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  • Essay / Guilt and Shame in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations

    The purpose of this essay is to analyze the guilt and shame in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations through Philip Pirrip, better known as "Pip" , the main character who is unhappy with his life and tries to have a better life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayGuilt and shame are emotions that are very close to each other. We feel guilty when we feel responsible for an action that we regret and shame is when we feel disappointed by something in ourselves or by the people around us, and these two emotions are mainly what Pip feels during the novel. Pip's traits include gentleness and restraint, but from the first chapter it becomes clear that he begins to feel guilty and almost until the end this guilt stays with him. Pip begins his life in a guilty environment, as his sister Mrs. Joe makes him feel guilty for everything he does. Even during Christmas lunch, all the guests annoyed Pip with all his silly questions and advice. Mr. Wopsle even made a comparison between Pip and the pig. “What is detestable in a pig is even more detestable in a boy.” And everyone tries to make him feel guilty because he's such a burden to his sister and Mrs. Joe couldn't help but join them either. As he said: "I have always been treated as if I had insisted on being born in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion and morality, and against the arguments of my best friends", this phrase like no other can describe his feeling of guilt over being born. But his first visible feeling of guilt appears when he steals food and drinks from the pantry so Magwitch can help him escape. He knows that stealing is a crime and he also feels bad that he cannot tell anyone about this act, especially his best friend (brother-in-law) Joe. “But I loved Joe,—perhaps for no other reason at that time, than because this dear man let me love him,—and as for him, my inner self was not so calm. " Later, he also feels guilty about lying to Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook about his experience at Miss Havisham's. “I was convinced that if I described Miss Havisham as my eyes had seen her, I would not be understood.” Pip is initially ashamed of his life and his family once he starts visiting Miss Havisham and sees Estella there, because he only loves Estella and he really wants to impress her, but Estella, charming lady who was adopted by Miss Havisham and grew up as a “Revenge on all the male sex” manipulates men's feelings and always tries to hurt them like she does with Pip. He is ashamed of being a blacksmith and wears his clothes and boots next to Estella, because she considers him a lower class "boy". “With this boy!” Well, he's an ordinary working boy! Pip also feels ashamed and completely uncomfortable when they went to visit Miss Havisham with Joe, because Joe does not know how to act and speak in front of high class people. "I fear I was ashamed of the dear good boy - I know I was ashamed of him - when I saw that Estella was standing at the back of Miss Havisham's chair and her eyes were laughing mischievously." While Pip is in London, he tries to forget his past and everyone connected to it, and whenever he returns home from London, he always only visits Miss Havisham, because he believes that she is his benefactress, so he only comes to visit her. her. He doesn't go to visit his sister or Joe later, when Mrs. Joe dies,.