Great Expectations And Frankenstein Analysis

In the two novels, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the authors weave clear undertones of warning and ridicule in in regards to the male leads of the stories. Throughout both narratives, male egotism is a constant deterrent to the character development and overall well-being of the protagonists. This toxic masculinity is combined with a relentless disdain and condescension towards the female characters, which illustrates the sexism and discrimination of the time period. Both are rare novels, and the uncharted proposition that these authors were addressing in their writings was very new. Women had yet to be given any rights at all, while the male ego was deemed worthy of praise and reverence. For Victor,

“ A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would woe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.” (pg. 80-81) This tireless search for glory and praise brought nothing but disappointment. Although Charles Dickens published Great Expectations nearly 40 years after Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the similarities are undeniable. The inflated sense of and dissatisfaction with the current state of his status and search for glory that Pip develops at Miss Havisham directly mirrors Victors ravenous search for fame when he studies at the University. Dickens so clearly presents Pip as a warning to his readers of what effects discontent and self-serving egotism can have in the long run. “I draw away from the window, and sat down in my one chair, by the bedside, feeling sorrowful and strange the this first night of my bright future should be the loneliest I had ever known.” (pg.

In Great Expectation’s Pip is educated by Mr. Pempaducks senile great Aunt who is clearly not a fit instructor, so her ward Biddy intervenes, taking over Pips tutoring. She is his original teacher, yet as the years pass and he grows out of innocent boyhood his original respect for her transforms into astonishment that she is even his equal in learning. In chapter seventeen on page two twenty six Pip asks Biddy, “’How do you manage, Biddy,” said I, “to learn everything that I learn, and to always keep up with me?” I was beginning to be rather vain of my knowledge, for I spent my birthday guineas on it, and set aside the greater part of my pocket money for similar investment…’”As Pip matured he slowly began to adopt the cultural belief of the time that women were far less intellectually equip then men. A woman of her birth and fortune had no means by which to improve her social standing what so ever, and had no prospects except for marriage or tutoring, and Pip knows this and thoughtless comments on it, “’You are one of those, Biddy,” said I “who make the most of every change. You never had a chance before you came here, and see how improved you are!’” (page 126) Great Expectations is unique in that Pip narrates his life in past tense, with a mournful hindsight attitude that lends a sense of foreshadowing and honestly to the novel. He speaks of his ill treatment of Biddy with