Money as a Gift in “Great Expectations” by Dickens

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Table of Contents

Introduction
A Gift for Pip
The Complex Nature of the Gift
Conclusion
Work Cited

Introduction

It is quite a common technique for writers to make some elements in their literary works have complex natures and ambiguous meanings. For example, characters may receive some gifts that, on the one hand, are intended to help them but, on the other hand, can provoke negative consequences. Thus, in Charles Dickens’s 1860 novel Great Expectations, money that Pip receives as a goodwill gesture appears to be chains that forever bind him to an unwanted profession.

A Gift for Pip

Having great hopes and plans for the future, Pip wishes to follow his uncle-in-law’s lead and pursue a blacksmith career. Miss Havisham, focusing on her own objectives and motives, decides to reward Pip for his recent services and for being “a good boy here” (Dickens, Chapter 13). She gives him an amount of twenty-five guineas so that Pip can be sworn in at the court and become an official blacksmith’s apprentice, even though this money is not a necessity.

The Complex Nature of the Gift

Overall, this monetary reward has a double meaning and affects the plot differently. First, this gift proves the value and gumption of Pip, slightly improving his dignity in the eyes of his relatives. This money is what Pip earned fairly, and this is the goodwill gesture of Miss Havisham, so one may expect that the nature of the gift is entirely positive (Dickens, Chapter 13). However, the money causes Pip’s bond to the deal official and unbreakable, becoming his first disappointment and making the great expectations seem unreachable. The way that this gift contributes to the meaning of the novel as a whole is that it shows how money can trap people and promise them easy social mobility. The latter is actually another trap and leads to broken dreams and unachieved expectations.

Conclusion

To draw a conclusion, one may say that the dual nature of the gift Pip receives from Miss Havisham is evident. While money may seem like the best tool on one’s way to their goal, it often makes people do numerous unwanted things or become bound by a sense of duty. This is why Dickens needs this gift in the novel and gives such a role to money.

Work Cited

Dickens, Charles. “Great Expectations.” Gutenberg, 1998, Web.

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Money as a Gift in “Great Expectations” by Dickens

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