Allusions In Great Expectations

The widely acclaimed novel, Great Expectations, exists as the fictional autobiography of Charles Dickens where he explores his scarred childhood through the innocence of Philip Pirrip, otherwise known as Pip. The novel focuses on the innocence and naivete of Pip as he metamorphosizes into a gentleman to portray parts of Victorian London that Dickens detested.

As a person who experienced similar hardships in his childhood of poverty, Charles Dickens acted as a bridge between the world of the rich and the poor; his nineteenth century audience viewed his works as a highly reliable due to his extensive personal experience and his credibility as an author. While disseminating the author’s theme that wealth does not guarantee happiness, the novel

With humble beginnings as an apprentice blacksmith, under the loving and caring wing of his guardian Joe, Pip leaves to become a gentleman after receiving a fortune from a mysterious benefactor. He then forgets Joe and loses his humanity, feeling ashamed of common, backwards Joe. After Pip’s rise to the upper class halts when he plummets into debt, like the father in the “Prodigal Son”, Joe welcomes Pip back and forgives Pip for his foolish actions. Through Pip’s redemption, Pip fully realizes the flaws of social class and the conceited notions of society, reciting,“I would not have gone back to Joe now, I would not have gone back to Biddy now, for any consideration: simply, I suppose, because my sense of my own worthless conduct to them was greater than every consideration. I could never, never, never, undo what I had done”(Dickens 169). Dickens utilizes the biblical allusion to emphasize the frivolousness of material wealth and social class and to appreciate the true wealth of care and love. In Pip’s repentance, his repetitions of “I would not” and “never” both exemplify Pip’s genuine regret and he recognizes that his actions cause pain and allows him to see past the material wealth, recognizing that his unexpected wealth has only brought him misfortune. His

In Pip’s village, Pip pays twopence for tuition at Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt’s school hoping to educate and better himself. Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt’s indifference to whether she provides a decent education reflects in Pip’s narration about the school,“Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt kept an evening school in the village; that is to say, she was a ridiculous old woman of limited means and unlimited infirmity, who use to go to sleep from six to seven every evening, in the society of youth who paid twopence per week each, for the improving opportunity of seeing her do it”(Dickens 41). The fact that Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt “sleeps from six to seven every evening”, the time she teaches evening school, clearly represents her indifference for the children’s education. At Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt's school, the children learn virtually nothing. Furthermore, the connotation of Mr. Wopsle’s great aunt’s depiction using words such as “ridiculous”, “old”, “limited means”, and “unlimited infirmity” all have connotations of apathy, emphasizing that many set up schools in the Victorian Era for the purpose of profit instead of educating the masses. Dickens perceived educational institutions of his time as unconcerned with intellectual improvement or care, and only looking for