论远大前程中社会因素对皮普爱慕虚荣性格的影响

Social factors on the development of pip’s vanity in GreatExpectationsAbstractThis paper studies the social factors on the development of pip’s vanity in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. It argues that, compared with other factors that affect pip’s vanity, social factors has its own distinguishing affects, and that is, it straightly pushes pip to be a vanity man with various ways. The combination of the social factors and pip’s vanity through the exploration of the following three aspects, namely social factors with his terrible educational background, social factors combined with his poor family situation and social factors tinted with the cruelty of the bourgeoisie will be closely examined in this paper. In this way it plans to prove that social factors are the factor that straightly pushes pip to be a vanity man.Keywords:social factors; terrible educational background; poor family situation; cruelty of the bourgeoisie论远大前程中影响皮普虚荣性格发展的社会因素摘要本文研究社会因素对远大前程中皮普虚荣性格的形成的影响。

笔者认为，与其他影响皮普虚荣性格的因素相比，社会因素有着非常独到的地方，即它直接的从各个方面把皮普塑造成了一个虚荣的人。

本文从皮普教育的缺失，贫困的家庭环境，资本主义的残酷三个方面对皮普虚荣性格的形成进行了考察，从而证明社会因素直接地把皮普塑造成了一个虚荣性格的人。

关键词：社会因素，教育的缺失，贫困的家庭，资本主义的残酷ContentsNumber of pages: 161 Introduction (1)2 Pip’s Character of Vanity (2)2.1 A Brief Introduction to the Victorian Age (3)2.2 The Prototype of Pip in Great Expectation (4)2.3 His Vanity in Great Expectations (5)3 The Social Factors that Mold Pip’s Vanity (6)3.1 His Terrible Educational Background (7)3.2 His Poor Family Situation (8)3.3 The Cruelty of the Bourgeoisie (9)3.3.1 Vengeful and Wealthy Miss Havisham (10)3.3.2 Indulgent and Hypocritical Mr. Jaggers (11)4 Conclusion (12)Notes (13)References (14)Acknowledgement (15)Declaration (16)1.IntroductionDickens was one of the most influential writers of the 19th century, played a crucial Great Expectations was written by Charles Dickens (7 February 1812–9 June 1870). He contributed greatly to the development of the writing style in British Literature. Through his numerous works，he exposed the readers to different aspects of the times he lived in and explored the unfairness and hypocrisy of the capitalist society and he analysis that the social factors that we lived in influences the formation of our characters.The social factors can be reflected in various ways such as education, families, friends and the living experiences. Pip is the hero in Great Expectations, whose life has through several changes. Each change is a new development for him and last forging a new Pip: The one who is fall in love with the beautiful Estella, the love drives him to run after the knowledge and fame; the one who gains a big fortune to have a gentleman cultivation in London; the one whose dreams fall into fallacy, which lets him realizes his guilty and starts repentance. Every stage Pip’s character is under subtle change that is related to the things happened around him. To say it in different way, pip’s change in every stage is influenced by the social factors especially let him to chase after the vanity like the upper class gentlemen life and wealth.Thus, this paper mainly studies the social factors on the development of pip’s vanity in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations with the factors of terrible education, the poor family and the friends around him who live in the cruelty Bourgeoisie. In this way to prove that social factors are the factor that straightly pushes pip to be a vanity man.2. Pip’s Character of VanityPip is the hero in Great Expectations who is also a victim. His life reflects the background of the Victorian age when the society is dark and the people there all chase after the vanity of the wealth and the social status. It is also mirrored the life experiences of Charles Dickens. Pip actually is living in the lower class who has no good education and the rich family. When he lives with Joe, his dream is to be a balcksmith. But when he falls in love with the girl, he begins to hate his dirty handthat using to strike the iron. Apart from that, when he is in the cultivation for a gentleman, he begins to escape to meet the low class: Joe, though he is actually not a gentleman there. All the change of Pip’s character reflects the common features of the people in Victorian age and mirrored the life experiences of Charles Dickens.2.1A Brief Introduction to the Victorian AgeIn Great Expectation, Charles Dickens showed us a lively picture, which gave us a rough sketch of The Victorian Age. The country was ruled by Queen Victorian from 1837 to 1901, and during this period, the cruelty and the greedy of the Bourgeoisie that deeply affect everyone’s character.In society, the wealth and the greedy are like an evil. The distribution of wealth is always unequal and the