Grotesque and Gothic Elements in Great Expectations

8/16/2019 Grotesque and Gothic Elements in Great Expectations

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Grotesque And Gothic Elements In Great Expectations

Charles Dickens is known for creating characters and situations and combining them with his weird and dark

humor that leads to grotesque, not only in this noel, but in others too !e"g" Daid Copperfield # $r" $rudstone%"

In Great Expectations he creates this eccentric character, $iss &aisham, who screams gothic and grotesque in

eery possible way' from her (lifestyle( and house to her hair, makeup and clothing"

"Once, I had been taken to see ghastly waxwork at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible personage

lying in state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich

dress, that had been dug out of vault under the church pavement. Now that waxwork and skeleton seemed to

have dark eyes that moved and looked at me." !Dickens, C" !)*+% Great Expectations !page --# chapter +%,

$arshall Caendish .artworks /td, -+ 0ld Compton 1treet, /ondon 2I3 -.A%

1he adopted Estella, not as a loing action, but to turn her into a heartless soul" 4hrough the noel, there isn(t one

single thing that portrays $iss &aisham as a mother figure" 1he refers to Estella as a beautiful creature, and

treats her as a tool to aenge her broken heart" 5ears after breaking .ip(s heart as a child, a long but unhappy

marrige, and $iss &aishams death Estella finally starts to show emotions, which leads her to true loe and

happiness"

Characters that in some ways I also find grotesque are $rs 6oe Gargery and 6oe himself" After growing up in an

abusie household, where his father abused him and his mother, 6oe married .ip(s sister who is not much

different" 4his time around, $rs" 6oe is the one running the household and being abusie towards him and .ip"

Also, she doesn(t feel guilty for it either, and makes them think they brought it on themseles" 1he complained

about eerything from how she raised .ip all on her own and how she is married to a blacksmith" It is only after

she expericenced iolence on her own skin, and in my oppinion got what she desered, that she starts to change

her behaiour"

7inally, there(s $agwich" A conict that .ip describes ery animal#like" $agwich attacks him, when isiting his

family grae, at the begging of the noel, and scares him to the point that he can control him"

" fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and

with an old rag tied around his head. man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by

stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars! who limped and shivered, and glared and

growled! and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seied me by the chin." !Dickens, C" !)*+% Great

Expectations !page 8# chapter )%, $arshall Caendish .artworks /td, -+ 0ld Compton 1treet, /ondon 2I3-.A%

9o one would eer think that years later, he would .ip(s secret benefactor" &is role in .ip(s life becomes as

grotesque, twisted and gothic as $iss &aisham(s in Estella(s" 1ecretly, he inites .ip to moe to /ondon, and

makes him (his( gentleman" Een .ip himself reali:ed that, and compares himself to 7rankestien !gothic

element%"

0ther gothic elements, I(d say are the locations" 7irst location is the graeyard, where .ip encounters $agwich

for the first time, and then there(s, of course, the 1atis &ouse, and many more"""

;ealist and Gothic Elements and the Construction of Identity in Charles Dickens< Great Expectations

Great Expectations combines realist and gothic elements throughout its structure" 2ritten in the first person

narratie, the noel is the autobiography of .hilip .irrip" Dickens effectiely combines realism with gothic or

grotesque elements in order to gie contour to the world of his noels" 4he realist noel attempts primarily togie a representation of reality in its total form, as ob=ectiely as possible" It relies on details and eloquent

descriptions to achiee the effect of reality" As such, there is no emphasis on the psychological depth of the

characters or on the dynamics of their inner life' rather, the characters are sketched as parts of the larger scheme

in which they function" Although Great Expectations is told from .ip


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his parents> the grae stones where he can read their names" 4he impending appearance of the conict will

enhance the gothic impression left by this opening scene" It is not by accident that .ip is, by turns, faced with

succeeding instances of the grotesque" &is own identity is constructed with their aid" 7rom the beginning, .ip

appears to be immersed in a grotesque world" Dickens uses this opening scene as well as .ip ?4he first person narratie proides a realist perspectie upon happenings inherently

gothic, melodramatic or non#realist in implication@ !2alder )B-%" .ip is the obserer of the world around him

and implicitly of $iss &aisham" It is significant for instance that the boy feels he is unable to do =ustice to $iss

&aisham and represent her the way she really is when he is asked to talk about her" 2ith the rich imagination of

a child, he inents a fantastic story about her and Estelle, which is the opposite of reality" &oweer, the inented

story is as impossible and implausible as the real one" 4his goes to show that reality as such is ery hard to

describe in simple terms" It is because $iss &aisham is real that .ip is unable to gie a proper account of her"


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Another way in which the effectieness of realistic representation is sustained een in the grotesque character of

