As simplistic and politically unbiased as Victorian novels and their common familiar themes of love and companionship may seem, there is usually a greater sociopolitical concern woven into the narrative for the reader of the era may have recorded. Paul Thomas Murphy expresses this in Toward a Working Class Canon: Literary Criticism in British Working-class Periodicals, 1816-1858 with “The literary discourse in every working-class periodical is both an attempt to influence and the product of influence” (Murphy 13) . The same can be said for Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. The social nuances within had their own pseudo-manipulative propagandistic intentions for the hierarchical dynamics of such lower-level classes, particularly regarding the conscious repression of social unrest and the construction of a transparent parallel between Dickens's perception of those individuals and women affected by poverty. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Despite the manipulation, Dickens undoubtedly had a pretty good reason for wanting to foster certain dispositions in his audience. For example, an intellectually empowered underclass was something he feared tremendously, as Peter Scheckner explains in his article “Gender and Class in Dickens: Making Connections,” something that could spark an organized revolt aimed at the higher levels of the social ladder. Much of these anxieties were perhaps most explicitly expressed in A Tale of Two Cities, where lower-class men and women were equally “depicted as mad and perhaps even more malevolent than the aristocracy they are trying to overthrow” (Scheckner 244) . This is not to say that Dickens intended to antagonize the lower classes in any way – many of his integral and endearing characters reside in the lower classes – but only that he depicted them in such a way as to quell their potentially brewing rebellion. It is perhaps best stated in the opening line of Scheckner's essay that “Charles Dickens preferred workers in the same way he preferred Victorian women: grateful for favors received, humble, patient, and passive” (Scheckner 236). It is precisely these sentiments that are reflected in most of Great Expectations, aimed largely at pacifying the potentially unruly. However, it should not be said that Dickens's apprehension was more like unfounded paranoia. Indeed, at twelve years old, Dickens knew firsthand how the working class thought and operated, slaving away ten-hour shifts at Warren's Blacking Warehouse in London to support himself and his family following his father's imprisonment. An utterly sordid establishment, his experience of working there under such harsh conditions created an all-too-bleak awareness of the sufferings and tribulations of the working class, so much so that in his adulthood he “became a source of both creative energy and concern for the issues of alienation and betrayal that would emerge, in particular, in David Copperfield and in Great Expectations” (Cody), to name just a few of his influenced works. This is how he gained such a deep understanding of how challenged, vulnerable and malleable the working class really was. Aside from the older members who constituted the working class, Great Expectations also aimed its social commentary at younger readers born into such environments. economic position. Since Pip is seven years old at the beginning of the novel, the reader is presented with the entire narrative arc of his character in the making, through his adolescence and young adulthood. Therefore, those closest to the bandPip's ages were more likely to empathize with his difficulties. Not surprisingly, this notion is relevant to Dickens's writing styles and preferences. As David Paroissien states in his essay “Ideology, Pedagogy, and Demonology: The Case Against Industrialized Education in Dickens's Fiction,” Dickens "believed firmly in the ability of imaginative literature to encourage healthy habits of mind in young readers growing up in an era dominated by industrial and manufacturing concerns" (Paroissien 261). Perhaps the strongest insight into Dickens's view of the lower classes came with the characterizations of his female characters in Great Expectations. With the exception of Biddy – who he saw as the “true” representation of femininity – most of the female characters in Great Expectations personify the way the lower classes were inclined to behave, according to Dickens. Scheckner singles out Mrs. Joe, who “when she becomes too assertive becomes very unattractive and may even deserve a strong slap on the head, which she receives, as we know, from Orlick” (Scheckner 240). As austere as the concept is, it's hard to ignore the arrogant and excessive consequences imposed on the women in Great Expectations that face the men: Molly is subjugated to Mr. Jaggers' work; Estella is beaten and eventually widowed; Mrs. Joe is beaten so badly that she becomes an invalid; and Mrs. Havisham is burned alive. Furthermore, although Dickens was undoubtedly in favor of justifying the struggle of the lower classes, he nevertheless believed that “women should be advised by sympathetic men”, “workers should appeal to those in authority to save them from themselves, from the fire of society". rebellions raging in their hearts sometimes out of control” (Scheckner 245). Considering that his perception of women was similarly forged during his dark