What Picture of Victorian Society do You Get in “Great Expectations”.

In Great Expectations Dickens depicts a picture of Victorian society. He wrote with the purpose of stressing the social evils of his time. His novels expose many of the evils and abuses that were rampant in Victorian society. His view of Victorian society as embodied in this novel must have been highly unflattering to his contemporaries. We see here a society riddled by cruelty, greed and injustice.

Picture of Victorian Society in “Great Expectations”:

In Great Expectations Dickens depicts the cruelty that prevailed in the Victorian society. In the novel we find Mrs. Gargery's cruel treatment to Pip. She constantly scolds Pip and reminds him of the great sacrifices which she has made in order to bring him up. She often chastises him also with a cane. She even does not hesitate to ill-treat her own mild-natured husband, Joe. Joe feels utterly helpless in the face of his wife's ill-temper. Pip also gets ill-treatment from Mr. Pumblechook, Wopsle and the Hubbles.

Miss Havisham gets cruel treatment from her lover by the conspiracy of her half-brother. And the manner in which Miss Havisham brings up Estella is another striking example of cruelty. She hardens Estella's heart and there is no softness and sympathy in her heart. Pip has been treated cruelly by Estella. On the occasion of his second visit to Miss Havisham's house Estella gives Pip a hard slap.

In the novel Great Expectations Dickens successfully portrays the greed for money of the Victorian society. There are a number of characters in the novel who are dominated by the passion for money. When Pip goes to Miss Havisham's house for the second time he finds a number of her relatives in her house. They are all greedy for money and they all expect monetary advantage from her. Compeyson (lover of Miss Havisham) and Arthur (Miss Havisham's half-brother) plot against Miss Havisham and extract lot of money from her. Herbert also expects money from Miss Havisham and he afterwards speak of becoming a capitalist one day. Then Drummle is also dominated by the considerations of money. Estella decides to marry him because he is rich. This marriage fails because it is based on considerations of money.

There is a lot of injustice, too, depicted in this novel, prevalent in the Victorian age. The description of conditions in English prisons during the Victorian age reveals the injustice of society as a whole to human beings. The constables, prison wardens, judges etc. are all to be blamed for injustice appearing in society in diverse froms. The jails were much neglected, sentence of death was arbitrarily meted out, the trial in the sessions was a mockery of justice. The impartiality of law and judicial system is attacked by Dickens. Thus though Compeyson is a hardened criminal he is given a lighter sentence than Magwitch.

Thus each of the chief characters in this novel seeks an identity of the self within a society which is riddled with injustice, greed and cruelty. No one is free from an extraordinary entanglement with his fellow member of the society in a common guilt though they have a tendency to remain isolated.

 

 

You Can also Read:

 

• Dickens Portray the Obsession of the Victorian Society with Money in "Great Expectations".

• Moral Development of Pip in “Great Expectations”.

• Character of Miss Havisham in “Great Expectations”.

• Sensational and Grotesque Elements in “Great Expectations”.

• Dickens's “Great Expectations” is a Study of Moral and Psychological Development.

• Dickens's Art of Characterisation in “Great Expectations”.

• Significance of the Title “Great Expectations”.

•            Dickens's Use of Humour in “Great Expectations”.