Table of ContentsMotivationChange of ExpectationsDreams That Foreshadow Pip's FailureDreams That Reinforce Pip's Misery and FearClosing ThoughtsWorks Cited“Tell me about your dreams for a while and I will tell you will say what you really look like. Written by ER Pfaff in 1868, this proverb views dreams as authentic manifestations of an individual's identity and character. He draws two conclusions: 1) dreams are a very accurate measure of character 2) a stranger can know more about an individual's character through the interpretation of his dreams than he can know about himself . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The proverb goes so far as to suggest that an individual's dreams are the most revealing measure of personality, more revealing than actual life events, than voluntary daydreams, than conversations with others, or than any other conventional means of judging character. “What you are really like” is discerned more accurately by the content, problems, desires, recurring themes, and other aspects of an individual's dreams than by any other attempt to judge his or her character. This proverb also implicitly assumes that an individual's personal opinion of their own character is biased and erroneous, and that a more accurate representation of character is constructed from an external interpretation of dreams. Written eight years before ER Pfaff's proverb, Great Expectations is filled with the character's meaningful dreams that highlight the social work that Charles Dickens aimed to achieve. In an attempt to shatter the "great expectations" of wealth and class in the Victorian era, Dickens constructs in Pip a fallible protagonist whose actions and aspirations are expected of a man in a society, but whose dreams reveal his guilt and social problems. that underlie these expectations.MotivationDickens's motivation for examining the expectations of young people and men is due in large part to the differences in lifestyle between the 'lower orders', the middle class and the aristocracy. Of the disparate conditions between the classes, the author of Victorian People and Ideas, Richard Altick, writes: “There were many reasons for discontent. At a time when millions of their compatriots were barely surviving, great families sunk fortunes building majestic Gothic mansions or adding wings. (21) Thus, widespread physical construction among the upper class coincided with widespread social destruction among the lower class. Owners exploited their workers, taking advantage of political policies that allowed very cheap labor to amass fortunes. Laborers were certainly exploited as agricultural laborers, but literary attempts to challenge the exploitation of the lower class began in earnest with the dawn of factory work. Atlick states: “However miserable they [agrarian working conditions] were, it was not their condition but that of the workers caught in the traps of industrialism that awakened the social conscience of the early Victorian era. » Great Expectations was written in the second half of the 19th century, at a time when the agrarian or agricultural economy had transformed into an industrial economy, leading to significant exploitation and abuse of factory workers. the differences lay in the emotional heartache and feelings of failure felt by those born into the lower classes. Pip, born into the lower middle class, serves as Dickens' social guinea pig. He is the characterwho has the experience that illustrates Dickens' purpose in writing the novel. He wants to become a gentleman, he believes that to do so he must be rich, and his quest to achieve wealth ultimately teaches him the lesson of Dickens. Pip has "great expectations": he will be able to break down the barriers that prevent social mobility, marry Estella, amass a fortune, advance in social class, and ultimately become a gentleman. However, this fairy tale, happily ever after trajectory is not achieved. Shifting Expectations Dickens's dynamic characterization of Pip serves as a vehicle to promote a change in societal expectations. Dickens's initial characterization of Pip is entirely consistent with the prevailing aspirations of the nobility in the Victorian era. Once again, he wants to be rich and he wants to be considered a gentleman, two seemingly inseparable notions. Yet although Pip decides to pursue niceness, Dickens's use of Pip's highly critical and very confused first-person narrative suggests that there is something wrong with Pip's notions of niceness and, ultimately, in society. Returning home and meeting Joe and Biddy, he says: “I never could have believed it without experience, but as Joe and Biddy became more comfortable again, I became quite gloomy. Dissatisfied with my fortune, of course, I could not be; but it is possible that I was, without really knowing it, dissatisfied with myself. Dickens's uncertainty regarding notions of gentility in society parallels Pip's uncertainty about his position in society. One point that Dickens clearly makes in this passage is that there is no direct correlation between wealth and happiness. Pip, seemingly on track to amass a fortune, is in fact "dark." Joe and Biddy, members of the lower middle class, also appear in “joyful ease.” What then is the ultimate end, wealth or happiness? For Dickens, wealth is only a means to the end of happiness, but as the example of Joe and Biddy shows, wealth is certainly not a prerequisite for happiness. Dickens also suggests through this passage that societal assumptions are often proven wrong through experience. Pip's societal assumption is that wealth and class are the conditions for nobility. Dickens's use of hindsight illustrates that Pip's, and ultimately society's, hypothesis is wrong. Pip admits that "it is possible that I was, without really knowing it, dissatisfied with myself." Through Pip's more experienced and mature