contrast of the rich and the poverty is very sharp. On one hand, there excises the noble manor life and the comfortable life of the landlord; on the other hand, it is the farmer’s dilapidated cottage and the unemployed worker’s desperation. Family life for the middle and upper class was extremely important, as the families were large and living together in big houses, life was very comfortable for them and enjoyable. Poor and working class families, such as Dickens's were forced to work in factories doing dangerous jobs. Children were being exploited, into doing harsh dangerous work, for little pay and no gratitude.Besides, the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists and manufacturers to amass huge fortunes. Although social class was no longer entirely dependent on the circumstances of one’s birth, the divisions between rich and poor remained nearly as wide as ever. London, a teeming mass of humanity lit by gas lamps at night and darkened by black clouds from smokestacks during the day, formed a sharp contrast with the nation’s sparsely populated rural areas. More and more people moved from the country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity. Throughout England, the manners of the upper class were very strict and conservative: gentlemen and ladies were expected to have thorough classical educations and to behave appropriately in innumerable social situations.2.2 The Prototype of Pip in Great ExpectationThe prototype of the pip in great expectation should trace back to the purpose of Charles Dickens to write Great Expectations.In the Victorian Age, the contrast of wealthy and poverty is sharp and the cruelty and the exploitation is everywhere, which let all the lower class form a wrong value: run after the wealth and the upper class. Therefore, the vanity breeds out.So as Charles Dickens, he wrote Great Expectation to draw a picture of the people who run after the vanity through Dickens’ own life experiences.When Dickens was young, his parents had troubles in finance and disasters in the social, so they lived a rough live and had to change their living-quarters frequently for the lack of money which could be used to pay the rents.Dickens wasn't an orphan, as Pip is, but he may well have felt like one. His parents were sociable, pleasant people, but when Charles, who was the eldest boy, was nine, the Dickens’s pulled up roots and moved to London to try to live more cheaply. Charles was appalled by the cramped, grubby house they lived in there, and even more ashamed when his father was arrested and taken to debtors' prison. The rest of the Dickens’s were allowed to move into prison with their father, but twelve-year-old Charles had to live on his own outside.Therefore, the expectations of pip to get the social advancement and the wealth are the mirror of Dickens himself to make a great expectation to change his life style.2.3 His Vanity in Great ExpectationsIn Great Expectations,Pip, the novel’s protagonist, lives in the marsh country, works at a job he feel enough, considers himself too good for his surroundings as shown by the following account in the book Great Expectations.“Joe was a fair man, with high brown hair and blue eyes. He was a mild,good-natured, dear fellow Joe and I being fellow-sufferers……”But when he meet the Estella at Miss Havisham’s house, he suddenly feels shame about his surrounding and from this time his vanity breed out from his brain:he want to be a rich, a gentle and a uncommon man, though it is just a expectation that is impossible for him now as shown by the following account.“Being alone in the courtyard I looked at my coarse hands and my thick boots.They had never troubled me before, but they troubled me now. I wished Joe hadbeen rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.” page49“……and that I hadn’t been able to explain myself to Mrs.Joe and Pumblechook,and that there had been a beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s who wasdreadfully and proud, and that she had said I was common……”page 70“I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before, but I began to considerthem rather a bad pair. Here contempt was so strong that it became infectious and Icaught it”chapter7 page47When Pip comes to London to have the cultivation for the gentleman, he begin to look down upon the low class, even his best friend: joe. As shown in the book.