Great Expectations: Social Class in Dickens' Work

From A Christmas Carol to Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens proved he was a master story teller. While his tales often focused on children and the poor, none of his prior works focused more on social class issues than in his classic Great Expectations.

In Great Expectations, Dickens introduces us to several characters and unfolds his tale through the perspective of the young orphaned boy, Pip. Cared for by his poor sister and her husband, Pip is hired out to help an elderly but wealthy Miss Havisham. The tasks are simple and menial at first, but Pip eventually becomes more useful in the Havisham home. Through Miss Havisham, Pip is exposed to the fancies and ills of the aristocracy as well as his first love. He develops shame for his poverty and lack of education and begins to view the world of the rich as desirable and possibly attainable.

Dickens offers us more than Pip's perspective. He creates a very detailed world of peasants, convicts, apathetic aristocrats. He reveals all levels of British social classes from the low to middle to high. Dickens reveals the shabby homes and habits of the poor. He colorful reveals the morally and physically decaying views and world of the very rich. He offers insight on how education, or lack thereof, is viewed and how in the face of nobility even views on class are forced to change.

Pip strives to overcome his station, because he wants to be considered a gentleman and respected. Through Pip's actions, Dickens gives the reader a clear view of the horrible conditions for the poor. He reveals the ills of exploited child labor, cruelty, and prostitution as well as transforming effect of the Industrial Revolution on Pip's world.

While many of Dickens' characters seem trapped in their caste, Pip seems to find the good and bad in each social station. Characters, such as Joe, Jaggers and even Magwitch, reveal that caring is a part of one's general nature and not from class. Characters such as Miss Havisham, Estella and Orlick show how heartless comes in varying degrees and with specific motivations.

Dickens gives readers more than a dramatic moral tale. He offers the readers a lesson in self value and perseverance. In his Britain, a man is not trapped in a world of poverty unless he chooses to be trapped. And, that poverty can be based on lack of money, education or genuine kindness toward others.

Charles Dickens is a master storyteller and his body of work speaks for his talent. It is in one of his best novels, Great Expectations, that he expands upon his literary tales about social classes in Britain and the consequences of ideal wealth and unscrupulous living.