"What is the central theme of Great Expectations and how is it

developed"?

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, on February 7, 1812, to John

and Elizabeth Dickens. He was the second of eight children. His mother had been
in service to Lord Crew, and his father worked as a clerk for the Naval Pay office.
John Dickens was imprisoned for debt when Charles was young. Charles Dickens
went to work at a blacking warehouse, managed by a relative of his mother,
when he was twelve, and his brush with hard times and poverty affected him
deeply. He later recounted these experiences in the semi-autobiographical novel
David Copperfield. Similarly, the concern for social justice and reform which
surfaced later in his writings grew out of the harsh conditions he experienced in
.the warehouse

As a young boy, Charles Dickens was exposed to many artistic and literary works
that allowed his imagination to grow and develop considerably. He was greatly
influenced by the stories his nursemaid used to tell him and by his many visits to
the theater. Additionally, Dickens loved to read. Among his favorite works
were Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, Tom Jones by Henry Fielding,
and Arabian Nights, all of which were picaresque novels composed of a series of
loosely linked adventures. This format no doubt played a part in Dickens' idea to
serialize his future works. Dickens was able to leave the blacking factory after his
father's release from prison, and he continued his education at the Wellington
.House Academy

Although he had little formal schooling, Dickens was able to teach himself
shorthand and launch a career as a journalist. At the age of sixteen, Dickens got
himself a job as a court reporter, and shortly thereafter he joined the staff of A
Mirror of Parliament, a newspaper that reported on the decisions of Parliament.
During this time Charles continued to read voraciously at the British Library, and
he experimented with acting and stage-managing amateur theatricals. His
experience acting would affect his work throughout his life--he was known to act
out characters he was writing in the mirror and then describe himself as the
.character in prose in his novels

Fast becoming disillusioned with politics, Dickens developed an interest in social

reform and began contributing to the True Sun, a radical newspaper. Although
his main avenue of work would consist of writing novels, Dickens continued his
journalistic work until the end of his life, editing The Daily News, Household
Words, and All the Year Round. His connections to various magazines and
newspapers as a political journalist gave him the opportunity to begin publishing
his own fiction at the beginning of his career. He would go on to write fifteen
novels. (A final one, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was left unfinished upon his
death.)

While he published several sketches in magazines, it was not until he

serialized The Pickwick Papers over 1836-37 that he experienced true success. A
publishing phenomenon, The Pickwick Papers was published in monthly
installments and sold over forty thousand copies of each issue. Dickens was the
first person to make this serialization of novels profitable and was able to expand
.his audience to include those who could not normally afford such literary works

Within a few years, he was regarded as one of the most successful authors of his
time, with approximately one out of every ten people in Victorian England avidly
reading and following his writings. In 1836 Dickens also married Catherine
Hogarth, the daughter of a fellow co-worker at his newspaper. The couple had
.ten children before their separation in 1858

Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby followed in monthly installments, and both

reflected Dickens' understanding of the lower classes as well as his comic genius.
In 1843, Dickens published one of his most famous works, A Christmas Carol. His
disenchantment with the world's economic drives is clear in this work; he
blames much of society's ills on people's obsession with earning money and
.acquiring status based on money

His travels abroad in the 1840s, first to America and then through Europe,
marked the beginning of a new stage in Dickens' life. His writings became longer
and more serious. In David Copperfield (1849-50), readers find the same flawed
world that Dickens discovered as a young boy. Dickens published some of his
best-known novels including A Tale or two and Great Expectations in his own
.weekly periodicals

The inspiration to write a novel set during the French Revolution came from
Dickens' faithful annual habit of reading Thomas Carlyle's book The French
Revolution, first published in 1839. When Dickens acted in Wilkie Collins'
play The Frozen Deep in 1857, he was inspired by his own role as a self-
sacrificing lover. He eventually decided to place his own sacrificing lover in the
revolutionary period, a period of great social upheaval. A year later, Dickens
went through his own form of social change as he was writing A Tale of Two
Cities: he separated from his wife, and he revitalized his career by making plans
for a new weekly literary journal called All the Year Round. In 1859, A Tale of
Two Cities premiered in parts in this journal. Its popularity was based not only
on the fame of its author, but also on its short length and radical (for Dickens'
.time) subject matter
Dickens' health began to deteriorate in the 1860s. In 1858, in response to his
increasing fame, he had begun public readings of his works. These exacted a
great physical toll on him. An immensely profitable but physically shattering
series of readings in America in 1867-68 sped his decline, and he collapsed
.during a "farewell" series in England