childhood, with his mother readily choosing to keep young Charles in the warehouse longer than necessary, it becomes increasingly clear the extent to which he associated class position working class to that of the working class. women. Writing the novel itself with all the precise themes implanted alone would not be enough to communicate them to the intended audience. In fact, the moral expressed in the text was so vital and lower class in its essence that Dickens needed an alternative medium to be able to convey it to the right demographic. The method by which he chose to publish Great Expectations – along with other works, such as A Tale of Two Cities – was to publish it in his weekly periodical All the Year Round, partly to stimulate the fanatical fervor of his readers as they would become increasingly restless reading the unresolved stories of each published segment, awaiting the next one and the further narrative developments that would derive from it. Furthermore, being more prominent, it was less expensive and easily accessible to the more deprived lower classes who made up the majority of its target audience. In doing so, the lower class would in fact procure the text specifically intended for them and then unconsciously absorb the morals and sociopolitical values ​​that Dickens incorporated into the narrative. Although quite literate – estimates fall between sixty and seventy-five percent (Murphy 7) – the lower classes of the Victorian period represented an extremely impressionable demographic and at the same time one that, if properly educated, could prove potentially dangerous to the sociopolitical hierarchy . Lauren Watson expresses this in her article “Imitations, Counterfeits and 'Other' Bad Copies: Forging Class Currency and Colonialism in High Expectations” as“[imitation] simultaneously marks both the establishment and disintegration of class and colonial relations within the conflicted economies of capitalism and imperialism” (Watson 493). Just as a popular anarchist text might lead the working class to rebel, Dickens took advantage of this didactic susceptibility to instill in them what he ardently considered politically right or something that reflected his own moral compass in the prospect that those beliefs and values ​​would be accepted . be echoed on the feelings of its readers. One of the themes that Dickens tried to communicate was as Carolyn Lesjak explains in Working Fictions: A Genealogy of the Victorian Novel that the literature of the time often presented this jarring split in the relationship between individual achievements such as social status and monetary value and intimate matters such as family and love in one's life. This concept is especially present in Great Expectations, in which Pip continually rejects his common sense in favor of the illusion that his mysterious inheritance will lead to upper-class affluence and an intimate romance with the self-proclaimed hard-hearted Estella Freddo. However, in doing so, Pip willingly gives up intimate relationships with his brother-in-law Joe and guardian Biddy – the only ones who truly love him, humble origins and all – something he comes to recognize after his hardships. Evidently, Pip's attempt to bridge the gap between these two virtues at the extremes of the social spectrum is entirely misguided. On the other side of the argument, Dickens inserts another player into the narrative to counteract these characterizations in the form of John Wemmick, Mr. Jaggers' clerk. Wemmick, unlike Pip, shows his mastery over the two mentioned above. aspects of life, having established himself professionally in Mr Jaggers' office and domestically in his not-so-humble abode - a small-scale castle - caring for his father - bizarrely nicknamed the "elderly parent" - and entertaining his fiancée Miss Skiffins . Along with these two settings, Wemmick's behavior and bipolarity suit both, calculating and lukewarm when in Mr. Jaggers' domain and carefree and jovial when at home. However, Dickens seems to emphasize the importance of domestic life in regards to individuality, although he specifically and astutely does not entirely devalue professional life at the same time. Indeed, after analyzing Wemmick's relatively barren state in Jaggers' presence, Pip recounts that "there were two twin Wemmicks and this was the wrong one" (Dickens 290). Both seemingly alter their respective positions to fit this ideal by the end of the novel, with Pip successfully appealing to Wemmick's "right twin" in Jaggers' presence and with Pip fully understanding the importance of his epiphany. However, Wemmick is intended to represent the ideal balance between humanity and professionalism and is, as Arlene Young states in Culture, Class, and Gender in the Victorian Novel: Gentlemen, Gents, and Working Woman, “a character who remains uncompromisingly middle class -low in status” but “yet requires a certain measure of respect” (Young 100). Dickens exercises this theme of innateness by serving as a crux of his own humanity to instill both a sense of contentment and contentment in the lower classes regarding their social standing. However, in turn, these themes were also formulated to psychologically dissuade and hinder the working class from aspiring to greater social and economic achievement, perhaps conveying through Pip's tale a warning under more than the aforementioned sociopolitical pretexts..