Unqualified Mothers In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

The various, unqualified mothers of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations inflict major, negative consequences on their children in both mental and physical ways. Two of the female characters, find themselves ill-equipped for their position because of pride, jealousy, and a general inability to support their offspring. Furthermore, the other two abusive mothers raise their offspring with menace and ruthlessness which leads to major social complications in their childrens’ lives.
To begin, two of the motherly figures, Belinda Pocket and Molly, find themselves to be completely unable to care for their children due to their personal affairs and contemptuous behaviors. The useless and disdainful Belinda Pocket allows her pride and trust in her lineage to consume her ability to care for her numerous children and renders herself unable to protect the children from harm. The several Pocket children, raised by Mrs. Pocket and protected by the
Moreover, the children are exposed to many dangerous situations each day and most are triggered by Mrs. Pocket’s own carelessness. Belinda Pocket’s obvious detachment from reality and attachment to the past has a profound effect on her children and could lead to major physical and mental disabilities or even death for her offspring. After relenting to the iron grip of jealousy and brutally murdering a woman, Molly, mother of Estella, renders herself unable to care for her child and chooses to relinquish any chance that she has of raising her child to maturity. After killing the woman in a barn and being saved by Jaggers “[Molly] [goes] into his service immediately after her acquittal, tamed as she is now”(308). Furthermore, Molly choses to have Jaggers take her