perspective in his older years, Dickens describes regret in Pip as a way of suggesting that society's "great expectations" are not so great after all. There is therefore a common thread between Pip's inexperienced and immature aspirations and society's equally skewed view of gentility. It can be said that Pip, in his youth, represents the Victorian model of nobility, directly linked to wealth and social class, of which Dickens did not approve. However, Pip, in his older years, realizes that nobility can be achieved without wealth, a realization that Dickens ultimately strives to convey to society. From dreams that foreshadow Pip's failure in class society to that of nobility of character and respect for other beings, we can then affirm that Dickens uses Pip's dreams as a tool to foreshadow the end of his quest for wealth and a tool to suggest a problem in Pip's and, ultimately, society's expectations. As we will soon see, Pip's life choices and dreams often conflict with each other in theas his life choices often adhere to the societal ideal of nobility, but his dreams seem to promote Dickensian new expectations of gentlemen. critical nature and also the feeling of impending threatening circumstances in one of Pip's early dreams: If I slept at all that night, it was only to imagine myself drifting down the river during a strong tide spring, towards the Hulks; a ghostly pirate calling to me through a trumpet stand, as I passed the gallows, that I had better come ashore and hang there at once, and not delay. (15) This passage occurs when Pip is planning to rob Mrs. Joe's cabinet the next day. Pip's difficulty falling asleep indicates that his conscience is bothering him. Throughout the novel, particularly in this passage, Dickens uses Pip's highly critical conscience as a means of suggesting a sense of having made a mistake. About this passage, Claire Slagter, author of the article "Pip's Dreams of Great Expectations", writes: "Fear, guilt and the certainty of retaliation are already revealed in this dream as the distinctive characteristics of the personality of Pip, marked, as does the mature Pip. remarks when considering his childhood, by a sort of “cowardice” and “moral timidity”. (180) For Dickens, Pip's perceived wrongdoing is symbolic of a social conscience regarding kindness. Just as Pip has an inner feeling that there is something wrong with his "high expectations", society should also realize the impropriety and injustice regarding his "high expectations" at home. respect of gentlemen. This nightmare of Pip's is extremely gloomy; Even at such a young age, Pip subconsciously dreams that he will be hanged. Thus, Pip, Dickens' social guinea pig, feels the guilt that Dickens expects society to feel because of its prevailing belief that only rich men can be gentlemen. Pip's dreams throughout the novel conflict with his "great expectations." Dickens uses Pip's conscious actions and aspirations as a representation of the "great expectations" of goodness, and on the other hand he constructs Pip's unconscious thoughts or dreams to project guilt, fear and wrongdoing onto Pip and ultimately on society for misinterpretation. the concept of the gentleman. In The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, a famous psychologist named Radestock is quoted as saying: “Often the dream reveals to us what we do not want to admit to ourselves and that we are wrong to call it a liar and a deceiver. » (60) This reinforces the deep psychological meaning of dreams and the power of the unconscious, and it is very consistent with Pip's circumstances. Pip is determined to get rich and become a gentleman; he has “high expectations” of himself. However, Dickens imbues Pip's dreams with what Pip "does not want to admit": that he could have been more easily and more effectively a true gentleman if he had maintained his relationship with Joe and Biddy, if he had acted with kindness and developed a noble character like Joe, and abandoned his misguided quest for wealth. To foreshadow Pip's error in judgment, Dickens gives Pip a bizarre dream that seems very disconnected from reality, as disconnected from reality as Pip will be in London. Pip recounts his dream: "All night, in my interrupted sleep, there were coaches going to the wrong places instead of going to London, and having in their tracks, sometimes dogs, sometimes cats, sometimes pigs , sometimes men, - never horses. The fantastic failures of travel kept me busy until daybreak and the birds sang. »(159) As Pip's last night at home,this dream foreshadows the fate of his next journey. First, the fact that his sleep is interrupted means that he is uncomfortable with his upcoming journey, that he feels some trepidation about leaving Joe and Biddy in search of nobility. Next, Dickens foreshadows the complexity and uncertainty of Pip's journey: "the coaches... are going to the wrong place rather than to London" suggests that Pip has no control over the destination of his journey. Although he intends to travel to London, the coach, a simple object without a rational mind or determined direction, has the power to dictate the journey. Dickens's purpose in denying Pip control of his mission is to suggest that Pip's quest, to become a wealthy gentleman after being born into a lower middle class society, is not likely and ultimately as uncontrollable as the journey into coach in his dream. Dickens further suggests that Pip has no control over his journey by having many different animals, but "never horses" driving the coach. The images that Dickens illustrates with these animals emphasize the struggle. We cannot imagine a dog, a cat, a pig or even a man driving a carriage as fluidly as a horse. By illustrating the struggle, Dickens perhaps foreshadows the struggle that Pip will soon encounter in his quest. Furthermore, the "fantastic failures of journeys" that