Social commentary Essay Example for Free

Social commentary Essay Dickens is Famous for his dramatic presentation of character and using them as a device for social commentary. Dickens is famous for his ability to craft complex plots and striking characters that capture the paranoia of English Society. In the novels such as A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, Dickens uses characters such as Scrooge and Bill Sykes, as a device for social commentary; Scrooge shows the audience that no amount of money can buy happiness or true friends. Whilst Bill Sykes character enforces the moral message that crime does not pay and no one can escape their punishment, no matter who they are. Great Expectations, one of Dickenss most renowned novels, features the unforgettable character Miss Havisham and uses her as a window into the Victorian era, and stiff class system. In this essay I am going to be analysing how Dickenss uses Miss Havisham for the above purpose, and why he is so successful in doing so. Dickens grew up in Victorian England, taking his inspiration from the people and places he lived side by side with. The Victorian era was characterised by rapid change and developments in nearly every sphere, but it was also known as a time of suffering, and of conflict amongst the social classes. Dickens grew up in a world dictated by which class you belonged. Victorian Society boiled down to three major classes, the working class, the middle class and the all powerful upper class to which Great Expectations Miss Havisham belonged. If like Miss Havisham, a Victorian woman belonged to the upper class, her life was control: marry early to a gentleman, of whom her family approved; have as many children as they could afford and devote themselves to the up keeping of their home whilst still keeping themselves perfectly presentable and well mannered. These were the things an upper class Victorian woman lived to accomplish, but as Great Expectation tells us Miss Havisham never got the chance to fulfil hers or societys Great Expectations. As a direct result of not meeting those expectations, were told how Miss Havisham choose to stop her life, and live if you can call it living in the past, constantly replaying the terrible pain she suffered the day her heart was broken and dreams destroyed. The first time Miss Havisham is mentioned in the novel, Dickens displays great skill, as he shadows everything were told about her in mystery and doubt; making the reader very curious and more closely examine, the details revealed about her character. Pip narrates from his own memory everything he has heard about Miss Havisham, were told that she is an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclucusion. The house can be seen as a metaphor for Miss Havisham herself, supporting the rumours about her character. The short phrase barricaded against robbers, metaphorically describes Miss Havisham decision to lock herself, her love and memories in Satis house. Along with Dickens later description of the house being barred, he creates the image that Miss Havishams home is like a prison built to keep her in, and intervention out, an image Dickens enforces throughout the novel. Its walls, protecting her against thieves who dont necessarily want to steal her belongings, but her heart, and only light, Estella. Whilst Pip is journeying up to Satis house with Estella the atmosphere is created by Dickens use of Pip senses and the effect of the weather upon them. Cold wind seemed to grow colder there, than outside the gate, and it made a shrill noise in howling in and out at the open sides of the brewery, like the noise of wind in the rigging of a ship at sea. The fact Dickens describes this as Pip passes through a gate, gives the impression that he has stepped through an invisible barrier/doorway into another world, Miss Havishams world; a place where things are all the more terrible, bitter and dangerous. This sentence uses a young boys hearing, sensitivity and imagination to begin to describe how things are in a land controlled by Miss Havisham. Dickens idea of decreasing the temperature when Pip steps through the barrier gives the impression of Miss Havishams world being frozen, as her heart is, stuck in winters grasp. Dickens later uses the word winter and the connotations with death it carries to symbolically show how Miss Havisham is near to death; an example of this is The old wintry branches, a quota in which Dickens uses a metaphor to show how Miss Havisham is aging, becoming more cold, bare and therefore closer to death. The brewerys history is also questioned by Pip, and what we learn can be linked to Miss Havisham and the man who broke her heart, Compeyson. Estella tells us Better not try to brew beer there now, or it would turn out sour, Not that anybody means to try , for thats all done with, and it will stand as idle as it is, till it falls. The beer describes Miss Havishams and Compeyson relationship, the fact it is now sour- can be related to the bitterness Miss Havisham feels towards not only Compeyson, but all men. It was Compeyson after all who persuaded Miss Havisham to buy it from her brother, and wished to hold and manage it all. So the fact Miss Havisham leaves it alone to fall, could show how she wants nothing to do with him or any of his plans; but it could also be taken as a sign that she is still waiting for him to return, keeping herself and the brewery untouched by anyone, but all the time growing more and more sour. Miss Havisham is a living ghost, and her grotesque appearance and habits make her both fascinating and repulsive. In the first few lines of Pips first face to face encounter with Miss Havisham, Dickens uses a variety of linguistic devices to really capture the readers imagination. He repeatedly uses the word white to describe Miss Havisham, her bridal gown and trinkets around her; Dickens uses white as a symbolic reference to her age. She was dressed in rich materials satins, and lace, and silks all of white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Our narrator also notices how Miss Havisham is in an unready state, She had not quite finished dressing, for she had, but one shoe on the other was on the table near her hand her veil was but half arranged. This is an insight into Miss Havishams state of mind; she has kept herself in a condition of un-readiness, entombing her being in her own personal limbo. Half living and existing and her other side scattered around her.