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Dramatic Irony
Book 1, Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Estella and Biddy:
Dickens sets up Estella Havisham, a beautiful, wealthy, and heartless girl, and Biddy, a plain, poor, and loving one, as foils to each other. They are also competing love interests for Pip Pirrip in Great Expectations. Pip struggles to choose which one to devote himself to, as he explains to the reader in Chapter 17:
And now, because my mind was not confused enough before, I complicated its confusion fifty thousand-fold, by having states and seasons when I was clear that Biddy was immeasurably better than Estella. [...] At those times, I would decide [...] to keep company with Biddy—when all in a moment some confounding remembrance of the Havisham days would fall upon me, like a destructive missile, and scatter my wits again.
The two characters are fundamentally opposed in all aspects of their appearance and character, aside from their intelligence and their apparent lack of living parents. Estella's angelic beauty is marred by her "indifference" and "contempt," as Pip observes in various different situations throughout the book. Biddy, though plain, is kind, moral, and loving. She represents the positive side of Pip's childhood and reminds him of the importance of good values, as he mentions in Chapter 17:
Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy today and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine.
Dickens describes Biddy here as being completely unselfish and compassionate, getting "no pleasure" at all from hurting others. However, she is also from an unrefined and poor background, and has no pretensions or "great expectations." Being with her would interrupt Pip's arc of development toward his own "great expectations," the driving force of the novel. Estella, another (purported) orphan who later describes herself as having "no heart," is quite the opposite. Although her upbringing as a manipulator is Miss Havisham's doing, she is undoubtedly unkind, snobbish, manipulative, and cruel right up until the final pages of the novel. Pip's love for her is initially only to do with her beauty and his ambition; he loves her simply, as he says in the same passage:
because I found her irresistible. [...] I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.
Dickens describes Pip's feelings for Estella as a list of negations because that confused clump of contradictions reflects his feelings. He knows he should be "against" all aspects of her, but he cannot be, as she is so beautiful and "irresistible." Biddy, by contrast, is physically plain but so good that she still seems "extraordinary" to Pip, who tells her he "wishes he could fall in love with her" later in the same chapter. Pip cannot be "against" Biddy, but still cannot love her.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Estella and Biddy:
Dickens sets up Estella Havisham, a beautiful, wealthy, and heartless girl, and Biddy, a plain, poor, and loving one, as foils to each other. They are also competing love interests for Pip Pirrip in Great Expectations. Pip struggles to choose which one to devote himself to, as he explains to the reader in Chapter 17:
And now, because my mind was not confused enough before, I complicated its confusion fifty thousand-fold, by having states and seasons when I was clear that Biddy was immeasurably better than Estella. [...] At those times, I would decide [...] to keep company with Biddy—when all in a moment some confounding remembrance of the Havisham days would fall upon me, like a destructive missile, and scatter my wits again.
The two characters are fundamentally opposed in all aspects of their appearance and character, aside from their intelligence and their apparent lack of living parents. Estella's angelic beauty is marred by her "indifference" and "contempt," as Pip observes in various different situations throughout the book. Biddy, though plain, is kind, moral, and loving. She represents the positive side of Pip's childhood and reminds him of the importance of good values, as he mentions in Chapter 17:
Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy today and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine.
Dickens describes Biddy here as being completely unselfish and compassionate, getting "no pleasure" at all from hurting others. However, she is also from an unrefined and poor background, and has no pretensions or "great expectations." Being with her would interrupt Pip's arc of development toward his own "great expectations," the driving force of the novel. Estella, another (purported) orphan who later describes herself as having "no heart," is quite the opposite. Although her upbringing as a manipulator is Miss Havisham's doing, she is undoubtedly unkind, snobbish, manipulative, and cruel right up until the final pages of the novel. Pip's love for her is initially only to do with her beauty and his ambition; he loves her simply, as he says in the same passage:
because I found her irresistible. [...] I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.
Dickens describes Pip's feelings for Estella as a list of negations because that confused clump of contradictions reflects his feelings. He knows he should be "against" all aspects of her, but he cannot be, as she is so beautiful and "irresistible." Biddy, by contrast, is physically plain but so good that she still seems "extraordinary" to Pip, who tells her he "wishes he could fall in love with her" later in the same chapter. Pip cannot be "against" Biddy, but still cannot love her.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 29
Explanation and Analysis—Estella and Biddy:
Dickens sets up Estella Havisham, a beautiful, wealthy, and heartless girl, and Biddy, a plain, poor, and loving one, as foils to each other. They are also competing love interests for Pip Pirrip in Great Expectations. Pip struggles to choose which one to devote himself to, as he explains to the reader in Chapter 17:
And now, because my mind was not confused enough before, I complicated its confusion fifty thousand-fold, by having states and seasons when I was clear that Biddy was immeasurably better than Estella. [...] At those times, I would decide [...] to keep company with Biddy—when all in a moment some confounding remembrance of the Havisham days would fall upon me, like a destructive missile, and scatter my wits again.
The two characters are fundamentally opposed in all aspects of their appearance and character, aside from their intelligence and their apparent lack of living parents. Estella's angelic beauty is marred by her "indifference" and "contempt," as Pip observes in various different situations throughout the book. Biddy, though plain, is kind, moral, and loving. She represents the positive side of Pip's childhood and reminds him of the importance of good values, as he mentions in Chapter 17:
Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy today and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine.
