Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Book Analysis) E-Book

Bright Summaries

• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 26

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of Great Expectations with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, considered by many to be the English novelist’s greatest masterpiece. It tells the story of the orphan Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, who aspires to become a gentleman after meeting the eccentric spinster Miss Havisham and her beautiful but cruel adopted daughter Estella. His dreams seem to be coming true when a mysterious benefactor gives him the opportunity to move to London and join the aristocracy, but he is shocked to discover the source of his newfound wealth. Charles Dickens is widely considered to be the most significant English novelist of the Victorian era, and many of his colourful, vividly crafted characters continue to captivate the public imagination even today. His best-known works include Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol.

Find out everything you need to know about Great Expectations in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

CHARLES DICKENS

BRITISH NOVELIST

Born in Portsmouth in 1812.Died in Kent in 1870.Notable works:Oliver Twist (1837-1839), novelA Christmas Carol (1843), novellaDavid Copperfield (1849-1850), novelA Tale of Two Cities (1859), novel

Charles Dickens is widely considered to be the most significant English novelist of the Victorian era, and stands out in particular for his vividly constructed, memorable characters. He garnered recognition during his lifetime for his 15 novels and hundreds of short stories and articles, and served as editor of the weekly magazine Household Words for 20 years. He also delivered lectures and campaigned for children’s rights, wider access to education and other social reforms.

His parents were John Dickens, a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, and Elizabeth Dickens. When he was still a child, his father was forced into the Marshalsea debtors’ prison in London, and the young Charles had to leave school and work in a factory, which influenced his later writing. His novels, novellas and short stories reflect the rapid industrialisation that was taking place in Britain at this time, feature unique, three-dimensional characters from a range of social classes, and combine an exceptionally creative use of language, irony and realism. While he was admired by writers including Leo Tolstoy (Russian writer, 1828-1910), George Orwell (British author, 1903-1950) and G. K. Chesterton (British author, 1874-1936), he has been criticised by authors such as Oscar Wilde (Irish author, 1854-1900), Henry James (American writer, 1843-1916) and Virginia Woolf (British writer, 1882-1941) for his characters’ lack of psychological depth and his excessive sentimentality. Even so, few other authors can match his impact: the adjective Dickensian has even been coined to refer to events or situations that share the characteristics of his work, in particular extreme social inequality.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

A CLASSIC STORY OF CLASS AND SOCIAL CLIMBING

Genre:BildungsromanReference edition: Dickens, C. (1992) Great Expectations. Ware: Wordsworth.1st edition: the story was originally serialised in the weekly periodical All the Year Round from 1860 to 1861, and was first published as a novel in 1861Themes:Bildungsroman, the ideal of the gentleman, guilt

Many literary critics consider Great Expectations to be Charles Dickens’ masterpiece. It charts the childhood and young adulthood of the narrator Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, between 1807 (when he is six or seven years old) and 1823, although the final scene of the novel is set in 1834. Pip lives in a small village with his cruel elder sister and her husband Joe Gargery, a kind, charismatic blacksmith. He becomes consumed by a desire to improve his social position when he meets Estella, a beautiful but cold-hearted girl of around his own age, and thinks that the only way he will have a chance with her is if he becomes a gentleman. The largesse of a mysterious benefactor gives him the opportunity to move to London and begin moving in aristocratic circles, and in the course of his stay there he discovers the ins and outs of upper-class society and tries to find his place in it.