As Levin states that the development of the story is also influenced by the social milieu, “The relation between literary works and social facts is reciprocal. Literary is not only the effect of social cause, it is also the cause of social itself” (Levin, 1962). So, it is clear that social condition of every age will influence their literary works produced, such as the masterpiece of the Great Novelist Charles Dickens. He tries to capture the social milieu in his age and reflects those visions into novel, Great Expectation. The Great Expectation which was written in 1861 was considered as the greatest novel which captured the parallel condition with the Victorian age, the age when it was made. Before we move on to the topic of discussion, we need to know about the explanation of the key words which build up the topic of discussion, those are Victorian Age and the novel of Charles Dickens’s great Expectation. After knowing the description of those minor topics, then we can relate those minor topics into the major topic to discuss THE INFLUNCE OF VICTORIAN AGE TOWARD CHARLES DICKENS’S NOVEL GREAT EXPECTATION.
A. VICTORIAN AGE
The Victorian reign was lead by Queen Victoria from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. It was considered as the longest reign in British reign history. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, it is allowed an educated middle class to develop. Some scholars extend the beginning of the period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political games that have come to be associated with the Victorians. During her reign, there were so many problems faced, such as poverty, child labor, prostitution, and others. As the opposite of those bad conditions, in Victorian Age there was invented new technologies which brought new hope for civilization but on the other hand, it caused the plague of poverty, because most of human resources was substituted by technologies as the result of that condition, most of employees were fired and they no longer had a job. That social condition became a concern for some famous writer, in order to criticize the condition and to express their ideas; those well-known writers wrote novels which were indicated as literary history because of their ability to make complexity description about the social condition of the era through their works. Those brilliants writers are Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution: A History, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The social classes become the characteristic of Victorian Era, the image of Gentleman and the women position as a reflection of the reign of Queen Victoria influences Charles Dickens’s to make Great Expectation which lately was known as the literary work which summarized the history of the era into such of beautiful description of story. He described how the image which is built by such of culture of a certain era could gave big influence to somebody life, as it was reflected in characterization of Pip whose Great Expectation of being a gentleman for catching his love or the material things like glory, gold and lofty social class.
B. CHARLES DICKENS’S and GREAT EXPECTATION NOVEL
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 to John and Elizabeth Barrow Dickens in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. He was the second of eight children. He lived in poverty because his father was in jail because some cases. He dropped out from school when he was 12 years old and worked in shoe dye or blacking, factory of labeling bottle. His experiences of living in poverty, gave many materials to his writing, after his father released from jail, he back to the school until 15 years old, his formal education was ended in that age, but he spent his time in reading books in public library. He began his career as writer and journalist in 1833 by writing articles on London life for magazine. In 1861 he wrote Great Expectation in series and published by the British Magazine which in the end of the day it became the famous story and he decided to rewrite it again into novel. There was some changes in the story in order to adapt in novel form such as the change of the ending of the story which rather different with the ending of the series one.
There is, however, little of this optimism in Dickens’s novels focused on the daily needs and problems of ordinary people: poverty, poor housing, and ill health, a horrifying level of child mortality, hunger, and long hours of grinding labor and also self acknowledgement as Pip look forward to his life.
The rapid changes of the time benefited some people long before others. Dickens is concerned with those still waiting for improvements and raises key moral and social questions in his writing: the need for schooling and the care of orphans and other deprived children, cruelty to children and the corruption of children by criminals, the problems created by emphasis unsocial class and newly acquired wealth, the problems created by rapid industrialization and urbanization and the conflict between employers and workers.
C. THE INFLUENCE OF VICTORIAN AGE TOWARD CHARLES DICKENS’S NOVEL GREAT EXPECTATION
Here below are written the analysis of the topic discussion which is summed up into some points of analysis:
1. The reign of Queen Victoria played big role to the women position in Victorian Era. Women get more honorable position in men’s eyes that the previous era. That condition is reflected by the characterization of Estella. Estella is adopted by wealthy lady named Miss Havisham, as her redemption to be hurt by her man; she arranges her project to make Estella as the heart breaker of every man who loves her, and Pip is one of those men. Estella is great beauty, arrogant, cold, and she entrances Pip. It is reflected in dialog below :
To stand in the dark in a mysterious passage of an unknown house, bawling Estella to a scornful young lady neither visible nor responsive, and feeling it a dreadful liberty so to roar out her name, was almost as bad as playing to order. But she answered at last, and her light came along the dark passage like a star.
Miss Havisham beckoned her to come close, and took up a jewel from the table, and tried its effect upon her fair young bosom and against her pretty brown hair. “Your own, one day, my dear, and you will use it well. Let me see you play cards with this boy.”
“With this boy? Why, he is a common laboring boy!”
I thought I overheard Miss Havisham answer; only it seemed so unlikely, “Well? You can break his heart.”
“What do you play boy?” asked Estella of myself, with greatest disdain. (Chapter 8 page 53)
In Victorian middle class ideology, women should be confined to the home to better protect them from the immoral influences of the world, in order that they the naturally more moral sex, it should exert their good influence on their husband and children, and through them the society at large. A powerful image, the ideal of the Angel in the House lasted throughout the Victorian period, despite its waning links to reality.
In Great Expectations Charles Dickens presents a very different view of Victorian women. Transcending class lines, Dickens provides powerful portraits of calculating and manipulative women, with no hint of the softness and capacity for sympathy that characterizes the ideal Victorian woman. Mrs. Joe is portrayed in the beginning of the novel as mean, petty, ungrateful, and finally, unfeeling:
What did you say?" cried my sister, beginning to scream. “What did you say? What did that fellow Orlick say to me, Pip? What did he call me, with my husband standing by? O! O! O!" Each of these exclamations was a shriek; and I must remark of my sister, what is equally true of all the violent women I have ever seen, that passion was no excuse for her, she consciously and deliberately took extraordinary pains to force herself into it, and became blindly furious by regular stages; “what was the name he gave me before the base man who swore to defend me? O! Hold me! O! (Chapter 15 page 92).
