Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Faculty of Letters
Department of Foreign Languages and
Literatures and Communication
Student:
Doracu Dilara
Professors:
Prof. Dr. Ciugureanu Adina
Lect. Dr. Stanca Nicoleta
Constana
2015
Charles Dickenss
Great Expectations
According to Herbert Pockets father, A true gentleman in manner must be a true
gentleman at heart. How does Chapter 57 in Dickenss Great Expectations develop this
idea?
In Chapter 57, Pip realizes that he is now completely alone and that he has a heap of
debts, and no money. He is also arrested for debt and nearly carted away to prison; he is
spared only because of his extreme ill health. In these circumstances, being a real gentleman
is a real challenge but Pip seems to have now all the qualities to pretend this title. He
reestablished his values and understood the difference between being a fine man and just a
rich man. After spending time with so many people of the high-class in London, he realized
that one of the most valuable man in his life is Joe.
After going in and out of deliriums, Pip finally emerges and he finds himself with Joe. He
wishes Joe would be angry with him for the way he treated him, but Joe tells him they will
always be friends. Joe tells Pip that they received a letter about his being ill, and Biddy had
urged him to go to London. She had taught Joe to write, and he has kept her updated. This
made Pip conscious of his foul play towards Joe and brought him back to the reality that
money managed to blur. Even the fact that Pip is now aware of his own unfairness makes him
approach the status that he was so willing to get. Now, when all the money are gone and the
society is not so cheerful to him as it was, he is probably more of a gentleman than many rich
people.
So what are the criteria of being a gentleman? As child, Pip felt compassion for the
convict; he saw the humanity in the convict; as a gentleman with expectations, he is a snob
and continually judges by the external criteria of status and wealth. In London, where Pip
lives out society'sand his ownconcept of a gentleman, he leads a directionless, futile life; he
has no intellectual, cultural, or spiritual values and no meaningful purpose. Pips being a
gentleman seems to consist of having good table manners, acquiring an upper class accent,
wearing the right clothes, and going into debt. He joins the Finches of the Grove, a group of
empty "gentlemen" whose only activity and purpose seems to be to spend money foolishly.
Drummle - who is a gentleman because of his family and wealth, is not only a member of the
Finches but is accepted in fashionable society, despite his stupidity, ignorance, and brutality.
Learning the identity of his benefactor and the hard work he does to provide him money,
Pip starts to change, moved by the feeling of gratefulness. When he finds himself poor again
and alone, he gets conscious of the real values that a gentleman should have and he is really
becoming more deserving of this status.
The two phases of his development lead to the true gentleman that Herberts father was
talking about, because being rich and educated is not enough if the heart is not aware of the
importance of love and respect towards people.
Dickens contrasts the traditional concept of a gentleman as a man of wealth, status, and
leisure with the gentleman as a man of moral integrity. He uses the portrayal of the gentleman
to show one more of society's faulty and destructive values. The destructive potential of
wealth in Pip's society is shown by his emotional and moral deterioration in becoming a
gentleman.
Bibliography