Depending on your taste, a case could be made for almost any of Charles Dickens’ books being his best. My personal favorite is The Pickwick Papers, but if anyone wanted to stand up for Great Expectations I wouldn’t hold it against him.
Pickwick, the first of his novels, is arguably also the most Dickensian. Great Expectations is a later and more mature work and one of the least Dickensian. The emphasis is on the plot and mystery rather than humor and eccentric characters. Miss Havisham—the most eccentric character in the book—is played for tragedy rather than comedy. The romance is not of the happily-ever-after variety. It is a tale of redemption, for Pip, his mysterious benefactor and for his tormentor.
If Great Expectations is grimmer than many of his other books, it is still has Dickens’ signature touches. The characters are distinctly his with his great ear for names—Uncle Pumblechook, Mr. Wopsle, attorney Jaggers. The book does have its humor, although it is not the focus of the story, and the atmosphere of the opening scene in the graveyard is as thick as the fog on the marsh where it takes place. Director David Lean’s rendering of this scene in the 1946 movie has been rated one of the spookiest ever put on film, and it works just as well on paper. All in all, this story is Dickens at his most powerful.
False hope
Great Expectations tells the story of Pip as he grows from trusting child to an adult prig with visions of becoming a gentleman. He manages to grow older without growing up, but he is not unsympathetic. This happens to many of us, after all, and in the end he redeems himself.
Like many of Dickens’ characters, Pip is an orphan. He is raised by his shrewish older sister and her loving husband, Joe the blacksmith. “I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the dissuading arguments of my best friends.”
Although his childhood is not a happy one, Pip is content with his prospects of growing up to work in the forge alongside his friend Joe. Then his life is upended by Estella, the adopted daughter of the mysterious Miss Havisham, who thinks him coarse and common. The unexpected announcement that Pip has great expectations from an anonymous benefactor that will enable him to leave the forge and his friends is initially greeted with joy, but ultimately makes things worse. Giving up what you have in order to strive for what you do not need is not a recipe for a happy life.
Driven
Who is Pip’s benefactor? What is the secret of Miss Havisham, the ghost-like recluse who has raised Estella to be the bane of mankind? What do the two escaped convicts whom Pip meets on the marsh have to do with everything? More than in any other of Dickens’ books, these mysteries keep you reading.
It is not the company of his characters that keeps you going, or the humor, or the chance to enjoy another pipe and bowl of punch before the kitchen fire of an inn. Much like his friend and contemporary Wilkie Collins, the inventor the English detective novel, Dickens keeps you going to the last page to see how it all ends. There are mystery and suspense in others of his books, notably A Tale of Two Cities and Bleak House, but Great Expectations to a far greater extent is driven by plot and mystery. The result is a satisfying read that gives you the best of both worlds: Dickens and the Great English Mystery Novel.
You can pick up a copy of just about any of Dickens’ books at any library or bookstore. Open Great Expectations sometime when you’re in the mood for a good read.