On June 9, 1870, Charles Dickens died. He was buried in Poet's Corner of

Westminster Abbey. Though he left The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished, he
had already written fifteen substantial novels and countless shorter pieces. His
legacy is clear. In a whimsical and unique fashion, Dickens pointed out society's
flaws in terms of its blinding greed for money and its neglect of the lower classes
of society. Through his books, we come to understand the virtues of a loving
heart and the pleasures of home in a flawed, cruelly indifferent world. Among
English writers, in terms of his fame and of the public's recognition of his
.characters and stories, he is second only to William Shakespeare

When Dickens started his thirteenth novel, Great Expectations, in 1860, he was
already a national hero. He had come from humble beginnings, working as a child
in a shoe polish factory while his family was in debtor's prison, to become the
quintessential Victorian gentleman. He was involved in all aspects of English life:
writing, acting, producing, going on book tours, publishing magazines, and, as
.always, active in social welfare and criticism

Amidst all this, however, Dickens' private life had entered a dark period. Dickens
had just separated from his wife two years earlier, there were rumors of an affair
with a young actress in the newspapers, and he was spending more and more
.time at his home in Chatham

Dickens himself had risen to achieve greater expectations than any clerk's boy
could expect, but he had not found happiness. The idea that one must search
beyond material wealth, social standings and look within themselves for
.happiness becomes the major theme in Great Expectations

Sometime in 1860, Dickens had started a piece that he found funny and truthful
and thought it might do better as a novel: "...it so opens out before me that I can
see the whole of a serial revolving on it, in a most singular and comic manner," he
wrote. Dickens had told friends that he had gone back and read David
Copperfield and was quite struck by the story now that he looked back upon it.
Copperfield was a happy novel, the story of a young man who came into his
fortune though hard work and luck. Its influences and similarities are seen in
.Great Expectations. There are, however, some major thematic differences

Though not considered as autobiographical as David Copperfield which he had

published some ten years earlier, the character of Pip represented a Dickens who
had learned some hard lessons in his later life. Especially strong throughout the
novel are the concepts of fraternal and romantic love, how society thwarts them,
.how a man should find them

For financial reasons, Dickens had to shorten the novel, making it one of his
tighter and better written stories. It was published in serial form, as were all of
his novels, and the reader can still see the rhythm of suspense and resolution
.every couple of chapters that kept all of England waiting for the next issue

Though a dark novel, Great Expectations was deliberately more humorous than
its predecessor A Tale of Two Cities, and even while it presented Dickens' ever
.present social critique, it did so in a way that made people laugh

The greatest difference between Great Expectations and Dickens' earlier novels
is the introduction of dramatic psychological transformations within the lead
characters, as opposed to characters that are changed only through their
circumstances and surroundings. The story of Pip is a Bildungsroman -- a story
that centers on the education or development of the protagonist -- and we can
.follow closely the things that Pip learns and then has to unlearn

All in all, Great Expectations is considered the best balanced of all of Dickens'
novels, though a controversy still persists over the ending. Dickens had originally
written an ending where Pip and Estella never get back together. Many critics,
including George Bernard Shaw, believe that this rather depressing ending was
more consistent with the overall theme and tone of the novel, which began,
.continued, and perhaps should have finished with a serious, unhappy note

Nevertheless, Dickens published the ending where all is forgiven and Estella and
.Pip walk out of the Satis House garden together

It was, perhaps, an ending that Dickens would have like to have had for his own
.life. Dickens published one more novel, Our Mutual Friend, before dying in 1870

In Dickens's Great Expectations, love is closely tied to destruction, and it is the

protagonist’s guiding light and reason for living. Love is defined and portrayed in
many different ways: as romance, narcissistic love, filial love, infatuation,
obsession, and unconditional love. Love both blinds the protagonist and sets him
.free. Love is closely tied to appearances, and, therefore, to deception

