Great Expectations - A Victorian Dream - Charles Dickens

Great Expectations – A Victorian Dream – Charles Dickens

Expectations sour….Expectations are too high…Great expectations…. We have heard it all.  The origin of “Great Expectations” are synonymous with Charles Dickens book of the same name from the Victorian Era.

                 











 Many onscreen characters or characters from the fiction or books must have attracted us.  Even though a few of them are alive and fresh and never fade away from our memory.  Charles Dickens “Pip” is an autobiographical character who is a wannabe “gentleman”  is one of them.  Charles Dickens’ caricature of Pip is unforgettable.

The Victorian era of British History and that of British Empire was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign from 20 June 1837 until her death, on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain.

Culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts.   In international relations the era was a long period of peace, known as the Pax Britannica (British peace) and economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation.

The population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901. Scotland's population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. Ireland's population however decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the Great Famine.  At the same time, around 15 million emigrants left the United Kingdom in the Victorian era, settling mostly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7,1812 – June 9, 1870 ) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

His famous works other than “Great Expectations” are Frozen Deep, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Nicholas Nickelby.

Charles Dickens is widely regarded as the best novelist of the Victorian era. His personal life contained the same elements as his novels - social injustice, betrayal, romance, and a touch of the eccentric.

He loved to read and his favorite book was "The Arabian Nights."

The Plot thickens with Charles Dickens - Plot summary of “Great Expectations”

Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent, sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents’ tombstones. Suddenly, an escaped convict springs up from behind a tombstone, grabs Pip, and orders him to bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items himself.

One day Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy dowager Miss Havisham, who is extremely eccentric: she wears an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her house stopped at the same time. During his visit, he meets a beautiful young girl named Estella, who treats him coldly and contemptuously. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her. He even hopes that Miss Havisham intends to make him a gentleman and marry him to Estella, but his hopes are dashed when, after months of regular visits to Satis House, Miss Havisham decides to help him become a common laborer in his family’s business.

With Miss Havisham’s guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, who is the village blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily, struggling to better his education with the help of the plain, kind Biddy and encountering Joe’s malicious day laborer, Orlick. One night, after an altercation with Orlick, Pip’s sister, known as Mrs. Joe, is viciously attacked and becomes a mute invalid. From her signals, Pip suspects that Orlick was responsible for the attack.

One day a lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and Pip must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip happily assumes that his previous hopes have come true—that Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor and that the old woman intends for him to marry Estella.

In London, Pip befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jaggers’s law clerk, Wemmick. He expresses disdain for his former friends and loved ones, especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herbert’s father. Herbert himself helps Pip learn how to act like a gentleman. When Pip turns twenty-one and begins to receive an income from his fortune, he will secretly help Herbert buy his way into the business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts. Orlick reappears in Pip’s life, employed as Miss Havisham’s porter, but is promptly fired by Jaggers after Pip reveals Orlick’s unsavory past. Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip goes home for the funeral, feeling tremendous grief and remorse. Several years go by, until one night a familiar figure barges into Pip’s room—the convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip by announcing that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pip’s fortune. He tells Pip that he was so moved by Pip’s boyhood kindness that he dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and he made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose.

Pip is appalled, but he feels morally bound to help Magwitch escape London, as the convict is pursued both by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in crime. A complicated mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter. Miss Havisham has raised her to break men’s hearts, as revenge for the pain her own broken heart caused her. Pip was merely a boy for the young Estella to practice on; Miss Havisham delighted in Estella’s ability to toy with his affections.

As the weeks pass, Pip sees the good in Magwitch and begins to care for him deeply. Before Magwitch’s escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named Bentley Drummle. Pip makes a visit to Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness for the way she has treated him in the past, and he forgives her. Later that day, when she bends over the fireplace, her clothing catches fire and she goes up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her final days, she will continue to repent for her misdeeds and to plead for Pip’s forgiveness.

The time comes for Pip and his friends to spirit Magwitch away from London. Just before the escape attempt, Pip is called to a shadowy meeting in the marshes, where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pip’s life. Pip and Herbert hurry back to effect Magwitch’s escape. They try to sneak Magwitch down the river on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off. Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch is sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is God’s forgiveness and dies at peace. Pip falls ill; Joe comes to London to care for him, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he discovers that she and Joe have already married.

Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Drummle, her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that Estella’s coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Charles Dickens

 

 

 

 

Novels by Charles Dickens

The Pickwick Papers – 1836
Oliver Twist – 1837
Nicholas Nickleby – 1838
The Old Curiosity Shop – 1840
Barnaby Rudge – 1841
Martin Chuzzlewit – 1843
Dombey and Son – 1846
David Copperfield – 1849
Bleak House – 1852
Hard Times – 1854
Little Dorrit – 1855
A Tale of Two Cities – 1859
Great Expectations – 1860
Our Mutual Friend – 1864
The Mystery of Edwin Drood – 1870

Partial Listing of Short Stories and Other Works by Charles Dickens in Alphabetical Order

American Notes
The Battle of Life
The Chimes: A Goblin Story
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Tree
A Dinner at Poplar Walk
Doctor Marigold’s Prescriptions
A Flight
Frozen Deep
George Silverman’s Explanation
Going into Society
The Haunted Man
Holiday Romance
The Holly-Tree
Hunted Down
The Long Voyage
Master Humphrey’s Clock
A Message from the Sea
Mrs. Lirriper’s Legacy
Public Life of Mr. Trumble, Once Mayor of Mudfog
Sketches by Boz
The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton
Sunday under Three Heads
Tom Tiddler’s Ground
Travelling Abroad – City of London Churches
The Uncommercial Traveller
Wreck of the Golden Mary

The Book was published in 1861 and over the years many movie adaptations were made.  I was attracted to the 1998 version of the film starring my favorite actor Robert De Niro of the Academy Award winner “Taxi Driver” fame.  If you rate the 50 greatest films ever made and you must see before you die, the “Taxi Driver” will surely find a place in that.

 

                                        

 Robert De Niro in 1998 Film “Great  Expectations” 

                                                                            Image of Robert De Niro                                                                                    

Great Expectations 1998 Movie

Great Expectations is a 1998 contemporary film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name, co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro, Anne Bancroft and Chris Cooper. It is known for having moved the setting of the original novel from 1812-1827 London to 1990s New York. (The book was first published in 1861.) The film is an abridged modernization of Dickens's novel, with the hero's name having also been changed from Pip to Finn, and the character Miss Havisham has been renamed Nora Dinsmoor.

The film had a duration of 111 minutes.  It was distributed by 20^th Century Fox.  It was simultaneously released in English and French.  The budget of the movie was US $ 2,50,00,000 and raked in US $ 5,54,94,066 from the Box Office.

10-year-old Finnegan "Finn" Bell is playing on a beach in the Gulf Coast when an escaped convict suddenly pops out of the water and overpowers him, making Finn promise to bring back food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg. Finn complies, and the convict unexpectedly tries to make Finn take him by boat to Mexico. The police seize the small boat heading out to sea. The convict hides on a buoy, and Finn's boat is towed back to shore. The next day, Finn sees on the news that the convict, mobster Arthur Lustig, had escaped from death row, but was recaptured and would face execution soon.

Finn's uncle Joe Gargery is called to Paradiso Perduto ("lost paradise"), home of the richest woman in Florida, Mrs. Nora Dinsmoor. She is a local mystery, having shunned virtually all human contact since she was left at the altar several years before. She ostensibly asks him there to do a gardening job, but instead she slips him a large sum of money under the door, calling it "gas money". Meanwhile, Finn, who he brought along, meets Mrs. Dinsmoor's young niece Estella in the overgrown garden. Mrs. Dinsmoor sees them interacting and calls Maggie (Kim Dickens), Finn's sister, to ask her to let Finn be a playmate for Estella, even though Estella apparently dislikes him.

On Finn's first visit, she is disappointed when the boy cannot dance for her, but is intrigued when he says he can draw. She forces Estella to sit for a portrait, which Finn draws with make up on an old piece of wallpaper. While he draws, Mrs. Dinsmoor warns Finn that he will fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken. After the portrait session, Mrs. Dinsmoor calls it a day and asks Estella to help Finn find the door. On the way out, she pauses to take a drink from a water fountain and politely offers him a drink from it as well. While Finn is drinking, Estella kisses him.

      

Several years pass. Maggie runs away from home and Joe raises Finn alone. Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto (“lost paradise”) every Saturday, where he learns to dance with Estella. One day, Estella mentions that she has a party to attend. Mrs. Dinsmoor is shocked that she does not have an escort to take her, so Finn volunteers to escort her. When Finn shows up at the party, he is not allowed in because he is not on the guest list. Estella shows up beside his pick-up truck and asks him playfully if he will take her to his house. Once they get there, Estella starts to seduce Finn, only to suddenly leave, claiming that she is very busy that night.

The next day, Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto, only to be told by Mrs. Dinsmoor that Estella had left to study abroad in Europe. For the next seven years he resolutely puts Estella and Mrs. Dinsmoor out of his mind, and gives up drawing.

One day, a lawyer comes to Finn and tells him that he will have a gallery show in New York City. In the end, Finn is convinced to go to New York, which Estella had once claimed was the art capital of the world. When he arrives, he immediately gets to work drawing again, since he has no pieces to put on exhibit. He takes a break to get a drink from a water fountain - where Estella appears and kisses him. She then invites him to afternoon tea with her at a high class club.

Finn arrives to tea with Estella and some of her friends and fiancé, Walter Plane, make fun of him by asking how much he would charge to draw a portrait of Estella. Finn leaves in a hurry amid the laughter of Estella's friends.

