What Is True Love? Essay, Research Paper

Rough Draft

Brooke Gladstone

5/17/2000

Period #3

What is true love?

The quality of true love is highly debated among different people. Some people

believe true love relies on rules or that it simply does not exist. However, true love is an

unconditional love between two people, when two people love each other for who

they are. In Charles Dickens? novel Great Expectations there are many different

situations where true love become relevant.

First of all, there is a gentle giant by the name of Joe is Great Expectations. He is

Pip?s brother-in-law. Joe is a very peaceful man, but by looking at him you would be

scared. He is a very large man and the blacksmith of the town. In the beginning of the

book he is married to Mrs. Joe Gargery (Pip?s sister). Joe loves Mrs. Joe very much, and

in the book he states that she is a, ?Fine figure of a woman,? (Dickens, pp. ). In a scene

in the novel he discusses with Pip how he is happy with his life, but on the opposite Mrs.

Joe is not exactly on the same term. She is very unhappy with her life, and she believes

that she ?deserves? better than Joe, or a blacksmith. Dickens? portrays Mrs. Joe as a

bitter woman, but the audience can see the love she has for Joe, even if she is not

satisfied with her marriage to Joe.

At a later time in the book Mrs. Joe sadly passes away, and you can feel the

sadness Joe has towards her death. A few years later he marries Biddy. Biddy has

always been around the family to help in the house while Mrs. Joe was sick. The

friendship between Joe and Biddy eventually became a loving relationship and Joe

purposed to her. Obviously Joe may had loved Mrs. Joe very dearly, but he shortly

recovered from his lost and married Biddy.

Mr. Pocket, Pip?s roommate, is a friendly man whom Pip meets while he moves to

London. Mr. Pocket is very proper and teaches Pip about posture, manners, and eating

habits. Mr. Pocket proposes to a lady named Clara. Pocket describes Clara as a gentle,

kind lady who he is in love with. He talks of her much in Pip and his conversations. It

seems as if he loves her very much, but their relationship has just begun and their love is

still growing towards each other. The audience may not feel the love between the two

as much as other relationships.

On the other hand, Miss Havasham?s relationship with her fiancee was horrid. It

turned out to be a terrible nightmare. Compeyson was Miss Havasham?s fiancee who

left her at the altar. Miss Havasham dreads this day in the novel. Pip visits Satis House

and she is wearing her wedding dress, she has the wedding cake on the dining room

table, and the clock is stopped at the time she was left at the altar. It is obvious that she

loved Compeyson very much, but doing what he did she now hates men. Because of

this she raises Estella to hate men and torture them. Estella tells Pip later in the book how

she wouldn?t want to marry Pip because she doesn?t want to hurt him.

Finally, Pip?s relationship with Estella. Although there is no such thing, Pip loved

Estella very much. Above true love is described as an unconditional love between two

people, so according to that definition this relationship would not be considered true

love. Pip has a very strong and indescribable love towards Estella, but the passion is not

returned. Estella plays with Pip as if he is a yo-yo. One moment she mentions something

that may make Pip believe that she does love him, and another she is upset with him for

thinking she admired him.

In conclusion, true love is perceived many different ways. In the novel Great

Expectations there are many different relationships which display different levels of love

and romance. There is a relationship where one of the members passed away, another

where the relationship is so young the love has not blossomed and two relationships

where the love is not returned from the other member of the relationship. All in all,

Charles Dickens never places a relationship where true love is evident.