Great Expectations And Relate These To The Novel As A Whole Essay

Discuss the Significance Of The Events, Which Occur In Chapter Eighteen of Great Expectations And Relate These To The Novel As A Whole I shall now discuss the significance of chapter eighteen, and how the effects of this chapter relate to the whole novel, Great Expectations. In Great Expectations, the names of the characters symbolize their personalities. For example, Biddy is a very timid person who will do your bidding obligingly. Then Pip is a small and insignificant sounding name, just like the actual character is. Jaggers, is a man with sharp wit, and features, he has a bullying manner, which can cut you up in front of an audience, just like a jagged knife. Pip on his first encounter with Jaggers comments on how the smell of scented soap came from his hand. This is symbolism. One does not wash ones hands unless they are dirty, and since Jaggers is a criminal lawyer, they must be prone to doing illegal or immoral acts, in order to save his clients. Hence, he always has to wash his hands, in a sense, so that he is not caught by the courts, and found guilty of anything. To prevent any legal trouble, Jaggers puts a lot of thought into the way he phrases his dealings with clients. He makes sure that he does not give any personal opinions, and makes sure that the clients remember the dealings as he wants them to, so if they are questioned, then his name does not come up for recommending, or ordering the client to commit any actions of moral or legal wrongdoing. For example, when he is dealing with Pip, he makes sure that Pip rephrases his statement, ‘†¦ much obliged for his (Jaggers) recommendation†¦ ‘ since Jaggers recommending anything, can be counted as being involved with the crime. He makes sure that Pip uses the word mention instead. This is how Jaggers makes sure his hands are clean of any dirt, because he ‘never recommends anybody’ Jaggers job is a performance for him. He is a performer, and a better one then Wopsle, which is proved when he battles with him about the highly popular murder. One of Jaggers performances is with his handkerchief that he pulls out whenever he wants a person to confess some knowledge to him. This is because it makes the audience want to confess before he sneezes, it is a dramatic performance, and has aided Jaggers many times. This tells us a bit about the justice system in those times, where defending criminals, and getting them off the death sentence was a performance of techniques, and bullying the jury into letting off the criminals. This shows how the justice system in the days was not efficient at putting the real criminals out of the streets, since a few dramatic movements and a bullying of the jury could sway the scales of justice the wrong way. Dickens is a great social critic, and he criticizes the inefficiency of the justice system in those days. The justice system would be less harsh on criminals who were gentleman, then on criminals who were not. If you knew the right people, wore the right clothes, and looked the right part, you were more likely to get away with the crime. Also if you were a gentleman this made you less reason to have commit a crime in the first place(in the judges eyes), and you’ll get a lighter sentence then if you were ‘coarse and common’. A perfect example of this is the Magwitch/Compeyson trial. Although it was actually Compeyson that led Magwitch aside, because he knew the right people and because he was a gentleman, he managed to pass most of the blame onto Magwitch. Compeyson got a sentence of seven years, and Magwitch fourteen years, just because Compeyson was a ‘gentleman. In chapter 18, when Jaggers is discussing with Pip and Joe the situation of Pip having Great Expectations, he offers Joe a compensation (Wemmick’s property) ‘for the loss of his (Pip) services’ Joe denies the compensation, but Jaggers, who is completely, shocked of this news keeps on badgering him, because he thinks Joe is a fool not to accept the money. He also says, ‘Brag is a good dog, but that holdfast is better’ which means that Jaggers is telling Joe, to say he doesn’t want the compensation is nothing, but to actually keep by the word is something else. Joe to everyone’s surprise gets up in a mood of rage, to fight Jaggers, for badgering him in his own home. This shows us that Joe’s character is un-materialistic, and to be offered money is not something he is pleased by, as a replacement for his friend. It also shows us that Joe is not the type of man who can be bullied in his own home, by a man like Jaggers. Jaggers thinks Joe is a fool for not accepting the compensation offered. This shows us that the type of clients Jaggers deals with are probably materialistic, and not very moralistic, and maybe Jaggers himself has become like this by working with those types, and to meet someone who is noble and honest, like Joe, must be quite rare and surprising to him. Pip has ‘Great Expectations’ of becoming a gentleman, of getting out of his social class, ever since Estella had criticized him of his course hands. Although, when Pip is about to finally get his wish he starts to become unknowingly dissatisfied, he feels he does not want to leave his old life too, subconsciously he will miss the love and care he has received from Joe, and newly from Biddy. In some ways, his great expectations have failed, and shall continue to as his life progresses. Also, Pip starts to become snobbish, and disloyal to his ‘people’ He accuses the caring people he has known his whole life, to act coarse and common if he were to go and show them his gentlemen clothes. This tells us about Pip’s character, he is the type who would leave his old friends behind, for a better, more promising life. Although, somewhere in his subconscious Pip feels guilty for these acts, and he suffers because he knows he is acting basely. When the older Pip on reflects the selfish acts he had committed against loved ones when he was young, he criticizes them. When he is discussing with Jaggers about his future life, he reflects on how he was ‘so ready to leave and so unthankful to’ Joe. At the time, Pip was thinking of his future as a Gentleman, of how his Great Expectations will be fulfilled, and he was being selfish at the time, for not being grateful for what Joe had given him so far. Although, elder Pip’s reflection is very different, he realizes his mistakes and says how he sees Joe again, how hurt Joe felt because Pip was going to leave him, how he still feels his strong and faithful arm upon his shoulder as if it had been ‘the rustle of an angels wing! ‘ Another example is when he says to Biddy, ‘You are envious, Biddy, and grudging. You are dissatisfied on account of my rise in fortune, and can’t help showing it. ‘ I think this behavior by Pip is the worst because he thinks that he is superior to Biddy, who is so timid, and caring. The elder Pip criticizes on his actions here, for speaking ‘in a virtuous and superior tone’ When Pip was got his wish to become a gentleman, through Jaggers, he became emotionally blind. Even when Joe and Biddy, congratulated Pip on his fortune of going to become a gentleman; ‘there was a certain touch of sadness in their congratulations that I rather resented. ‘ This really shows how foolhardy and unfeeling Pip was at that time. Since the touch of sadness was actually because they both love Pip, and shall miss him and his company once he is gone. The significance of chapter 18 is great, since it is the chapter where Pip gets his wish to finally become a gentleman. Also, it is where we, the audience, see how emotionally blind, and how focused on the superficial things about a person Pip begins to become. It is where Pip and we are introduced to the bullying figure of Jaggers, and also the foreshadowing hint of Pips unhappiness in his life to come.