Doubles In Great Expectations
Anna Catherine Chapman
Mrs. White
H English 10
September 7, 2014
Pip’s Benefactors
Thesis: Through Charles Dickens’s use of doubles in Great Expectations, Dickens illustrates that it is possible to control future happiness and that it is not based on past experiences.
Great Expectations’ main character, Pip, meets both his pseudo benefactor and his true benefactor in very interesting ways. As Pip is in the graveyard visiting his deceased mother and father, he stumbles across an escaped convict and his unknown at the time benefactor Magwitch. Magwitch is in prison for several crimes and abetting and being fooled by his partner Compeyson. Pip brings the ravenous Magwitch some rations and a file in which Magwitch can remove the bothersome …show more content…
After Magwitch meets Pip, he is inspired and decides that he wants to change Pip’s life by providing him with the coveted high society, luxurious life. Magwitch travels to Australia to earn money “by the sweat of his brow…not by criminal activity” and saves every penny and lives a hard life so that Pip can live a luxurious one(Novels for Students). Magwitch is truly touched when Pip helps him and never forgets that. On the flip side of that, Miss Havisham’s life comes to a complete halt when Compeyson jilts her at the alter. Miss Havisham’s life is ruined by this and “her clocks stay stopped on the hour, she has never since seen the light of day, she sits in her ruined wedding dress” and the food from the reception in the great room across the hallway is “now eerily covered with spiders and dusty cobwebs”(Prickel 159)(Novels for Students 95). Along with this, she adopts Estella and is training her that the male race is appalling; Miss Havisham slowly over time hardens Estella’s cold heart until she eventually has lost the capability to love. Although Magwitch and Miss Havisham have had their hiccups in life and bumps in the road, they handle their situations completely different. Magwitch takes his betrayal by Compeyson and Pip’s help and makes that the fuel and drive for his mission to make Pip’ s life better. Miss Havisham takes her rejection by Compeyson
Mrs. White
H English 10
September 7, 2014
Pip’s Benefactors
Thesis: Through Charles Dickens’s use of doubles in Great Expectations, Dickens illustrates that it is possible to control future happiness and that it is not based on past experiences.
Great Expectations’ main character, Pip, meets both his pseudo benefactor and his true benefactor in very interesting ways. As Pip is in the graveyard visiting his deceased mother and father, he stumbles across an escaped convict and his unknown at the time benefactor Magwitch. Magwitch is in prison for several crimes and abetting and being fooled by his partner Compeyson. Pip brings the ravenous Magwitch some rations and a file in which Magwitch can remove the bothersome …show more content…
After Magwitch meets Pip, he is inspired and decides that he wants to change Pip’s life by providing him with the coveted high society, luxurious life. Magwitch travels to Australia to earn money “by the sweat of his brow…not by criminal activity” and saves every penny and lives a hard life so that Pip can live a luxurious one(Novels for Students). Magwitch is truly touched when Pip helps him and never forgets that. On the flip side of that, Miss Havisham’s life comes to a complete halt when Compeyson jilts her at the alter. Miss Havisham’s life is ruined by this and “her clocks stay stopped on the hour, she has never since seen the light of day, she sits in her ruined wedding dress” and the food from the reception in the great room across the hallway is “now eerily covered with spiders and dusty cobwebs”(Prickel 159)(Novels for Students 95). Along with this, she adopts Estella and is training her that the male race is appalling; Miss Havisham slowly over time hardens Estella’s cold heart until she eventually has lost the capability to love. Although Magwitch and Miss Havisham have had their hiccups in life and bumps in the road, they handle their situations completely different. Magwitch takes his betrayal by Compeyson and Pip’s help and makes that the fuel and drive for his mission to make Pip’ s life better. Miss Havisham takes her rejection by Compeyson