High Hopes and Great Expectations

‘Ask no questions, and you’ll be told no lies’- Great Expectations

Great Expectations is arguably one of Charles Dickens most well-known literary works; he is regarded as ‘the quintessential Victorian author.’ So, if you haven’t heard of good old Mr Dickens you’ve been living under a rock.

I mean, not only is he well known for Great Expectations but also: A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.

Dickens enriches Great Expectations with symbolism through the journey of the

protagonist, Pip. The major symbol of the novel is Satis House, the home of the crazy Miss Haversham and her adopted daughter Estella. Both women shape Pip into the ‘gentleman’ he becomes, but it’s Satis House that stores his true social class and his love for Estella, which he can never attain. Pip’s first encounter with Satis House is in chapter eight:

‘Within a quarter of an hour we came to Miss Haversham’s house, which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it.’

This initial description, given to us by Pip, the reader discovers that Satis House has become run down; almost prison like. From Pip’s initial beliefs of how the upper class live amongst the finest objects and plentiful wealth, it’s fair to say that Satis House fails this vision.

Victorian England had a clear class divide at the time, so it’s not surprising that poor Pip wanted to live among the ‘elite rich’:

‘"With an elite dedicated to leisure while many in the working class struggled to eat, the gap between rich and poor seemed insurmountable, with Disraeli writing that the two were as different as “inhabitants of different planets.”’

The first description of Satis House leaves an unsettling tone with the reader, with Satis House being the first symbol of Miss Haversham’s inability to release her traumatic past. Much like Pip’s inability throughout the novel to relinquish his working-class background.

Furthermore, in Satis House each of the clocks are stuck on the specific time of: ‘twenty minutes to nine.’ This is another significant symbol because this is the time when Miss Haversham was supposed to get married to Compeyson. However, Compeyson only wanted to fool Miss Haversham into marrying him.

Nice guy isn't he?

Since this moment, the reader learns that:

1. She has never stepped outside

2. She lives in her wedding dress

3. The whole house is trapped in what should have been the happiest day of her life.

With this in mind, Satis House is not only a symbol of Miss Haversham’s inability to let go of the past, but also how both entities have become one. Much like the clocks in the house, Miss Haversham doesn’t acknowledge time:

‘I know nothing of days of the week; I know nothing of weeks of the year. Come again after six days.’

In summary, Dickens portrays to us that in Great Expectations Satis House is a key symbol in Pip’s journey. Satis House encapsulates the disappointment that both Pip and Miss Haversham experience throughout the novel. Where its suppose to portray wealth and grandeur, instead it shows the reader that high British society isn’t as truthful as it may seem.

You never know what’s lurking behind closed doors…

The Gee Word