What makes great expectations a bildungsroman

It is because it is a novel about the maturation both physically and psychologically of the main character Pip. The entire novel is based round the development of Pip Philip Pirrip , and his relationships with the other characters. From his humble beginnings as an orphan brought up by his sister and her husband the blacksmith Joe Gargery to his development into a young gentleman and finally to his discovery of what is really valuable in life, it constantly traces his moral and physical development.

Central to this is Pip's mistaken belief that his secret benefactor is Miss Havisham when in fact it is Abel Magwitch the convict he helps on the marshes. This misconception on Pip's behalf is crucial because it shows how he finds true happiness and contentment. Plucked from the hardship of his indenture to Joe by Jaggers, Miss Havisham's lawyer, Pip suddenly finds himself extremely wealthy and a young gentleman.

In doing so he becomes a snob and is ashamed of his humble roots. He is taken aback when he finds who his real benefactor is, but in attempting to save Magwitch he realises where real values such as loyalty, sincerity and love are to be found. The fact that he loses all his wealth to the Crown now means nothing. The experiences that Pip has as a young boy are important in his maturation into young adulthood. These elements are crucial to the structure and development of Great Expectations: Pip's maturation and development from child to man are important characteristics of the genre to which Great Expectations belongs.

In structure, Pip's story, Great Expectations, is a Bildungsroman , a novel of development. The Bildungsroman traces the development of a protagonist from his early beginnings--from his education to his first venture into the big city--following his experiences there, and his ultimate self-knowledge and maturation. Upon the further examination of the characteristics of the Bildungsroman as presented here it is clear that Great Expectations, in part, conforms to the general characteristics of the English Bildungsroman.

However, there are aspects of this genre from which Dickens departs in Great Expectations. It is these departures that speak to what is most important in Pip's development, what ultimately ma Dickens believed that basic moral values such as generosity and kindness were to be elevated; that the material world was irrelevant to a man's worth. Dickens still creates a novel of development - a Bildungsroman - but the fact that Pip's development is complete only in Dickens' rebuff of many of the traditional traits of the Bildungsroman shows what Dickens believed truly made a gentleman: goodness.

Works Cited Buckley, Jerome Hamilton. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Janice Carlisle. Boston: Bedford, Get Access. Powerful Essays. Read More. Good Essays. The Childhood of Charles Dickens. Better Essays. Best Essays. The Bildungsroman Genre. The English Bildungsroman. Joe, looms large even after her assault. Curiously, despite Pip's utter misery at her hands, he ends up espousing her biases about money and respect. When she instills these ideas in him, he cannot maintain any self-respect.

By encouraging Pip to prostitute himself to Miss Havisham, Mrs. Joe not only pushes him out of his home, but pushes him into a materialistic mindset. Estella takes over from there, switching to the role of would-be lover instead of would-be mother. Estella is but one of many great disappointments for Pip. He desires her above all else, Miss Havisham leads him to believe that he will have her, she eventually marries Drummle.

He desperately wants to become a gentleman, Jaggers magically shows up to proclaim his fortune, he discovers that a murderer has been his benefactor. He forsakes Biddy for being too provincial, at his sister's funeral he chides her for insinuating that he might not return as often as he promises, and when he finally sees the error of his ways and wants to make amends, she is newly wedded to Joe.

Each of these events is due to a misunderstanding on Pip's part about the nature of society: that money is the best indicator of virtue. Even as Pip witnesses Jaggers in court, attempting nothing short of raw intimidation, he feels nothing but respect for the power Jaggers wields.

This blindness leads Pip to misinterpret the behavior of other characters so often that it borders on delusion. Estella tells him over and over again that he should not become attached to her, yet he believes in the love myth that Miss Havisham feeds him. Jaggers also warns him against speculation with regard to his patron, and that Pip should on no account expect hints of any sort from Jaggers.

Pip then twists his interpretation of Jaggers' gestures in such a way as to support his sadly mistaken idea that Miss Havisham is his patron.