Great expectations Pip's journey toward self-discovery - Essay Example

Taken in a broader sense, the central character of Bildungsroman is modern mythical hero who has a quest for “bliss and understanding” and for this he embarks on a journey which confronts him with many tests and trials and acquaints him with “things bigger than himself ”( Campbell 109). The hero moves from his birthplace and faces life with all its good and bad things. This process gives the hero a broader and matured understanding about his own self and the world around him. Dickens’ novels mostly follow this convention and Great Expectations is fine example of this genre in which the protagonist Pip takes this journey towards self-development and undergoes different stages of maturity from his naive childhood.

The process takes places in three stages which have been described as self-mortification, self-gratification or self-interest and the ultimate self-redemption. The hero’s contact with pain and pleasure gives him certain realization about his existence and adds to his knowledge of the world. In the following lines Pip’s cruise into his own self in the light of Bildungsroman tradition will be explored. Characteristics of a bildungsroman Before starting our analysis of Great Expectations as a Bildungsroman, it would be pertinent to discuss about certain features of Bildungsroman.

“ Swales points out to the self-consciousness of the Bildungsroman, its discursiveness and self-reflectivity, its narrative obliqueness, its concern for the elusiveness of selfhood” ( Hoagland 20). It has also been seen that the function of Bildungsroman “ in its schematic representation, its primary function is to make integration into the existing social order legitimate by channeling individual energy into socially useful purposes( Bolaki 12). The tradition puts forth a piece of fiction which has following prominent features: 1.

Conflict ( mostly with hero and society) 2. Journey 3. Stages of self-discovery 4. Final realization and return to place of nativity 5. Conformity to social order Innocence and feeling of shame In Dickens’ Great Expectations, the hero Pip is an innocent child who is living in poor surroundings with his sister and brother-in-law. His brother in law is his moral ideal at this stage who entertains the higher morals of honesty and hard work. The transformation in the life of Pip takes place when he lives with eccentric Miss Havisham .

The first encounter of our hero with feelings of pain come in this surrounding when he compares his previous life with the life at Havisham house. He develops a feeling of shame. He starts hating his previous life and the morals attached to it. The stigma of poverty stings him to the heart. When Estella alludes to the coarseness of his hands and boots, he cut to the quick and says,“ I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair.

Her contempt for me was so strong” ( Dickens 105) . The transformation or the first discovery has occurred. Pip himself reflects on this situation: “Now it was all coarse and common, and I would not have had Miss Havisham and Estella see it on any account… The change was made in me; the thing was done. Well or ill done, excusably or inexcusable, it was done”( Dickens 188-189). The reliazation of the class differences leads him to his next stage of development where he develops false ideals of gentleman ship and indulges in the vices that a city offers.

Self-gratification or Self Interest