The Importance Of Revenge In Great Expectations

“The rage for revenge . . . always makes bad things worse.” This quote from “Revenge” encapsulates the main point that Dickens, the author, disputes throughout the novel, which is that revenge can never be good or beneficial. In Great Expectations, Miss Havisham, Magwitch, and Orlick use revenge as motivation, but they only cause harm to themselves and others in the end. Their lives are consumed by it, and yet none of them achieve what they want. It is discernible to the reader that revenge is not a viable source of motivation and can only lead to a negative outcome.

The vengeance Miss Havisham enacts on Pip and Estella is not justified and only harms her and them in the end. That is not without her redemption, as she regrets her actions in the end and only meant to protect Estella in the beginning. However, in the middle she loses herself in the blindness of vengeance.

His malignant attack of Pip by the limekiln is not successful, and he comes out of it worse than Pip does. He also breaks into Pumblechook’s home, which gets him arrested. He even admits his feelings of vengefulness when leading up to Pip’s scheduled time of death, saying “‘You done it; now you pays for it’” (454). Instead of wanting to live a good life himself, he wants to drag Pip down. His revenge-fueled actions do nothing to help him and he does not achieve his goal; nothing is gained. Orlick’s revenge on Pip doesn’t stop there. When Joe talks to Pip, catching up, he mentions that “‘Old Orlick he’s been a-bustin’ open a dwelling-’ouse . . . and Orlick’s in the county jail’” (497). Orlick attacks Pumblechook in anger at Pip, but he gets caught and jailed, which further proves that revenge did not help him in any way. The blind rage Orlick entertains toward Pip is his undoing. With his jailing, the harm he causes to himself is greater than the harm he causes Pip. This is how Dickens promotes his view of