Families within great expectations Essay

The Gargerys can be described as a dysfunctional, sometimes brutal, family although there is some love as well. The violence at the heart of the family derives from Mrs Joe. She is resentful that she has had to take on the burden of her sister’s orphaned son, Pip.  Mrs Joe is the dominant member of the family – unusually for Victorian times. She isn’t afraid of asserting her dominance by beating Pip, and, indeed, Joe either – all the more surprising since he is the local blacksmith. (This adds some humour to the book.) The discipline is fearsome, abusive, random and excessive. She may enjoy punishing Pip and ‘gets the Tickler’ at every opportunity. Pip’s relationship with Mrs. Joe clearly isn’t ideal. Pip depends greatly on his however. Pip is an orphan, and would quite probably be homeless if it wasn’t for her. Pip knows this and that’s why he has put up with his mistreatment/victimisation, timidly†¦ Pip tries to make the best of their relationship, but Mrs. Joe Gargery is too domineering, a fact respected by Pumblechook. She constantly says that she bought Pip by hand, degrading Pip in the process. There is, however, love in the family too – though it passes strictly between Joe and Pip. Joe comforts Pip, warns him when ‘Tickler’ is about, slips him food when Mrs Joe has forbidden it. There is shelter and a sense of correction can be gained as well. However, like every other ‘family’, there are uses of discipline evident.  Pip’s relationship with Joe is a complete contrast. Joe respects Pip and vice versa. He is proud of Pip for he declares Pip is a scholar after Pip successfully wrote and read a letter. During the beginning of the novel Pip idolises Joe however once Pip has achieved Gentleman-hood he becomes ashamed of Joe. This shown by his apprehension when Joe comes to visit him in London. He also deceives him as to his reasons for failing to call on Joe and Biddy on his visits to Satis house. (We feel that Pip is unfair here, however his love for Magwitch makes up for it.) In contrast Joe stays faithful to Pip, and helps Pip recover after he has fallen ill. This touches Pip. It helps him become less snobbish and more mature. Joe’s simplicity and honesty makes him the real gentleman in our and later in Pip’s eyes. The other relationship in this grouping is that of Joe and Mrs. Joe. Mrs. Joe depends of Joe financially, however Joe’s need or even love of Mrs. Joe isn’t shown. Yet he mourns her passing. Joe’s simplicity and honesty are weaknesses in their relationship. In this relationship however, Mrs. Joe doesn’t brutally punish Joe, perhaps because she’s subtly afraid of him fighting back. A normal couple wouldn’t be in this type of predicament. It also helps our sympathy being lost towards Joe instead of Pip.  The narrator (the older Pip) is very unemotional about the whole ordeal. He seems to understate the actions of the group and is somewhat detached. This implies that he is trying to hide the misery he had in his earlier years. Dickens also uses humour to try and deny the pain he suffered. â€Å"I often served her as a connubial missile† – Mrs. Joe enters the room and throws Pip across the room at Joe. It also understates the pain in a sense.  Halfway through Chapter 2 Dickens uses some more understatement.  Mrs. Havisham and Estella are a mysterious pair of characters. During the beginning of the novel they are portrayed as evil. They raise Pip’s expectations to an unrealistic level. Knowing that he should fail and have more misery.  Miss. Havisham can perhaps be described as cold, ruthless, manipulative and masochistic. She wants take revenge on all men for the wrongs that was done to her by one man. She sits in the clothes she should had worn for her wedding and is surrounded by decaying things a darkened solemn room. She uses Estella cruelly as a porn to exact her revenge. She fails to forget the past and seems to constantly remind herself of the pain she apparently endured.  Early on in the play she delights in the way Estella torments Pip and likes to keep her relatives guessing as to whom she will leave her money once she dies. She continues with her plan to use Estella as an instrument of revenge on the entire male sex until later in the novel she comes to realise she has created a monster. She accuses Estella of being hard and ungrateful but Estella says she cannot give love as she wasn’t given any herself. She tries to undo some of harm she has done by helping Pip with his plan for Herbert and she leaves her cousin Matthew a legacy of Pip’s recommendation. She dies distraught with guilt for what she has done for Pip and Estella. Estella can be best described as beautiful but heartless.  In the first stage of the novel, she is a beautiful young girl. She has been brought up as a young lady, but uses her education to talk down to Pip and make him feel inferior. Estella is cruel to Pip yet loyal to Miss Havisham. She is bitter and twisted due to the strange upbringing she has received by Miss. Havisham. Estella does not fully realise that she is being used by the old woman and that she is, herself, little more than an agent for Miss Havisham revenge. Estella has been educated as an accomplished and sophisticated young lady. She warns Pip time and time again that she has no heart and can never love anyone. She tells Pip that he is only one to be so warned and that she fools of the other men. She seems to become tired of this way of life and is almost self-destructive in her determination to marry such a brutal and ill-mannered man as Bently Drummle. Even Mrs. Havisham tries to persuade her. At the end of the Novell, she is a widow and has little property left. Her hard experiences seemed to have softened her, and she implies that she regrets having rejected Pip’s love for her. She is contrite and humble as she confesses that she realises what she threw away when she rejected Pip’s love. She feels that the best she can hope for is that they can be friends. She is too humble to expect more.   As a whole the two are merely colleagues at the beginning to novel. The young Estella is manipulated and mesmerised, yet she is too young to realise, and continues with her life as is was before. However the end of the novel the older Estella shows her real feelings about Miss. Havisham in an emotional scene. The one who Miss. Havisham has brought up to destroy men’s hearts has now destroyed the remains of hers. Miss. Havisham unsuccessfully uses Estella as her proxy and then becomes guilty. This leads to her painful (as if revenge was enacted on her) demise.  The location of this grouping in inside ‘Satis House’. ‘Satis’ meaning ‘enough’ in Latin. This is ironic as Miss. Havisham clearly doesn’t have enough, she isn’t satisfied. There is something missing in Miss. Havisham’s life, marriage. It was shameful for a woman to not be married the Victorian era. This explains Miss. Havisham’s unwillingness to venture out of the house.  If Satis House was to equate to Miss. Havisham, then it can be described as a prison. It stunts Estella’s growth. Estella is trapped inside of Miss. Havisham. She becomes Miss. Havisham.