Great Expectations 8 Essay, Research Paper

Great Expectations

One of the most interesting and mysterious things that people question is infatuation and its relationship to love. Infatuation, which is really nothing but a big crush or obsession, is often termed as “false love.” When a person has feelings of infatuation, he usually thinks he is in love. In all reality, he is only experiencing an excitement on seeing what it is like to have feelings for another, even if those feelings are only based on physical attraction. This passion not only refers to love, but also the other materialistic things that dazzle people s minds. The feelings people have experienced in the past are compared with the present feelings they have and make it easier to determine if their present feelings are love or “false love.” As Pip shows in Charles Dickens Great Expectations, a person can be passionate with anything and then later on fall in love with it. Infatuation is an experience that one can learn from and a desire that one wishes to acquire.

In a village cemetery, a small boy, Pip, is approached by a runaway convict who

demands food and a file to saw off his leg iron. Terrified, Pip steals the requested items from the home where he has been living with his sister and her husband Joe since his parents died. Later on, Pip falls in love with Estella and becomes self-conscious about his low social status and raw manners. Estella is the girl that Pip is in love with and bases his standards around her. From then on, his loyal dream is to become a gentleman in order to be with Estella in the future. Pip encounters many situations and struggles to attain his goals in life.

Infatuation can lead to an emotion of true passion instead of having the false obsession. Pip lusted for Estella for most of the book, but towards the end, he indicated his love for her when he expressed his concern over her marrying Drummle. “Out of my thoughts! You are part of my existence, part of myself.”(347) Pip expresses his honest feelings for her as Pip and Estella argue about Estella s engagement with Drummle. This act shows love because although Pip realized he could not marry Estella, he wanted someone to marry her who would treat her like a queen. If he had still been simply infatuated, he would have been against Estella marrying Drummle, but only out of jealousy. Pip exhibits his understanding of true happiness through the pain he displays when Magwitch, his benefactor, dies. Magwitch first alienated him, Pip grows closer to him, especially after Magwitch is arrested. During his visits to the prison, Pip displays that he cared tremendously for Magwitch, an attitude that developed since his first encounter with the convict. Following his death, Pip “lay on the sofa, or on the floor – anywhere, according as I happened to sink down – with a heavy head and aching limbs, and no purpose, and no power.” (470) Herbert is one who stands by Pip throughout his struggles. Even though they are totally the opposite of one another, Herbert is the gentleman that Pip wants to become. Herbert will stick with Pip in spite of his faults, and will risk real danger for him.

One s desire provides experience for him that enable him to grow and learn about what kind of qualities he cherishes. Infatuation not only deals with love, but also with changes that many want to accomplish. It could teach a moral lesson about the true significance of a change rather than the superficial view of it. The change in Pip’s moral character takes time, but nonetheless, it is not an impossible task to accomplish. Just as Pip has shown, the moral development of a person into someone who he desires to be is accomplished by the end of the book. Pip’s desire for self-satisfaction leaves him with a broken heart, no money, and distance from his dearest friends, Joe and Biddy. This stage in Pip’s life was brought about essentially through his obsession with Estella and by his new fortune which Magwitch secretly granted upon him. Even though Pip had almost everything he could desire materially, he was not truly happy as one can see “…Fortune alone has raised me; that is being very lucky. And yet when I think of Estella-… I cannot tell you how dependent and uncertain I feel.”(269) This single event seems to shatter Pip’s growing ego and turn him into the true gentleman he wants to be. Pip also stays true to the end with Magwitch and never abandons him as shown when Pip states, “I will never stir from your side… when I am suffered to be near you. Please God, I will be as true to you as you have been to me.” (457) This goes to prove that people can change, but only after they experience love. Pip’s unconditional love for Magwitch was definite because he had nothing to gain from him. Only now does Pip realize how much he has missed in life and how sorry he is for missing it.

The book is written with a mixture of emotional effects and subtle touches that indicate false obsession is something one learns from. Dickens mostly displays a sympathetic tone for Pip. He wants readers to see Pip s mistakes and the barriers that he has climbed. Although he must work through his narrator, Pip, Dickens uses the tone of Pip’s voice to guide the reader s sympathies in certain directions. “I walked away at a good pace, thinking it was easier to go than I had supposed it to be, and reflecting that it would never have done to have had an old shoe thrown after the coach, in sight of all the High-street,”(186) Dickens uses first person voice in his book to emphasize the tribulations that Pip is dealing with; it is easier to recognize the trials when the reader sees it through his eyes. “I had the great satisfaction of concluding that arrangement. It was the only good thing I had done and the only completed things I had done, since I was first apprised of my great expectations.”(427) Dickens displays more of a personal view of what Pip sees from everything else with much detail. The story is told chronologically. There are rare moments when it go to flashbacks. Those are the times when Pip reflects on his actions.

Infatuation is an experience that one can learn from and a desire that one hopes to achieve. This emotion can lead to one having true passion for whatever they seek instead of having the false obsession. It also provides an experience for people to grow and learn about what kind of qualities and morals they cherish and what kind of people they like to spend time with. Dickens s style of writing relates to his theme on infatuation by displaying emotional effects that deal with subtle touches that add more of an effect. Infatuation is therefore a tool to the overall growth and development of a human being. It leads one to discover his feelings, morals, and ultimately, love.