Sunday, September 4, 2011

In this novel, what are the concepts with which the book deals?Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

One concept--an abstract or general idea inferred or apprehended from specific instances--that comes from the novel, Great Expectations is the absolute value of love.  For, love transcends social class, love transcends generations, love transcends all else.


In the First Stage a young Pip recounts that he "looked up to Joe in my heart."  However, he does not understand intellectually the value of this love until he becomes a young gentleman and rejects Joe's love only to discover that his false values are of no worth.  For, Estella and Miss Havisham, whom he has held in high regard cause him agony. 


Finally, as in the Bible, what Harold Bloom calls the greatest literary work of all time, specifically St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, Pip sees in "a mirror dimly" that he has been selfish and cruel to those who love him:  Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch.  Pip gives up his selfish, childish ways and sees clearly that above all else, love is the greatest of values.  To paraphrase St. Paul, Pip now fully understands that faith, hope, and love abide; but the greatest of these is love.  He tends lovingly to the poor, dying Magwitch; he returns to Miss Havisham and forgives her, even saves her from the fire; he forgives Estella; he embraces Joe, begging his and Biddy's forgiveness of his cruelty; and he performs an act of great charity and love towards Herbert.


Love is the concept, the ideal, that prevails throughout Great Expectations; it is nobler than any other concept--ambition, social class, etc.

No comments:

Post a Comment

In Act III, scene 2, why may the establishment of Claudius's guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?

The crisis of a drama usually proceeds and leads to the climax.  In Shakespeare's Hamlet , the proof that Claudius is guilty...