Revenge In Great Expectations

The lust for revenge had always had an impact on our actions and behavior. In some cases, it could be a positive influence, but in others, it could be negative. The negative factor of this concept applies to specific characters in Great Expectations. In the novel, Charles Dickens sends a compelling message that seeking revenge is a worthless pursuit and that the outcome is never positive nor beneficial. Not only does it harm the people who are innocent, it harms the people who seek revenge themselves. Throughout the story, a character who attempts to wreak revenge is Miss Havisham. Her life revolves around one event, the rejection on her wedding day. She becomes desperate for revenge because of this event. She adopts a girl named Estella

His hatred lasts for a large portion of his life. Orlick proclaimed, “You did that, and that would be enough, without more. How dared you to come betwixt me and a young woman I liked?’’(451). Pip’s gossip to Biddy causes his hatred. Orlick’s constant animosity and hunger for revenge has only filled him up with negative emotions for several years, making him unhappy and unable to enjoy life. Pip was also injured in the process demonstrating how revenge harms the victim and the seeker. In the end, Orlick never fulfilled his revenge by trying to kill Pip. Instead, Pip asked, “‘Is it Pumblechook’s house that has been broken into, then?’‘That’s it, Pip,’ said Joe…‘But he knowed Orlick, and Orlick’s in the county jail’”(497). With his overflowing resentment for Pip, he decides to make a premature decision to break into Pumblechook’s house. His clouded judgment caused him to end up in jail. Orlick’s actions display another way how Pumblechook, the sufferer, and Orlick, the perpetrator, are both harmed in this act of revenge. Orlick’s attempts to take vengeance justify that revenge is detrimental and damages both the criminal and the