Salm 1 Jon Salm 18 November 2011 Professor Matthews English 345 1,932 Words

Peripety and Victorian Class Divide in Great Expectations

In Charles Dickens Great Expectations, Pip rises from a working class orphan to an upper class gentleman. When Jaggers tells Pip that great expectations have been placed upon him, Pips fortune dramatically changes. His future as a blacksmiths apprentice disappears in an instant and Pip begins a transition to the uppermost echelon inVictorian society. The literary term for a reversal of fortune is peripety, from the Greek peripeteia. In Poetics, Aristotle describes the technique as a shift from one state of things within the play to its opposite, which occurs after a change from ignorance to knowledge (1452a). Most simply peripety is a reversal of circumstances after a significant discovery is made. Dickens use of peripety is Great Expectations does not only serve as a plot device. As Pip transitions from a member of the working class to a member of the Victorian elite, Dickens illustrates the friction and division within Victorian class structure. Pips transition lets the reader witness the upper class attitude of arrogance and disdain towards those in the working class.

Salm 2 Pips peripety occurs in two distinct stages. While Pip becomes fully immersed in high society after Jaggers relays news of his great expectations, Pip first interacts with the upper class when he is asked to play with Estella at Miss Havishams house. While the peripety of invitation to play at Miss Havishams is not on par with the discovery of his immense fortune, it does contribute to Pips reversal of circumstances. During these scenes, Pip becomes intimately aware of the different social classes and the distinct divide between them. When Pip and Estella first play cards, Estella comments on Pips distinctly working class appearance: And what course hands he has. And what thick boots! (60). Pip would have been more than content with coarse hands and thick boots at home or at the smithy with Joe. That his hands could be less coarse or his boots less thick had never even crossed his mind. I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before (60), he says. But when Estella examines his appearance with such disdain, Pip is overcome with a sense of shame and embarrassment: Her contempt was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it. (60). After just one hand of cards, the difference between Pip and Estella is apparent. By insulting and demeaning Pip, Estella asserts her upper class standing and her position above Pip in society. She reinforces this by incessantly mocking Pip and reminding him of his low social standing: She said I was common, and that I knew I was common and that I wished I was not common (70), Pip later tells Joe. However, Pip does not complain once about how harshly and unfairly he is treated. Instead, he blames his working class upbringing for the embarrassment he suffers: I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been too (62). Before Pip is sent to play with Estella at Miss Havishams, he is largely ignorant to the world outside his working

Salm 3 class surroundings. Pip has been raised with the knowledge that he will apprentice for Joe at the smithy and will likely work there for the duration of his life. After he spends just one afternoon at Miss Havishams, however, Pip cannot help but become acutely aware of the differences between his way of life and that of Estella and Miss Havisham. When Pip gets one free moment in the courtyard, he is overwhelmed with anger and frustration: But, when she was gone, I looked about me for a place to hide my face in, and got behind one the gates in the brewery-lane, and leaned my sleeve against the wall there, and leaned my forehead on it and cried. As I cried, I kicked the wall, and took a hard twist at my hair; so bitter were my feelings, and so sharp was the smart without a name, that needed counteraction. (62 63). Pips embarrassment at his working class upbringing emphasizes the legitimacy of Estellas arrogant attitude. After the first game, Miss Havisham asks Pip what he thinks of his playmate. Pip is hesitant to answer. When Miss Havisham keeps asking him, he reluctantly describes Estella as very proud, very pretty, and very insulting (61). Dickens word choice here is significant. Pip is very uncomfortable with the situation, but does not want to disappoint the wealthy widow. Pip compliments Estella once (pretty), describes her neutrally once (proud), and only after being continually prodded by Miss Havisham does he explicitly express any contempt (insulting). Pip is terrified at the prospect of slighting a member of a higher social class and begs to go home after miss Havishams interview. By putting Pip in this difficult situation, Dickens shows how Miss Havisham and Estella

Salm 4 are in a position of power and Pip is in one of obedience. Those in the upper tier of Victorian society are naturally superior to those below them. Estella and Pip are foils to one other. Their interpersonal relationship also mirrors the relationship between members of the upper class and members of the working class. As Estella looks down on Pip and insults him, she is in fact exhibiting an attitude of disdain felt by all the wealthy. One of their most poignant encounters occurs when Estella brings food for Pip: She came back with some bread and meat and a little mug of beer. She put the mug down on the stones of the yard and gave me the bread and meat without looking at me, as insolently as if I were a dog in disgrace. I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart God knows what its name was that tears started to my eyes. (62). Estella treats Pip no better than a dog. This passage presents a clear metaphor to the reader members of working class are animals and those in the upper class are the masters. The peripety in Great Expectations has not yet taken full effect at this point, but in contrasting Pip with Estella, Dickens effectively shows the upper class air of superiority over the working class. By introducing Pip to an entirely new side of society, Dickens is able to show the friction and disparity between the working class and the upper class. When Jaggers makes Pips expectations explicit, the novels peripety becomes fully manifested. Pips life is transformed as he is destined to become a member of the upper class. Jaggers, a lawyer who is firmly rooted in the Victorian upper class, clashes

