Analysis of Charles Dickens Great Expectations - Book Report/Review Example

Ramakrishna Surampudi November 22, 2009 A Close Reading of “Great Expectations (OUP Edition 2008) P. 52 – 54)” Charles Dickens shows his discerning choice of words when he says “Pip was half afraid” to enter the room. He was a little afraid (Ref: Longman English Dictionary Online), partly from being in an unfamiliar place and partly from the discomfort and embarrassment that Estella had caused; to say that he was “afraid” would not reflect Pip’s mood in the proper light. This confusion of Pip is further conveyed when Dickens says that he knocked at the door because “it was the only thing to be done”. In giving Miss Havisham’s first introduction in a room that was “well lighted with wax candles”, but where “no glimpse of daylight was to be seen”, the author was being indicative of the wealthy spinster’s closed-minded, hypocritical and spiteful nature. Much of the furniture in this room was of forms and uses “then quite unknown to Pip”. Because Pip was a boy with the “expectations” to become a gentleman. His life had not yet turned around. It’s an illustration that Dickens was extremely careful in the exercise of characterization. It’s in a tone of irony that Pip refers to the “fine lady” sitting at the dressing-table. His encounter, in fact, was not with a fine lady, but a “strange” lady, the strangest he had ever seen or he should ever see; a lady with “no brightness left”, an old desiccated lady more horrifying than “waxwork” and “skeleton”. The objects found scattered around in the room in a haphazard manner are once again a subtle indication of Miss Havisham’s complex nature. In an antithesis, Pip clarifies that “it was not in the first few moments that he saw all these things, though he saw more of them in the first moments”. These were the things that “ought to be white”, but were once-white, things that had lost their lustre, were faded and yellow. All of them are a grim pointer to Miss Havisham’s unpleasant past. “Great Expectations” is not a horror story. In no way did Dickens intend it to be so. Yet, horror, after all, is a part of life. Dickens acknowledges this fact. The description of Miss Havisham’s appearance and the watch and the clock that had stopped at twenty minutes to nine have such a hair-raising visual and mental effect on the reader that one can expect it in few horror stories. And almost immediately presented is an evidence of the same author’s great sense of humour as “an enormous lie is comprehended in one word”. Then, as Miss Havisham touches her “broken” heart, it touches the heart of the reader as well, making him empathize with the poor old lady. It’s no ordinary skill to be able to create three completely different emotions (horror, humour and compassion) in a single, short episode. “What will be conceded even by the most disputatious reader” is an illustration of such use of the language that requires even a language expert to take a second reading, to be sure. It’s not at all a coincidence if it reminds one of O. Henry’s writing style. When Miss Havisham commands Pip to play, the allusion to Mr. Pumblechook’s chaise-cart, and that he felt himself “unequal to the performance” are symbolic of his low self-esteem and the level of prosperity that he feels his family has not achieved; the level of prosperity that he has always dreamt of. Inasmuch as is a peculiar conjunction the use of which requires real skill. Pip guesses that Miss Havisham has taken his “dogged manner” for granted. This assumption is validated by her enquiry whether he was “sullen and obstinate”. Indeed, the first encounter between Pip and Miss Havisham makes an interesting case study in human relations. In this, we find a curious admixture of intimidation, appeasement, reassurance, self-assertion, diplomacy and struggle for existence. The old lady forces the boy to “play”. As he appears to be reluctant, she is patient and “kind” for a while. It is interesting to note that Dickens’s characterization of Miss Havisham is such that her own eccentricity is grounded in awareness, as can be understood from her words “I sometimes have sick fancies.” She knows the boy is likely to be scared “to see a woman who has never seen the sun since he was born.” It is evident that the novel “Great Expectations” belongs to the bildungsroman genre. That explains how Pip, in spite of his age, displays amazing maturity in his responses to the lady. Antithetically, he says “he is very sorry for her, and very sorry he couldn’t play just then”. He includes, in what he says, a clever request not to complain of him “to his sister”. For a helpless orphan like Pip who had grown up in inhospitable conditions, his life itself becomes his greatest teacher. That’s how he has learnt how to conduct himself so as not to invite trouble. So he can manage even the Miss Havisham kind of eccentrics skilfully and effectively. And very honestly, yet politely, he confesses how he felt there – “so new, so strange, so fine and melancholy”. The highlight of the encounter is when Miss Havisham acknowledges that the place was indeed “so melancholy” to her too, in spite of her familiarity with it. In what appears to be a character that is cynical of men and hostile to them, Pip, in his very first meeting, seems to have succeeded in creating such an impact that, for a while, the lady identifies herself with the boy. The reader is quite likely to expect Miss Havisham to get angry with Pip’s obstinacy. Surprisingly, she responds in a quite unexpected way, turning her eyes from him and muttering something. Her words here not only confirm that she did have some very bitter experience in her past but also make the reader curious to know more about her. The novel was said to be serialized in All the Year Round during the period 1860-61. The point where Miss Havisham remarks that the place was “so melancholy to both of them” is very apt to be the end of an instalment in a serial. Dickens is a humanist. In his writings, he did make an effort to expose the many stereotypes that we come across. But he would never jest at them. On the contrary, his sympathies are with all of them. He projects them with all their weakness, without making them villains. Even in the case of Miss Havisham and Estella, in spite of their unkind attitude towards Pip, there would be few readers who do not feel sorry for them. Apparently, Pip wins the case, because he was in no mood to play and he didn’t. But if we look closely, it becomes obvious that it was Miss Havisham who had the last laugh. True, she couldn’t make him play as such, but she did make him play a different game without telling him so. And this game was no less difficult either. Rather, a more difficult one. The game in which Pip had to call Estella was just “as bad as playing to order”. But this time round, there was no escape. She had decided that “he could do that”. The way she “flashed a look at him” exhausted the possibility of escape. He must obey; else, he would have to see her fury. Truly, Pip was standing here in a “mysterious passage”. He was not sure where he was. Neither did he know where he was going to end up. He knew his life was going to change, but whether it was going to be for the better or for the worse, it was indeed a “mystery” that time alone would be able to resolve. Yet, in this strange place that was “so melancholy”, there was a ray of hope, there could be seen some light at the end of the tunnel, there was a “star” that shone brightly. That star was the scornful, unresponsive, haughty, self-possessed Estella. That her light came along “like a star” signifies Pip’s soon-to-be passion for her. Whether she will return his feelings is of course a question. But Dickens never leaves the reader in the dark. He tells us “she answered at last”. And when you are reading the work of an author of Dickens’s stature, you may rest assured it’s going to be climax of the story as well. She’ll answer at last. This bildungsroman novel is a depiction of Pip’s encounters with different kinds of people through the journey of his life, from his seventh year till the mid-thirties. These are the models that make Pip what he is in the end: a true gentleman. Of the specimens that he meets, two typical and significant characters are those of Miss Havisham and Estella. Both raise hopes in his life and cause much turbulence too. The passage under consideration throws lights on one of the important thresholds that Pip was about to cross. References Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations (Pages 52-54) Oxford University Press 2008. Print. Longman English Dictionary Online www.Idoceonline.com/dictionary/ Web Wren P.C. & H. Martin. High School English Grammar and Composition (261-266) New Delhi: S.Chand & Company, 2006. Print. Read More