Despite the intensity of Mrs. Joe's emotions, there is no real human feeling involved. Compare her tantrum with Estella's coolness:
The garden was overgrown and rank for walking in with ease, and after we had made the round of it twice or thrice, we came out again into the brewery yard. I showed her to a nicety where I had seen her walking on the casks, that first old day, and she said, with a cold and careless look in that direction, “Did I?" I reminded her where she had come out of the house and given me my meat and drink, and she said, “I don't remember." “Not remember that you made me cry?" said I. “No," said she, and shook her head and looked about her. I verily believe that her not remembering and not minding in the least, made me cry again, inwardly and that is the sharpest crying of all.
"You must know," said Estella, condescending to me as a brilliant and beautiful woman might, “that I have no heart if that has anything to do with my memory
The combination of these characters one working class, one upper class creates a sense in the novel that not only do women not conform to the sympathetic, domestic ideal; they are often completely opposed to it.
2. There is some sorrowful fact in Victorian Era, Poverty and child labor. In the Great Expectation novel, Charles Dickens also portrays that fact. The poverty of Pip’s family which suggests Pip to labor. His first labor is helping his neighbor to frighten birds, pick up stone etc, that thing which bring Pip to Manor house and meet Miss. Havisham and Estella. It is written below the text pointed to the analysis :
When I was old enough, I was to be apprenticed to Joe, and until I could assume that dignity I was not to be what Mrs. Joe called “Pompeyed”, or (as I render it) pampered. Therefore, I was not only odd-boy about forge, but if any neighbor happened to want an extra boy to frighten birds, or pick up stones, or do any such job, I was favored with the employment. (Chapter 7 page 42)
The laboring time for Pip is continuing when he gets older, to be the apprentice to Joe, learning to be a blacksmith, the text pointed to is:
I was fully old enough now to be apprenticed to Joe…As if I had besought them as a favor to bother my life out.
“Tell me the name again of blacksmith of yours”
“Joe Gargery. Ma’am”
“Meaning the master you were to be apprenticed to?”
“Yes, miss Havisham” (Chapter 12 page 76)
3. The impression of Victorian perception of a “Gentleman” has been incorporated in this novel. A true gentleman is characterized by his virtue and not his gentility. He was capable maintaining a delicate balance between social and moral features. He is a noble and honorable man, a man who has fine ethical values. In the novel, the perception of Gentleman plays big role to the young pip that later lead him to be the true gentleman, despite of those description of Gentleman, the true Gentleman of this novel is Joe Gargery, a man who always noble and make the other importance comes first beside his own importance, as it is written below :
Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites. He was mild, good natured, sweet tempered, easy going, foolish, dear fellow, a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness. (Chapter 2 page 21)
Home had never been a very pleasant place to me, because of my sister’s temper. But, Joe had sanctified it, (Chapter 14 page 81)
We were equals afterward, as we had been before, but afterwards at quite times when I sat looking at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart” (Chapter 7 page 56)
The image of Victorian gentleman is also showed by Herbert Pocket and his father Mathew Pocket who teaches Pip to be a true Gentleman:
“Mr. Pip?” said he
“Mr. Pocket?” said I.
“Dear me!” he exclaimed. “I am extremely sorry, but I knew there was coach from your part of the country at midday, and I thought you would come by that one. The fact is, I have been out on your account, not that is any excuse, for I thought, coming from the country, you might like a little fruit after dinner, and I went to Covent Garden Market to get it good.”
For reason that I had. I felt as if my eyes would start out of my head. I acknowledged his attention incoherently, and began to think this was a dream
“Lord bless me, you are the prowling boy!”
“And you,” said I “Are the pale young gentleman!” (Chapter 21 page 123)
“…no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner…no varnish can hide the grain of the wood and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”(Chapter 22 page 209)
4. The gap of social classes is also appeared in this novel, as the struggle of Pip to be Gentleman is one of reason for Pip to get along with Estella, because he comes from the lower class, he has to get the upper class in making possibility together with Estella.
“…one man is blacksmith, and one man is whitesmith and one is a goldsmith and one is a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come”
“you such a common boy and has coarse hands” insulted Estella to
5. The architecture of Miss Havisham’s house is also reflected the middle up class house in Victorian Age. This below is a picture of house from Victorian Age that has similarity to the Manor house described by Pip in Chapter 8 page 49
Miss Havisham’s house which was of old brick and dismal, and had great many iron bars to it. …There was a courtyard in front and that was barred…we waited at the gate (chapter 8 page 49)
Great Expectation was known as the greatest novel from its age until now. Its main character was called Pip reflected the common boy who wanted to get the better life, through Pip’s eyes Dickens wanted to converse the social gap between rich and poor, and the social split between the upper and lower classes. Moreover when Dickens described the struggle of Pip’s in climbing the social-economic ladder through education and self improvement; it was showed that there was fundamental social injustice of such societal inequality. The struggle of Pip’s to be a gentleman was reflected as his desire to get upper social classes and to make his self more acceptable by the noble person; his love to Estella was his ambition of Pip to get such of luxury life. Estella was reflection of those kinds of life, noble, honorable, rich, beauty, and Pip not only fell in love with Estella’s but also fell in love with her luxury life, noble social class, the extravagance life style, and others materials things. That was described on the ending of the novel version, the materials motive was the most concern on Pip motivation in catching Estella, but in original version the ending said the opposite of the novel. The fact explained that the world face the same problems with Pip, there was some consideration in making life more harmony, although most times it fight our natural conscience.
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