Salm 5 with working class Joe. In order to meet the expectations and reach his gentlemanly place in society, Pip must leave Joe and Joes working class ways behind. Because Pip is transitioning between social classes, Dickens contrasts his former class through Joe with his new one through Jaggers. After hearing the news of his expectations, Pip is ecstatic and thrilled at his new position in life: My heart was beating so fast, and there was such a singing in my ears, that I could scarcely stammer I had no objection [to these expectations] (138). Pip doesnt think twice about refusing his expectations or about leaving Joe. In contrast to Pips excitement, Joes response to the news is muted. Joe must remain in the working class while his former apprentice far surpasses him in society. He scoffs at Jaggers after the lawyer suggests monetary compensation for transferring Pip from his guardianship: Lord forbid that I should want anything for not standing in Pips way, said Joe, staring (137). By having Joe speak in a dry, sarcastic tone, Dickens shows Joes sense of contempt towards Jaggers and those in the upper class. This disagreement between Joe and Jaggers increases when Jaggers asks Joe a second and third time about compensation for Pip. Joe realizes that this is an opportunity in life that Pip must take advantage of ( Pip is that harty welcome, said Joe, to go free with his honour and fortun, as no words can tell him (141).), but he takes extreme offense to the way that Jaggers treats him. Joe gets angrier with each of Jaggers successive attempts to give him money for Pip. After Jaggers third attempt, Joe becomes enraged: Now, Joseph Gargery, I warn you this is your last chance. No half measures with me. If you mean to take a present that I have it in charge to

Salm 6 make you, speak out and you shall have it. If on the contrary you mean to say Here, to his great amazement, he was stopped by Joes suddenly working round him with every demonstration of a fell pugilistic purpose. Which I meantersay, cried Joe, that if you come into my play bull-baiting and badgering me, come out! Which I meantersay as sech if youre a man, come on! Which I meantersay that what I say, I meantersay and stand or fall by! (142). The tension between Jaggers and Joe is intense, and Pip is stuck in the middle of it. Joe, a member of the working class, does not want to accept money from Jaggers, the wealthy Londoner. Joe is a proud, honorable man. He is satisfied with his working class standing and with his occupation as a blacksmith. Jaggers essentially insults Joe by repeatedly trying to give him money. Joe believes that Jaggers is patronizing him, his occupation, and his ability to earn a living. While Jaggers makes it clear to Joe that it was in my instructions to make you a present, as compensation (141), Joe dos not change his mind. Even though Pips benefactor provided the money, not Jaggers, Joe views Jaggers efforts as tantamount to charity. The disdain felt by the upper class towards the working class is mutual. Dickens use of Joe and Jaggers verbal fight is a deliberate narrative decision. Because their argument is combative and tense, it draws the attention of the reader. Dickens points out to the reader not only the difference between the two men, but also how their differences relate to their respective positions in society. The argument is able to provide insight into the division between the working and upper classes because of the monetary implications. Joe and Jaggers relationship mirrors Pip and Estellas

Salm 7 relationship. Joe, like Pip when he first meets Estella, is good-natured, responsive, and reasonable. Jaggers, like Estella when she first meets Pip, is arrogant, brash, and insulting. In both cases, those in the upper class forcefully establish their superiority over those in the working class. While both Pip and Joe do eventually somewhat stand up to their upper class tormentors, they do so only after being continually degraded. Great Expectations working class characters are timid, deferential, and reverent to those in the upper class, despite the hostile circumstances. Conversely, the novels upper class characters are self-important, conceited, and dismissive of those below them. By having Joe and Jaggers, two characters in opposing social classes, gather at what is the most critical moment Pips life, Dickens exposes the differences between the classes. Pips great expectations take him from life as a blacksmiths apprentice to that of an upper class Victorian gentleman. This peripety puts Pip and Joe in contact with Estella, Miss Havisham, and Jaggers. When Dickens working class characters interact with those in the upper class, the rift between classes becomes clear to the reader. Dickens uses Pips transition from low to high society to reveal the upper class pride and arrogance towards those in the working class.

Salm 8 Works Cited Aristotle. Poetics. The Works of Aristotle Translated into English. Ed. W. D. Ross. Trans. Ingram Bywater. Vol. 11. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. London: Penguin, 1860-1861. Print.