Adapting Miss Havisham to the screen is therefore very interesting, as well as complicated. In this essay, three interpretations of Miss Havisham will be taken into account, David Lean’s with Martita Hunt, BBC’s mini series with Gillian Anderson and Mike Newell’s with Helena Bonham Carter. These three interpretations are all different and they contribute to different aspects of this character. However, they all lack some characteristics

Morally ambiguous characters are not purely evil or purely good. Their actions instead show evil or good behavior depending on the circumstance. In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre there is a character that cannot be identified as purely evil or purely good. The character Rochester is morally ambiguous because he helps others, he keeps secrets, and he plays with people's emotions.

“You must know that I have no heart. Oh! I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt and, of course, and if it ceased to beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there. No sympathy, sentiment, nonsense. I am serious; I have no bestowed my tenderness anywhere. I have never had any of such things.”- Estella Havisham. The girl who had won Philip Pirrip’s heart; the insulting girl who had treated Philip Pirrip badly; the girl who was taught to torment men and break their hearts at the age of three. It was me, Estella Havisham, who was adopted by Miss Havisham, the manic woman who was jilted by her fiancé right before her wedding. Because of being jilted, now she hates all the men in the world and decided to take revenge. She adopted me and told me to break all the hearts of the men in the world. When I was three years old, she started to teach me of how to be a cruel and cold lady.

From its very beginning, the genre of the novel developed in literature with the intent of describing fictional human experiences built in an imaginary world, but that can be based upon a true story, as they always enclose a slight realism. In the novels, female characters are portrayed in many different ways. In the books analyzed, these females are not the protagonists of the tales, however, they are described, more or less, as influential women, who have significant roles in the evolving of the stories; in particular, their function in the narrative is crucial and it shifts from supportive and inspirational to adversary and puzzling. The actions that these women take, the words they say and the connections they make, have the power to influence the protagonist’s thoughts and shape the novel. Both Great

One popular reason for an author to write a book is to express their viewpoint on a specific subject. Charles Dickens, considered to be one of the greatest novelists in the Victorian era, often inserted his viewpoints on various subjects such as social class and child abuse in his novels. Although a lot of his books focused on social issues in the Victorian era, the romance in his novels is quite notable too. Dickens’ viewpoint on love was heavily influenced by the women in his life, and the female characters in his novels show characteristics of the many women that he associated with.

All the characters in Charles Dickens’ nineteenth-century novel, Great Expectations feels regret and guilt at one point. Revenge, the act of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands. Hand and hand with each guilt and revenge work together on account of everyone that wants revenge eventually feels guilty about it later. In fact, Charles Dickens uses revenge and guilt as part of the plot all the way until the end.

In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens tells the story in the perspective of a young boy growing up in England during the Victorian Era. Philip “Pip” Pirrip is the protagonist, where we discover his life experiences and expectations through his narration. Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe, and her husband, Mr. Joe, greatly influence his childhood. He meets many people later on who teaches him that not everyone will be happy and what it really means to have “great expectations”. Through Pip’s journey, Dickens suggests that happiness becomes achievable if one learns to accept and fix their flaws.

In the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip, an orphan raised by his cruel sister, Mrs. Joe, and her kindly husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith, becomes very ashamed of his background after a sudden chain of events which drives him to a different social class. Pip's motive to change begins when he meets a beautiful girl named Estella who is in the upper class. As the novel progresses, Pip attempts to achieve the greater things for himself. Overtime, Pip realizes the dangers of being driven by a desire of wealth and social status. The novel follows Pip's process from childhood innocence to experience. He undergoes a contrasting change of character, kind, ambitious and in some cases, immature.

Happiness and Wealth: two words that are both alike and distinct. One without wealth can be happy, one with substantial wealth may not be happy, but one rarely has both. In Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, the main character, Pip, suddenly grows wealthy and rises in class; a common Victorian rags to riches story. However, as his capital increases, his character decreases by acting recklessly and being shameful of his modest upbringing. Additionally, Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter, Estella - born wealthy - are spoiled and don’t contribute anything beneficial to society. Readers are introduced to these major characters early on in the story who personify the upper class by demonstrating how wealth has hindered their maturation. As evident by Dickens’ characters, those who live a lavish upper-class lifestyle are often corrupted by their wealth and growing discontent which causes a gradual deterioration of their character.

Love. Love is a very fickle emotion that affects an individual drastically. It can cloud a person’s perception of someone and can cause one to act in a way that they would normally never do. Love is what caused Pip, a young character from the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, to drastically change from an innocent boy to a foolish man. As a child, Pip was always sweet yet dilapidated beyond repair, because he was neglected as a child. So, when he found someone that he “loved”, he latched on immediately and didn’t let go because he was afraid of abandonment. Pip’s first time meeting Estella, his first love, and his experience in the Satis House changed him in such a way that he can never revert back to the person he was. He grew such a strong feeling of love

What people in this world inspire us the most? For almost all of us, our parents do. Pip, a young boy in Great Expectations Has many different people influence his life and manners. One of the biggest influences in his life was the generous, forgiving, and loyal Joe Gargery. His second and possibly most interesting influencer is the spooky and revengous Miss Havisham. These two opposites do have similarities in their past, these two characters have suffered in the past by particular men. Though they both suffered, both do have the responsibility of taking care of children. Both of these people take suffering a different way and reflect it on Pip and the people they take care of.

In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, Miss Havisham endures an abundance of internal conflict. When her heart was broken, she swore revenge on all men. She then raised the beautiful Estella to have no heart. When she sees Estella break Pip’s heart, she realizes that it will not fix what happened to her, and sees that she has broken the lives of two more people.

In the works The Perks of Being a Wallflower directed by Stephen Chbosky, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens the characters Sam, Dill, and Estella realize that they can’t change the past but they can “choose where to go from there”. Each of these realizations occurred in specific moments which shaped the meaning of the works by showing that it isn 't necessary to search for acceptance by being someone you 're not. Acceptance will always presents itself instinctively in family and friends.

In Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Duality is a major theme that is showcased

“You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. Just be you and the right people will love you for it,” Mandy Hale mentions. Mandy Hale, an author of best-selling books, is a person that digs and sees what is more than just the appearance of people. People can change, sometimes for the good and sometimes the opposite is true. With different experiences, a spark is lit and there is a different view on the world than before. From there, there is a little change of heart and personality. The change allows the person to see a different view on things and try to show that they are right. Even without the change, the proving of oneself is there especially during adolescence. This is shown in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Pip’s journey starts