In isolation the greatest sin we commit against ourselves and others, is to shun
human companionship as Miss Haversham did. After her betrayal in love
she hardened her heart towards her fellow man. By hardening her heart and
suppressing her naturally affectionate nature, she committed a crime against
herself. Miss Havershams love for Compeyson is of a compassionate kind, this
blinded her to his true nature, as Herbert remarked, "too haughty and too much
in love to be advised by anyone." At Compeysons desertion her anger and sorrow
became extreme and she threw herself and Satis House into perpetual mourning
and monument to her broken heart, shutting the world out and herself from the
world. Her only concession is in her adoption of Estella.

Miss Haversham has ulterior motives in adopting Estella; this is not a

loving action on her part, but a calculated maneuver to turn the child into a
haughty, heartless instrument of revenge against men. Estella is encouraged to
practice her disdain on Pip and to break his heart. Paradoxically, Miss
Havershams greatest sin, is against herself. By hardening her heart she loses
her generous, affectionate nature and becomes withered inside emotionally. Her
punishment is that the heartless young woman she has made, uses her lack of
.feelings against Miss Haversham

Estella herself is isolated, as for most of the novel she takes pleasure
in her role of avenger. Her isolation is in part responsible for Pips snobbery
and his estrangement from Joe and Biddy. Like Miss Haversham she becomes a
,victim of her own machinations. She enters into a loveless marriage to Drummle
,who is cruel to her. This shows that no matter how heartless one tries to be
there is always someone more heartless. The instrument of revenge punishes the
.avenger and is punished in return

Pip feels emotionally and geographically isolated on his arrival in

London. Jaggers isolation is his deliberate rejection to human involvement, he
substitutes these with the mechanical process of law. Jagger uses the legal
system to avoid personal responsibility for the fate of his fellow man. This
profession has imprisoned his better instincts, leaving him isolated within the
system. Magwitch, however, is isolated by the system; he uses Pip as his agent
of revenge. Magwitchs' motives are not only revenge, but also gratitude for the
food Pip gave him in his hour of need. He develops a fatherly affection towards
Pip, who in the end returns his affection. It is Magwitch who has the best
.reasons for disbelieving in human companionship that supported it the most
Love in the context of human relationships is best shown through Pip. The
relationship between Pip and Joe changed as Pip grew up. As a child, Pip
regarded Joe as an equal, though he loved him, "I had a new sensation of feeling
".conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart
,Though there is love, the snobbish Pip is critical of Joe, not verbally
but in his thoughts. When Pip attains his "Great Expectations," he is
.embarrassed by what he regards as Joe's commonness and avoids his company
Pip's conscience makes him realise, Joe has more gentlemanly qualities
than he himself possesses, his remorse however is short lived. When Pip's
fortunes take a fall he is too ashamed to approach Joe and Biddy, their love is
.too strong however and are there for Pip in his hour of need
In Pip's relationship with Biddy, he is very condescending, and shows
disregard for her feelings, "If I could only get myself to fall in love with
you," is a prime example. Pip compares Biddy to Estella and overlooks her
obviously good qualities. After his loss of fortune, Pip decides to honour Biddy
by marrying her. "I would go to Biddy." Pip still snobbishly thought Biddy would
be glad to marry him. However, Biddy has married Joe. Though she was once half
in love with Pip, Biddy recognised his obsession for Estella and wisely sought a
.partner elsewhere. Biddy and Joe share the same values and are ideal partners
Herbert and Clara, Mr Wemmick and Miss Skiffin and Mr and Mrs Pocket have
.loving steady relationships

If I could only get myself to fall in love with you – you don't mind my "
"?speaking so openly to such an old acquaintance
".Oh dear, not at all!" said Biddy. "Don't mind me "
".If I could only get myself to do it, that would be the thing for me "
But you never will, you see," said Biddy "

his is Pip at his most charming. We love it when someone tells us that he wishes
he could force himself to fall in love with us in order to solve all of his problems.
We can’t help but feel like cough medicine or some other concoction meant to
provide a cure. In this moment, Pip identifies his inability to control love as well
as the way in which he has been blinded by love. He is so blind that he can’t see
that Biddy is affected by his confession. Both Pip and Biddy are afflicted with
.unrequited love at this moment