One day, Finn wakes up in his hotel room to see Estella standing next to him, reminding him that he had wanted to draw a portrait of her. While he prepares his sketch pad and charcoal, Estella takes off her clothes. After posing for a few sketches, Estella suddenly puts her clothes back on and leaves, saying that she is very busy. Growing sick of Estella's games, Finn chases her out to a cab and asks why she is so cruel to him. Estella sadly explains that she was trained to act this way by her Aunt Dinsmoor.

Walter shows up at Finn's hotel room one day, wanting to see the result of the portrait session. He then confesses to Finn that he thinks Estella is using Finn to push Walter into asking her to marry him and asks him how to please her. Finn has no idea how to respond, and Walter soon leaves.

The lawyer who had found Finn in Florida shows up again, moving Finn to a big studio where he can work on his art more comfortably. Finn quickly fills up the studio with his artwork as the opening date of his gallery draws nearer. He makes Estella say that she will be there.

One night, at an important event, Finn becomes frustrated when Walter draws Estella away when he barely even got to talk to her. He follows them to their dinner at a Chinese restaurant. As the bemused dinner guests look on, Finn asks Estella to dance. They dance for a few seconds and then leave the restaurant. Once on the sidewalk, they run for Finn's art studio, where they make passionate love.

Finally, the opening night of Finn's gallery show arrives. He looks everywhere for Estella but she is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Uncle Joe shows up, to Finn's surprise and, to some degree, embarrassment. When Joe accidentally knocks a tray of wine glasses over and tries to clean up the mess, Finn repeatedly tells him with increasing volume to "just leave it." Joe feels that he and his homely manners are an embarrassment to Finn and decides to leave early, despite Finn's attempts to get him to stay. Finn then goes to Estella's abode in New York, hoping to find her there, but instead he finds Mrs. Dinsmoor, who had come up to New York for the "special event": Estella's wedding. When Finn becomes upset at this news, she says icily that she warned him when he was a child. At this, Finn tells Mrs. Dinsmoor that she has broken his heart, the way her fiancé did to her all those years ago. Suddenly remorseful, Mrs. Dinsmoor apologizes.

Finn returns to his studio to find a strange bearded man wanting to see him: It is none other than Arthur Lustig. Finn is at first incredulous, but then he becomes uncomfortable with the old man's presence and implies that he should leave. As Lustig is walking out the door, his off-hand comments make Finn aware that he has in fact been Finn's benefactor during Finn's entire time in New York. Finn thus accompanies Lustig to the subway station because Lustig has a plane to catch from the John F. Kennedy International Airport for Paris.

While they are waiting for a train, Lustig sees some unsavory acquaintances on the opposite platform. Finn and Lustig outmaneuver them and get on a train. They think they are safe, but as the train is in motion one of the old men comes through the car and brutally stabs Lustig in the side, stepping off the train at the next stop. As Lustig bleeds to death in Finn's arms, he reveals that he has been Finn's benefactor in return for the kindness Finn showed him as a child.

Devastated, Finn detaches himself from everything and goes to Paris to study art. He becomes successful in his own right, and eventually returns to Florida to visit his Uncle Joe and reconciles with him. Mrs. Dinsmoor has since died, but he decides to visit her house anyway. As he is sitting in the garden, he thinks he sees the apparition of Estella as a child. He follows the little girl through to the back dock where he finds the child's mother, who turns out to be Estella, who has since divorced, and whose life has gone downhill. She admits that she has often thought of him, and asks for his forgiveness for her past cruelty. Finn forgives her completely, and they hold hands and look out over the sea.

It is well known that Charles Dickens was prompted to change the ending of the book for a happy ending like Bollywood movies ending with a happy note.  He was motivated to do the same by his close associates and proved to be a success.

Everyone in this world has expectations.  Most of the expectations are unrealistic and always asking for the moon.  The loony-moony expectation has no limit.  Most of the time we crave for something we have not worked hard towards to achieve it and thus do not deserves it.  In many an instance we expect easy windfalls or dame luck. 

The less fortunate always wish to have ambitious lifestyles and fortune.  Some of them dream to possess a private island and a jet plane.  The dreams and wishes are seamless. 

Many wish to win a lottery or a lucky draw.  Money is hard to come by with the virtues like honesty and faithfulness.  We must work hard towards multiplying our millions and learn that easy money steals your mental peace when somebody crave for more than what  he or she  deserves always ends up in shattered frame of mind and peace.  The bible says a rich man will not go to heaven and it is that difficult a camel has to go through an eye of the needle.

However, Finn turned a gentleman and inherited a fortune.  Some inherit a fortune or somebody has left a legacy for you may be after conducting litmus and acid test to ensure whether you are worthy to get it  and then assure the life by insuring your future.

Expectations v/s greatness :   If you expect what you deserve will not hamper your greatness.  

Now, I realize the greatness of being a writer.  We express ourselves without the fear of losing freedom of expressions.

Let us indulge in honest ways and vie for Pax Brittanica through this MEGA BLOG !