Dickens describes Biddy here as being completely unselfish and compassionate, getting "no pleasure" at all from hurting others. However, she is also from an unrefined and poor background, and has no pretensions or "great expectations." Being with her would interrupt Pip's arc of development toward his own "great expectations," the driving force of the novel. Estella, another (purported) orphan who later describes herself as having "no heart," is quite the opposite. Although her upbringing as a manipulator is Miss Havisham's doing, she is undoubtedly unkind, snobbish, manipulative, and cruel right up until the final pages of the novel. Pip's love for her is initially only to do with her beauty and his ambition; he loves her simply, as he says in the same passage:
because I found her irresistible. [...] I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.
Dickens describes Pip's feelings for Estella as a list of negations because that confused clump of contradictions reflects his feelings. He knows he should be "against" all aspects of her, but he cannot be, as she is so beautiful and "irresistible." Biddy, by contrast, is physically plain but so good that she still seems "extraordinary" to Pip, who tells her he "wishes he could fall in love with her" later in the same chapter. Pip cannot be "against" Biddy, but still cannot love her.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Doubles :
Many critics have noted that Great Expectations is filled with the motif of doubles: characters who mirror each other in a way that allows the reader to note similarity and difference easily. These symmetrical pairs act as foils for each other and for the developing aspects of Pip's character. Each pair also contains a strong element of irony, as the novel's commentary on class structure and good behavior plays out in relation to them.
Magwitch/Provis and Compeyson are both criminals, and yet only one is really morally corrupt. Provis stole for sustenance and fell into a life of crime by necessity, and later proves himself to be a thoughtful and caring person. Compeyson, however, is a violent, calculating thug, as Provis explains to Pip in chapter 43:
All sorts of traps as Compeyson could set with his head, and keep his own legs out of and get the profits from and let another man in for, was Compeyson’s business. He’d no more heart than a iron file, he was as cold as death, and he had the head of the Devil afore mentioned.
Dickens sets up a comparison here between a "good" criminal with an essentially kind heart (Provis), and a "bad" criminal with "traps" in him. While Provis is warm, especially later in the book, Compeyson is "cold as death," and uses his intelligence to con and harm people.
Another obvious double is that of Mrs. Joe Gargery and Miss Havisham. These women are both abusive parental figures who employ opposing techniques to change the behavior of their charges. Mrs Joe raises Pip "by hand" and shames him publicly to make him "improve." Miss Havisham, however, openly wants Estella to worsen and uses her influence to make Estella cruel and irresistible in equal measure, as Havisham says in Chapter 29:
I adopted her to be loved. I bred her and educated her, to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!
It might be said, given the above statement, that while Mrs. Joe raises Pip "by hand" to try and correct his faults, Miss Havisham in having mentally "bred" Estella "to be loved" has raised her to amplify her faults. Both maternal figures employ differing forms of cruelty, producing different results.
Estella and Biddy also act as foils for one another, as Estella is beautiful but bad, and Biddy is plain but good. Both of these young women are potential love interests for Pip. Both are apparently orphans, both are clever and perceptive, and both, as the novel later reveals, are from similarly unsophisticated circumstances. Estella starts the novel as an unattainable princess: by the time it ends, the reader knows she is Provis's daughter and she has been "attained" by Pip. Each pair represents two differing aspects of class and gender in Dickens's time.
Related Themes:
Book 3, Chapter 42
Explanation and Analysis—Doubles :
Many critics have noted that Great Expectations is filled with the motif of doubles: characters who mirror each other in a way that allows the reader to note similarity and difference easily. These symmetrical pairs act as foils for each other and for the developing aspects of Pip's character. Each pair also contains a strong element of irony, as the novel's commentary on class structure and good behavior plays out in relation to them.
Magwitch/Provis and Compeyson are both criminals, and yet only one is really morally corrupt. Provis stole for sustenance and fell into a life of crime by necessity, and later proves himself to be a thoughtful and caring person. Compeyson, however, is a violent, calculating thug, as Provis explains to Pip in chapter 43:
All sorts of traps as Compeyson could set with his head, and keep his own legs out of and get the profits from and let another man in for, was Compeyson’s business. He’d no more heart than a iron file, he was as cold as death, and he had the head of the Devil afore mentioned.
Dickens sets up a comparison here between a "good" criminal with an essentially kind heart (Provis), and a "bad" criminal with "traps" in him. While Provis is warm, especially later in the book, Compeyson is "cold as death," and uses his intelligence to con and harm people.
Another obvious double is that of Mrs. Joe Gargery and Miss Havisham. These women are both abusive parental figures who employ opposing techniques to change the behavior of their charges. Mrs Joe raises Pip "by hand" and shames him publicly to make him "improve." Miss Havisham, however, openly wants Estella to worsen and uses her influence to make Estella cruel and irresistible in equal measure, as Havisham says in Chapter 29:
I adopted her to be loved. I bred her and educated her, to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!
It might be said, given the above statement, that while Mrs. Joe raises Pip "by hand" to try and correct his faults, Miss Havisham in having mentally "bred" Estella "to be loved" has raised her to amplify her faults. Both maternal figures employ differing forms of cruelty, producing different results.
Estella and Biddy also act as foils for one another, as Estella is beautiful but bad, and Biddy is plain but good. Both of these young women are potential love interests for Pip. Both are apparently orphans, both are clever and perceptive, and both, as the novel later reveals, are from similarly unsophisticated circumstances. Estella starts the novel as an unattainable princess: by the time it ends, the reader knows she is Provis's daughter and she has been "attained" by Pip. Each pair represents two differing aspects of class and gender in Dickens's time.
Related Themes:
