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Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University  Unit 16: Great Expectations: Characterization and Ending of the Play




                             Unit 16: Great Expectations:                                          Notes

                   Characterization and Ending of the Play




            CONTENTS
            Objectives
            Introduction
            16.1  Great Expectations: Characterization
                 16.1.1  Analysis of Major Characters
            16.2  Great Expectations: Style and Themes

                 16.2.1  Themes - Theme Analysis
                 16.2.2  Ambition and Self-Improvement
                 16.2.3  Social Class
                 16.2.4  Crime, Guilt, and Innocence

                 16.2.5  Style of Great Expectations
            16.3  Summary
            16.4  Keywords
            16.5  Review Questions
            16.6  Further Readings


          Objectives

          After studying this unit, you will be able to:
          •    Explain major characters of great expectations
          •    Discuss ambition and self-improvement

          •    Explain style and themes of great expectations.

          Introduction

          Great Expectations is written in first person and uses language and grammar that has, since
          the publication of Great Expectations, fallen out of common use. The title Great Expectations
          refers to the ‘Great Expectations’ Pip has of coming into his benefactor’s property upon his
          disclosure to him and achieving his intended role as a gentleman at that time. Great Expectations
          is a bildungsroman, a novel depicting growth and personal development, in this case, of Pip.
          Some of the major themes of Great Expectations are crime, social class, empire and ambition.
          From an early age, Pip feels guilt; he is also afraid that someone will find out about his crime
          and arrest him. The theme of crime comes in to even greater effect when Pip discovers that
          his benefactor is in fact a convict. Pip has an internal struggle with his conscience throughout
          the book. Great Expectations explores the different social classes of the Georgian era. Throughout
          the book, Pip becomes involved with a broad range of classes, from criminals like Magwitch
          to the extremely rich like Miss Havisham. Pip has great ambition, as demonstrated constantly
          in the book.




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