Distortion In Great Expectations

Throughout Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, (1861), Dickens works profusely towards developing the subtle theme of the distortions of love along with true love and authentic friendship. Dickens employs numerous characters and relationships that further enhance both the theme of love and its distortions as well as the overarching plot. From the beginning, one protagonist, Phillip Pirrip, who is called Pip, is entangled in a relationship with “A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied around his head” (4). This man, who is later revealed to be escaped convict Able Magwitch, demands Pip to retrieve a file and some wittles, and upon Pip’s unexpected return,

Manipulative friendship, which is often used for personal gain, is used most obviously by the nefarious man by the name of Compeyson. When Abel Magwitch recounts his story for the first time to Pip and Herbert, he unveils the unfortunate events that left him weak and needy and thus a prime victim of Compeyson’s treacherous ways. Upon meeting Compeyson at the Epsom races, twenty years prior, Magwitch was swept off his feet as he was allured by the charming words of Compeyson saying ‘“Luck changes, perhaps yours is going to change”’ (348). Obviously baiting Magwitch with a possible change in fortune, Compeyson uses and manipulates Magwitch to do his dirty work in return for little compensation. Soon, however, they are both apprehended on the charges of circulating fake currency, and Compeyson seizes this opportunity to betray his scapegoat, so after manipulating Magwitch into a partnership, Compeyson uses him in order to lessen his exile. In contrast to Compeyson’s obvious, rash manipulation of Magwitch, the unassuming Mr. Pumblechook, upon hearing of Pip’s great expectations, begins to discretely move into a more favorable position in Pip’s life. Pumblechook initially treats Pip with a neglectful and almost contemptuous attitude constantly reminding him to ‘“be forever grateful to all friends, but especially unto them which have brought you up by hand!”’ (53); however, upon hearing of Pip’s great expectations his attitude changes completely. Pumblechook, instead of making arithmetic questions the topic of conversation, he chose to politely ask to shake Pip’s hand and seek business advice, and he even declared to the whole town that it was he who was the original founder of Pip’s great expectations. Predictably, when Pip loses his great property and fortune, the friendly, helpful Pumblechook disappeared and