Theme Of Wealth And Dream In Great Expectations

In the novel Great Expectations Charles Dickens explores the idea of dreams, hopes, and goals. Dickens himself came from humble beginnings; he worked as a child in a shoe polish factory and his family lived in a debtor’s prison. Despite Dickens eventually gaining wealth and stature, he never found happiness in those things. Great Expectations portrays this reality. The main character, Pip, believes that wealth and status lead to success and happiness, and that with those things he can impress the love of his life: Estella. However, Pip’s life doesn’t go according to his plans. In the novel, Dickens makes a statement about hopes and dreams, that sometimes the things you wish for turn out to be what you never expected. In Great Expectations, through Pip’s narrative, Charles

In the novel, it is shown that every character with wealth is unhappy. Throughout the novel, readers can see that wealth brings problems and is associated with negativity. An example of this is Miss Havisham. Her backstory was that she fell in love with Compeyson, who apparently was a conman, and he stole her fortune and left her at the altar. After being left by Compeyson, Miss Havisham made a vow that she would never fall in love again or let her adopted daughter, Estella, fall in love. She used her wealth (inheritance) to create in Estella the ability to take revenge on all me. Miss Havisham educated Estella and brought her up to be a “man-hating” woman. In the novel Miss Havisham is also referred to as an “immensely rich and grim lady”. Despite Miss Havisham being rich, she was never happy and was a grim lady till the day she died. Other proof of wealth playing a negative role for Miss Havisham was that her relatives only came to visit her on her birthday, not out of love, but because they hoped she would leave them money in her will. Another character that was negatively affected by wealth was Pip. At the beginning of the novel, Pip never had a