“One Monday morning I received a letter from Biddy in which she informed me ofJoe’s intention to visit me at Barnard’s in the next morning. I did not look forwardwith pleasure to this visit, and if I could have kept him away by paying money……but I had the sharpest sensitiveness to his being seen by Drummle, whom I held incontempt because he was idle, stupid and haughty.” Chapter 15Page 114It’s no doubt that there are a lot of words and description of Pip’s mental. All that gives the impression that Pip is a vanity man.3 The Social Factors that Mold Pip’s VanityThe social factors can be reflected in various ways such as education, families, friends and the living experiences. This paper mainly studies the social factors on the development of pip’s vanity in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations with the factors of terrible education, the poor family and the friends around him who live in the cruelty Bourgeoisie.3.1 His Terrible Educational BackgroundIn Pip’s family in Great Expectations, the rough sister couldn’t gives Pip chancesto satisfy his curiosity for knowledge．Although Joe is a good man and expects Pip to learn, but he is helpless. As to he is almost an illiterate. When Pip attends a night class，he sadly find it is not a school, where has no textbooks and no teacher in the real sense as shown in Great Expectations.“During this period I attended an evening school kept by Mr.Wopsle’s great-aunt.Her method of education was peculiar, for she usually went to sleep from six toseven every evening, leaving her pupils to improve themselves as best they couldby seeing her do it. Mr.Wopsle’s great-aunt, besides keeping this EducationInstitution, kept in the same room a little general shop.”Chapter 6 page 33The terrible education background could n’t cultivate Pip to have the right value to the society and the life. So Pip wants to study hard just because of his vanity: the love for Estella．Pip wants to learn and become a gentle man. When Pip later becomes a London gentleman，he learns from Mr. Pocket．At this time，the purpose of receiving education is only to decorat e the gentleman’s status.Thus throughout Pip’s receiving education, He learns only a little from his teachers. His real teachers are his sufferings．Pip’s process of being taught is mainly the process of his teaching himself. He is thirsty for knowledge but his teachers never satisfies his intellectual need or tell him the math of life．From the beginning to the end of the book．Originally, he wants education because of his love for Estella．There are great gaps between Pip and Estella, Pip wants to narrow these gaps by learning more．All those are driven by his vanity for the beautiful Estella and for the upper class life.3.2 His Poor Family SituationPip was an orphan who lived with his sister and brother in law. The poor living condition made him quite sensitive, which also made him feel shame of his family situation when with Estella and the friends. Although Joe treated Pip as his best friend who he could believe in and give sincerity and comfort to, what Joe could do was too little to help Pip, not the good living situation and the good education.Thus, Pip formed the false values about the wealth, the social status and the wrong outlook about the world. Pip couldn’t refuse the temptation around so he losthis balance in mind because he always thinks he is poor and common man. He was eager to be a gentleman and the husband of Estella, though it is impossible of the family situation for him. However, he lived in his dream. His sister punished him in lots of ways such as using the tar water as medicine, her ring and thimble as torture instruments. Mrs. Joe liked to tell others that it was her that brought Pip up and she suffered a lot for this. However, she never gave Pip any good family situation to have a good education and the good value about the life and the wealth. What Pip felt was the following:“My sister’s bringing up had made me sensitive. In the little world in whichchildren have their existence, whoever brings them up, there is nothing so finelyperceived and so finely felt, as injustice.”(69)Therefore, when Pip got the information that he had come into handsome property, he feel that he have the chance to be a gentle man and will not to be the low class of the society. And then, he waste the money every day and persist in he will be the upper class man.However, all that is because of his poor family situation that couldn’t give him the good education and had the right value of life and the wealth, which straightly let him got the vanity that he come into handsome property to have the chance to be a gentle man and the upper class of the society.3.3 The Cruelty of the BourgeoisieIn the Victorian Age, because of the Industrial Revolution and the development of the society, the Bourgeoisie is very cruelty for the wealth and the social advancement. Sometimes they are ruthless for the low class to reach their own purpose.3.3.1 Vengeful and Wealthy Miss HavishamIn Great Expectations, Miss Havisham is a mad, vengeful, a wealthy old lady, who lives in a rotting mansion and wears an old, smelly