Great Expectations Research Paper

Angela Sebastiano
English 1020
Carolyn Woodward
April 25, 2012
The Great Changes of Pip According to the Online Writing Lab for Roane State Community College, the definition of a dynamic character is, “a character that changes in some important way.” In the novel Great Expectations, the protagonist, Pip, is an excellent example of a dynamic character. From childhood to adulthood, Pip changes in several ways. Not only is Pip evolving from a child to an adult, Pip changes just about every aspect of himself. He is continuously changing his personality, friendships, and even clothing style changes drastically. Pip is a dynamic character that experiences changes within himself and changes within his personal relationships throughout Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. The most noticeable change in the character Pip is his personality. Pip is an orphan being raised by his sister an her husband Joe. Pip's upbringing molds his personality into a humble, caring, and loyal child. These characteristics can be seen in the way Pip treats the convict in the beginning of the novel. These likeable characteristics were what inspired the convict to become Pip's benefactor later in life. Ironically, Pip's reward of money and status changes Pip's personality into something entirely different. As a young adult becoming a gentleman, Pip scarcely shows any sign of being humble, caring, and loyal. Instead, Pip becomes superficial, pompous, and selfish due to his newly found status and wealth. This change in Pip is best revealed in his relationship to Joe Gargery. Pip's personality begins to change again after he losses his status and wealth. He realizes the error of his ways and regrets the way he treated other people, especially Joe and Biddy. From a shallow self-absorbed young man, Pip transforms back into the caring, humble, and loyal person he was as a child. The changes in Pip are made apparent while Pip is recovering from an illness. Joe takes in Pip until he is health again. Instead of Pip being ashamed of being around Joe, Pip is ashamed of looking down on Joe in the past. For the remainder of the novel Pip continues to be a caring, humble, and loyal person. The most important change in Pip is his great expectations. Pip's expectations for himself greatly change throughout the novel. As a child, Pip's only expectation is to follow in Joe's footsteps and become a blacksmith. These expectations change after meeting Miss Havisham and Estella. Pip is exposed to the upper class society and becomes ashamed of his humble upbringing. From this point on, Pip's sole desire is to become a gentleman so that he can someday marry Estella. As a child, Pip realizes this is merely wishful thinking and that he his destined to become a humble blacksmith, unworthy of Estella's love. When Pip discovers he has a secret benefactor, his fantasies start to become a reality. Pip is sent to London to pursue the great expectations of becoming a gentleman. Pip secretly believed his benefactor was Miss Havisham and that she was priming him to one day wed Estella. By this point in the novel, marrying Estella is Pips biggest dream and greatest expectations of himself. When it was revealed to Pip that Abel Magwitch was his true benefactor, Pip's greatest expectation for himself was shattered. Not only did Pip refuse any further money from Magwitch, eventually leading to his loss of status and wealth, but Pip's expectations of marrying Estella were crushed as well. Due to the changes in Pip's expectations of himself throughout his life, Pip's thoughts on marriage changed as well. For much of Pip's life he wanted to marry no one other than Estella. As stated before, Pip's main reasons for wanting to become a gentleman were to impress Estella and marry her. When Pip's dreams are shattered due to discovering Miss Havisham was not his benefactor, Pip was forced to give up all hopes of marrying Estella. Eventually, this would cause Pip to pursue other marriage

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