The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I ”
loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my
sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason,
against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all
discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her nonetheless because I
knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had
"devoutly believed her to be human perfection
Pip is not necessarily in love with Estella, but he may just be in lust with Estella?
He sees her faults clear as day, but he has not power over this love/list. Even
though loving Estella promises sadness, destruction, and pain, Pip cannot help
but be drawn to her. She’s like a Siren from Homer’s Odyssey. She’s impossible to
resist, and there’s something a little out of the ordinary or fantastical about the
.strength of her power over Pip

I have not bestowed my tenderness anywhere. I have never had any such "
".thing

According to Estella, she has never loved anything in her life. Not even her
jewels. As readers, we never really ever get to know Estella, because the extent of
her relationship with Pip is a few card games, some dark passage ways, and brief,
cryptic conversations in which she tells Pip to stop loving her. Estella is almost
inhuman or robotic in her lack of humanness, in her coldness, and in her lack of
.emotion

Before I could answer (if I could have answered so difficult a question at all),
she repeated, "Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she
wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older
"!and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her

Pip is Miss Havisham’s puppet, and Miss Havisham is acting out the revenge that
she has for so long wanted to take on her former fiancée. In this moment, Miss
Havisham is like a wound-up toy that is malfunctioning – all the wires are
popping out and it’s beginning to smoke. She works herself into a frenzy as she
manipulates Pip’s emotions. To Miss Havisham, love seems to be both
.unattainable and the tool that she uses to wound those around her

In "Great Expectations" the moral truth expressed is that love, loyalty, and
integrity are the most important values in life.  An innocent and idealistic Pip
strays from these when he sees Satis House, ironically named "Satisfied House." 
Seeking self-improvement, he aspires to become educated, be a gentleman, and
rise in social position.  But, because he is so idealistic, Pip loses his grounding
focus on the real values represented by Joe and Biddy.  When he leaves them and
goes to London, he encounters unconscionable lawyers, brutal men such as
Drummlle, and the temptations of money.

After squandering his allowance and wasting his love on the cold-hearted Estella
to the avoidance of visiting Joe, Pip experiences the realization that his
benefactor is not Miss Havisham, that being a gentleman is not worthwhile if one
must "cheat himself" in the process. He also learns from Magwitch that criminals
can be more honest and forthright than gentlemen.  After he is burned, Pip is
cared for by Joe, who has maintained his loving devotion to the boy of his
home. Sensing his disloyalty to Joe, Pip reflects,

"I had never been struck at so keenly for my thanklessness to Joe, as through
the razen impostor Pumblechook.  The falser he, the truer Joe: the meaner
he, the nobler Joe. My heart was deeply and most deservedly humbled as I
mused over the fire for an hour or more."

Pip, then, realizes Mr. Jaggers warning, "Take nothing on appearance, Pip"; he
acknowledges the value and "trueness" of love, loyalty, and character.  Indeed,
"Great Expectations" is a bildungroman, or novel of maturation.

Pip's sexual attraction towards Estella is more romantic ideology than

genuine love. He envisions Estella as a captive princess and himself as the
heroic knight, only he can awaken love in her heart. Even though Estella tells
.him, "I have no heart", he does not believe her

Does Estella believe what she says or is she trying to convince herself?
Is she using her unattainability to perversely keep Pip's interest?
Redemption is attained by Miss Haversham when she humbles herself to ask
Pip's forgiveness. After the cruelty she has endured at the hands of Compeyson,
Estella emerges a more compassionate person. Pip's forgiveness and love from
Joe,Biddy and Magwitch. He endures hardship and triumphantly emerges a
mature,thoughtful person.

The theme of Love is the structure that other themes hang from.
The loneliness of isolation is the beginning; love is the food
that staves it off and redemption is the final cleansing. Love is the backbone
of the novel, the thing that binds the others together, redemption is its
conclusion. There has to be love or the characters would not be able to interact,
if there were only isolation each character's tale would be a separate piece of
work. All good novels have a moral to relate and involve love and redemption.