wedding dress, which she never takes off in her rest of life. She is a poor role in the novel.Miss Havisham’s life is dominated by a disobliging man who named Compeyson,who leaves her alone on their wedding day. From then on, Miss Havisham turns all the clocks in her house at twenty minutes to nine, the moment when Compeyson dumps her, and she wears only one shoe, because when she is informed of his betrayal, she had not yet put on the other shoe.With such kind of manic, obsessive cruelty and miserable suffering, Miss Havisham adopts Estella and raises her as a gun to fire the men. Miss Havisham is an example of single-minded vengeance pursued destructively: both Miss Havisham and the friends in her life suffer painfully things because of her quest for revenge.Miss Havisham completely hasn’t seen that her actions are great hurtful to Pip and Estella. She is redeemed at the end of the novel when she realizes that she has broken Pip’s heart in the same manner as her own; rather than achieving any kind of pers onal revenge, she has only caused more pain. Miss Havisham’s begging for forgiveness reinforces the theme that bad behavior can be redeemed by contrition and sympathy.But Miss Havisham has also done the worse thing for Pip. She not only gives Pip the expectations to catch Estella, but also give Pip’s expectations to be a gentleman of the upper class, which indulges Pip’s vanity to chase after the illusory dreams. She knows that Pip is from the low class and Pip sometimes is self-contemptuous as shown in the book Great Expectations.“……my dream had come true, my wild fancy was surpassed by reality; MissHavisham was going to make my fortune.” chapter 13 Page 92Miss Havisham’s revenge straightly put Pip to run after the wealth and the social advancement. To say it in different way, Miss Havisham straightly put Pip to be a vanity man for the wealth and the social advancement.3.3.2 Indulgent and Hypocritical Mr. JaggersIn the beginning, Pip’s vanity is buried in his heart as shown in the book: “one morning after I wake up, a good idea comes into my heart: I’ll let myself uncommon.”, but when he meets Mr.Jaggers his vanity comes into a summit.Mr.Jaggers as a represent of the decaying legal system of British also gives Pip a dream to be the upper class of the society. The dream let Pip got the expectation. On the contrary, in London, Pip has never studied the knowledge and the manner of the upper class, but the luxury of the upper class as shown in the book:“We always derived great satisfaction from making an appointment for this purpose.We ordered something special for dinner, with an expensive bottle of wine, in orderthat our minds might be fortified for the occasion. Dinner over, we produced pensand paper. I would then take a sheet of paper and write across the top of it, in neathand writing, “Memorandum of Pip’s Debts” chapter 19 page 145That is the indulgence of Mr.Jaggers who hasn’t paid the responsibility to Pip’s development, which is also because of his hypocritical. To say it in other words, Mr.Jaggers is an irresponsible lower. What he wants is just the attorney fees. Mr.Jaggers is also a vanity man as shown in the book:“Now, I have nothing to say to you,” said Mr.Jaggers, throwing his finger at them. Iwant to know no more that I know. As to the result, it’s a toss-up. I told you fromthe first it was a toss-up. Have you paid Wemmick?”From this point of view, Pip is also a victim. Although he is vanity after suffering Miss Havisham and Estella, the greatest culprit is Mr.Jaggers indulgent and hypocritical. It is his indulgent and hypocritical put Pip’s vanity to the summit.4 ConclusionThe development of Pip’ vanity has a deep relationship with the social factors such as education, family and soc ial activities. In the thesis we’ve talked about many aspects that influenced the development of Pip’s vanity. Pip lost his nature in his own life is because he has got the wrong value towards wealth, love and social status. Then the terrible education condition was an important aspect that Pip learnt little useful knowledge from the school or the teacher. Wemmick helped Pip when Pip faced the difficulties. He gave his true love to Pip who once saved his life. At last, Pip knew that he should abandon the wrong value and find back his natural character.The novel tells us that we must establish the right value for the wealth and the social status and shouldn’t be mislead by the wrong value from the social factors. Thesocial factors can be the good thing for our development and can also mislead us to the abyss. To say it in other words, they can be educational and destructive. Of course, different people will lead different lives in the same social factors. But the most important factor is our own nature.。