Uncovering the Structural Mastery of Great Expectations

1. And Then There Was One… The Structure of Great Expectations with thanks and respect to Dr. Richard Hansen, MWC professor adapted by Winona Siegmund

2. What is Structure? • It’s about balance. • It provides an aesthetic quality to a work. • It helps one understand the artist. • It’s a practical element. • It can been seen in paintings, dance, literature, and elsewhere.

3. How does it function in a novel? • It brings back characters. • It brings back thematic ideas. • It allows an author to emphasize what’s important.

4. Key Words of Structure • Symmetry • Balance • Contrast • Division • Repetition

5. What is GE? • It’s not a romance – a romance satisfies the reader, but it reinforces illusions • It is a novel – It faces reality and takes away the reader’s illusions – a positive experience

6. What else does structure do in GE? • It adds a sense of completeness to the novel. • It gives GE a finished quality. • It puts special emphasis on the star (Pip) as each stage ends.

7. GE is divided into 3 stages, and • All 3 stages look at Pip’s growth and development. • He steadily moves forward, and by the end of the text, he is better, wiser, and more moral.

8. The Central Divisions: • Stage I: boyhood to departure for London (Chapters 1 – 19) • Stage II: Pip’s loss of a moral center/ Pip’s benefactor arrives (Chapters 20 – 39) • Stage III: Pip suffers, finds his moral center, is redeemed (Chapters 40 – 59)

9. What else is revealed through the 3 stages? • Dickens goes beyond the mere divisions of chapters and into the stages of Pip’s life. • In stage I, Pip is very innocent. • In stage II, Pip is very self-centered; he’s experiencing his youth; Magwitch returns. • In stage III, Pip is experienced; he attains maturity; he learns life’s meaning.

10. Another characteristic of the stages: • I = Pip’s desires and expectations – he’s full of illusions • II = he achieves some of his expectations, but he’s lost morally • III = expectations understood; he’s disillusioned; he’s coping with the pain that comes with awareness and knowledge

11. Look at the inner-symmetry: • In I = Chapters 1 – 6, Dickens lays out a number of problems involving Pip • In III = Chapters 40 – 46, Dickens resolves many of Pip’s problems • He neatly takes up problems and solves them in the same order

12. What Pip must face • In 1 – 6 he… • Meets Magwitch on the marshes (“Click - -you’re caught!”). • He steals for Magwitch; he is kind to him while he eats the stolen meal. • He participates in the capture of Mag. • In essence, here Pip confronts the problem of Magwitch.

13. In Stage III, CH. 40 – 46… • Magwitch joins Pip at the Temple (“Click--you’re caught!”) (His arrival is in 39). • Pip feeds Magwitch, but is highly critical of him in the narrrative. • Pip confronts a new Magwitch problem (revealed initially in Ch. 39 – “’By G--, it’s Death!’”).

14. What about Stage II? • It’s a bridge between the two stages – Chapters 20 – 27: • Pip arrives in London • He visits Jaggers’ office • He feels ill at ease in his clothes • He becomes a snob

15. As he leaves for London… “I promised myself that I would do something for them one of these days, and formed a plan in outline for bestowing a dinner of roast-beef and plum-pudding, a pint of ale, and a gallon of condescension, upon everybody in the village.” p. 147

16. The latter part of Stage II Chapters 28 – 35: • Pip returns home to the village • Biddy dresses Pip down Chapters 36 – 39: • The waiting game – Pip awaits news of his benefactor; Pip comes of age • E gets attached to Drummle and…

17. And in Stage II, CH 30 • Pip puts on airs and Trabb’s boy mocks him: “’Don’t know yah, don’t know yah, pon my soul don’t know yah!’” p. 246 And then… • “As soon as I arrived [back in London], I sent a penitential codfish and barrel of oysters to Joe (as reparation for not having gone myself)…” p. 246

18. It’s all about suspense! • 36 - 39 slows to build suspense for Magwitch’s arrival

19. CH. 7 – 11 Hiss Havisham is introduced and sets up trick on Pip CH. 18 – 19 Pip’s last nights at the forge; he coolly takes leave of Joe and Biddy CH. 47 – 51 Miss Havisham begins to realize the troubles she has caused Pip and begs his forgiveness CH. 58 – 59 Pip is back at his boyhood home; doesn’t say anything about his marriage plan w/ Biddy Note the Parallels

20. Stage I = rising hopes and falling moral character Note that in Stage II Pip has the greatest amount of money and freedom, but his moral character steadily falls Stage III = falling hopes and rising moral character Pip’s moral bottom is Chapter 40 – right after Mag’s return More Parallels

21. CH. 10: stranger leaves $ for Pip at Three Jolly Bargemen CH. 17: Biddy/ Pip talk CH. 31: Wopsle performs at the theatre What are the effects on Pip? CH. 18 – stranger (Jaggers) informs Pip of his expectations CH. 35: Biddy/ Pip talk CH. 47: Wopsle has known suffering & degenerates into a fool Note the repetition:

22. Dickens wants us to see Pip’s moral/ spiritual qualities • Stage I: • Pip steals food and a file • Pip conceals his actions from Joe • Pip lies about his 1st visit to Miss Havisham • Pip dreams of leaving the village; becomes a snob; longs for relationship with Estella • wants to be uncommon and…

23. more on morals • Pip picks up the Victorian connotations of being low class; he can’t see that everyone is part of humanity. • Dickens focuses on the question of the gentleman. • Pip gets money, education, fancy clothes, coach rides, but he does not have a kind heart.

24. A Contrast: Herbert Pocket A model of the Victorian concept of the gentleman: • good • decent • kind • gentleman’s position in society • Contrast: what Pip wants & a real gentleman

25. Pip changes: Stage III: • He touches Magwith and loves him • He values Joe and Biddy • Forgives Miss Havisham • Forgives Estella • He becomes the soul of generosity, forgiveness, and love

26. The very end CH. 59 • Pip visits Satis House. • Estella is reintroduced. • We really like Pip again now. • The ending implies (with some slight ambiguity) happiness for Pip and Estella.

27. Pip’s Comment to Estella • “’I work pretty hard for a sufficient living, and therefore – Yes, I do well.’” p. 484 Note his contentment; his understanding that one must earn his income; his humility; his honesty; his integrity.

28. The end of Stage III = O Pip has no money, but he’s a fine man. The novel has ended where it began– in the marsh country – Pip’s boyhood home.

29. Look at the Mists • End of CH. 19 & Stage I – “And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.” p.159 • End of CH. 59 & Stage III – “I took her[Estella’s]hand in mine, and we went…

30. out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now. And in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw the shadow of no parting from her.” (sigh) p. 484

31. Whole novel • Balanced and symmetrical • The idea of going forward • The idea of stages: Dickens says one measures personal development in terms of stages.

32. As W.B. Yeats opined… The Coming of Wisdom with Time Though the leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.