Great Expectations
There are many common, familiar cliches about illusion versus truth. "All that glitters is not gold" and "Things are seldom what they seem" are the most universal hackneyed phrases, but they do not cover entirely every aspect of appearance versus reality. In Charles Dickens' novel, , there are several differences between the illusion and the truth. The appearance of certain things is often detrimental to the outcomes of characters when the reality of a situation is revealed. These illusions are revealed through Pip, a lower class boy caught in the struggle of the social classes of 19th century England. Throughout the book, Charles Dickens emphasizes the difference between appearance and ...
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to London and become a gentleman. Pip assumed that Ms. Havisham, Estella's adoptive mother, was the benefactress. "My dream was out; my wild fancy was surpassed by sober reality; Miss Havisham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale." (154) This was the reality that Pip had invented for himself, although it was really just a misimpression that his mind had created for himself. Because he thought that Ms. Havisham was his benefactress, Pip anticipated that Estella was meant for him. "I was painting brilliant pictures of her plans for me. She had adopted Estella, and had as good as adopted me, and it could not fail to be her intention to bring us together. She reserved it for me to restore the desolate house, admit the sunshine into the dark rooms, set the clocks a-going and the cold hearths a-blazing, tear down the cobwebs, destroy the vermin, -- in short, do all the shining deeds of the young knight of romance, and marry the princess.... I had made up a rich attractive mystery, ...
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were to turn Pip into a gentleman through the use of his money because of a hard lesson that Magwich learned. Magwich had been a poor man and had worked for a rich man named Compeyson. Compeyson had the appearance of a gentleman. "He set up fur a gentleman, this Compeyson, and he'd been to a public boarding-school and had learning. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a dab at the ways of gentlefolks. He was good-looking too... but he'd no more heart than an iron file, he was as cold as death, and he had the head of the devil afore mentioned. " (372-3) Compeyson's appearance helped him in a case against him and Magwich. Compeyson said a very divulging quote to Magwich: "To judge from ...
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Great Expectations. (2006, July 2). Retrieved November 28, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Great-Expectations/48510
"Great Expectations." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 2 Jul. 2006. Web. 28 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Great-Expectations/48510>
"Great Expectations." Essayworld.com. July 2, 2006. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Great-Expectations/48510.
"Great Expectations." Essayworld.com. July 2, 2006. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Great-Expectations/48510.
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