$iss &aisham is through the abundance of detail in the description> ?Despite the gothic oertones of her first

appearance, the illusion of eeryday reality is sustained een in $iss &aisham


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6oe comes to isit .ip and his friend and room mate &erbert to delier an important message, .ip is embarrassed

to the point of hostility by 6oe Croom

&elm, )*+B%, pp" 88#88)" B* squareness about the lower part of his face, and the dotted indication of the strong

black beard he shaed close eery day, reminded me of the waxwork that had traelled into our neighbourhood

some half#a#year before"- In both descriptions the wax plays a central role in the tragi#comic features of Great

Expectations" .ip, although he perceies $iss &aisham


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grotesque is the expression of the alienated or estranged world, and that the grotesque is a game with the

absurd" 4he grotesque artist, in this case Dickens, plays with the deep absurdities of existence" Jayser goes on

arguing that the absurd, like the grotesque, is often applied to something which is merely

- Charles Dickens, Daid

Copperfield !/ondon> .enguin, )**%, p" FB" 6ohn Carey, 4he 3iolent Effigy> A 1tudy of Dickens 7aber and 7aber, )*F%, p" +B" .hilip 4homson, 4he Grotesque> 4he Critical Idiom

!/ondon> $ethuen, )*8%, p" )+" - ridiculous, highly eccentric or stupid"+ $iss &aisham $iss

&aisham watched us all the time, directed my attention to Estella


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she


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uses Estella


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the reader, ) &ollington, p"

8)" )+ 4homson, p" FF" -* and is a paradox of attractionQrepulsion")* 4he reader experiences horror at

$agwitch


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Estella is .ip


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of fairytale than any serious illain of realist narratie" 1uch suspicions are confirmed later on, particularly when

$agwitch isits the adult .ip as a reformed character"

Although an impression of the grotesque is iidly realised, Dickens(s portrayal of the conict still adheres to the

dictates of realist conention" An example of realism in this scene would be the description of $agwitch(s

physical appearance and attire, where the author highlights small details, in an almost list#like fashion, such as

mentioning the conict(s broken shoes' the iron on his leg' and the old rag tied round his head" Dickens may flirt

with the fantastical in his representation of $agwitch but he still concedes to realist principles by proiding a

detailed description of the conict which relates the character to a recogni:able reality"

0ne feature of the grotesque is its blending of human and animal forms in its descriptions of characters"

$agwitch is frequently likened to an animal, both by himself and by .ip" 2hen the protagonist wishes the

conict goodnight, the man glances at the cold and dreary marshlands and remarks RI wish I was a frog" 0r a

eelPR !p"%" 2hen .ip returns the next morning with food for the conict, the boy is reminded of a pet dog of his

while he obseres the raenous manner with which the man eats" 4he way $agwitch snaps up the pork pie .ip

had brought, with his Rstrong sharp sudden bitesR !p")*%, lends the protagonist to reflect that $agwitch Rwas ery

like the dogR !p")*%"

4he blurring of distinctions between life and death is another aspect of the grotesque" 4he way $agwitch is

described as haing Rstarted up from among the graesR !p"B%, and subsequently .ip(s obseration of how he

seemed to be Reluding the hands of the dead peopleR !p"%, closely associate the conict with the bodies buried in

the churchyard" 4his association of the liing with the dead is elaborated further while .ip watches $agwitch

limping off in the direction of a nearby gibbet" 4he narrator discloses that this gibbet had once held a pirate, and

relates how he remembered isuali:ing $agwitch as that pirate suddenly come to life, and now Rgoing back to

hook himself up againR !p"%"

4he /iterary Index has more analysis of books by Charles Dickens, as well as links to academic essays I hae

found on the net discussing the works of oer F other authors" 7or further analysis of Great Expectations and

genre, or for an analysis of the ildungsroman in Great Expectations" en 2right is an independent scholar and

researcher" &e is webmaster of 4he /iterary Index"

Professor John Bowen considers how Dickens uses the characters of Magwitch and Miss Havisham to

incorporate elements of the Gothic in Great Expectations.

#reat $xpectations is not a Gothic noel in any simple sense" /ike all of Dickens


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iew which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow" I saw

that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left

but the brightness of her sunken eyes """ 0nce, I had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork at the 7air,

representing I know not what impossible personage lying in state" 0nce, I had been taken to one of our old marsh

churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress that had been dug out of ault under the church paement"

9ow, waxwork and skeleton seemed to hae dark eyes that moed and looked at me" I should hae cried out, if

could" !ch" +%

4he eeriness and uncanniness of the passage stem a good deal from its repetitions, in which some simple words K

hair, dress, bride, white, brightness, waxwork, skeleton K repeat oer and again" It

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Grotesque and Gothic Elements in Great Expectations