Pip dreamed of are a warning from Dickens that Pip's journey will also be a fantastic failure. Freud's theory of dreams as wish fulfillment resonates well with this bizarre dream of Pip's. According to Freud, “the dream cannot be compared to the random resonance of a musical instrument struck not by the hand of a musician but by the impact of an external force; it is neither meaningless nor absurd… it is a fully valid psychic phenomenon, in fact the fulfillment of a wish. (98) Freud goes on to describe that every time he eats something salty before bed, he dreams of quenching his thirst with a drink until he wakes up. Similarly, it could be argued that Dickens intended Pip's dream to be interpreted as the fulfillment of a wish. In the dream, the coach does not arrive in London. Although Pip seems to aspire to live up to society's high expectations of nobility, he is also very reluctant to leave the comfort of his home, particularly the comfort of his well-established relationships with Joe and Biddy. Therefore, it could be argued that Dickens' intention is to construct in Pip a character who unconsciously feels obligated to stay with Joe and Biddy in the lower middle class, but who consciously desires wealth, high class society and nobility due to the extreme social pressure, or "high expectations" characteristic of the Victorian era. Thus, Pip's dream manifests the fulfillment of his inner wishes, but ultimately, his state of consciousness, strongly influenced by society's expectations, prevails over his dream and he pursues society's wishes: wealth, high class society, social approval and ultimately nobility Pip's misery and fearOnce Pip becomes acquainted with London. , his dreams no longer foreshadow the future, but instead dwell on the misery of his situation and the anxiety he feels After returning from the theater with Herbert Pocket, Pip says: "After all, I went to bed. miserably, I thought miserably of Estella and miserably dreamed that my expectations were all canceled. » (258) Before Pip arrived in London, Dickens used his dreams to foreshadow the series of unfortunate events he would face. Once immersed in London, Dickens reinforces the idea of ​​misery through Pip's dreams, no longer as a simple threat, but rather as a reality. The repetition of theThe misery that Dickens projects onto Pip, both in his conscious thoughts just before sleeping and in his unconscious dreams while sleeping, testifies to the pervasiveness of Pip's despair. In moments of conscious wakefulness and in moments of unconscious sleep, Pip cannot help but dwell on the misery of his state. Yet in describing Pip in this way, Dickens carefully avoids mixing Pip's conscious ideas about kindness with the subconscious doubts about genteel expectations that Pip experiences in his dreams. . Before Pip falls asleep, he realizes that he is unhappy and that the prospect of marrying Estella is diminishing. However, it is not until Pip falls asleep that he dreams that his "expectations have all been canceled." This has social significance. Keeping in mind that Pip serves as Dickens' cultural guinea pig, as he learns through experience that nobility is not directly linked to wealth, Pip's realization that his "expectations have all been overturned » can only occur unconsciously in a dream. In doing so, Dickens suggests that, subconsciously, society may know that a gentleman need not be rich. Consciously, however, it is very difficult at this point for Pip, and ultimately for society, to accept this new concept. Subconsciously, there is no hope for Pip and, ultimately, for society; his dream suggests no sign of hope, the “expectations” he so desperately hoped he would live up to “being quashed.” Pip's state of consciousness also seems hopeless and filled with misery, but Dickens interrupts his depressed state with a letter from Estella which gives a false sense of hope. Of the letter, Pip comments: "It had no fixed beginning, like Dear Mr. Pip, or Dear Pip, or Dear Sir, or Dear Anything. » (258) This reflects the feeling of haste and lack of attention on Estella's part. Dickens wants to be clear that Estella has little or no expected affection, as becomes even more evident in the tone of the letter: I came to London the day after tomorrow by the noon coach. I think it was settled, should you meet me? At any rate, Miss Havisham has this impression, and I write in obedience to it. She sends you her respects. The letter is short, impersonal and coldly direct. Estella makes it clear she had nothing to do with arranging a meeting with Pip, saying she "believed it had been sorted out" by someone else and claiming she was just meeting Pip "in obedience" to Miss Havisham's wishes, denying any personal interest. at the meeting. However, Pip is so happy to hear from her that he ignores the fact that she has no intention of marrying him. Thus, Dickens creates a situation in which Pip's dreams more accurately depict his emotional state—one of misery and regret—than a life event that simply provides an extremely temporary false sense of hope. Once again, there appears to be hope for Pip in his conscious waking hours, but there is little or no suggestion of hope in his involuntary, subconscious dreams. The dreams that Pip has in London are therefore tools that Dickens uses to accurately describe Pip's plight. of Pip and society. While events in Pip's life sometimes seem to be going in the right direction, e.g. London, the misery, fear, anxiety, guilt and other negative feelings that permeate his dreams remind him that he is indeed going in the wrong direction, that his quest for nobility is misguided. Dickens provides glimpses of hope in Pip's conscious life, but the doom that prevails in his dreams suggests that his aspirations will not be realized and that his approach is problematic. Reminding that Pip is a guinea pig. 1988.