The Idea Of The Gentleman In Dickens’ Great Expectations

Charles Dickens is one of the greatest critical realistic novelists in the Victorian age. He plays an important role in the British literary world. The idea of the gentleman is the core content of the English spirit culture and the core value in the Victorian novel. It is eminently reflected in the literature works since the novel was born in England; and its connotations are changing and expanding with the change of the times. In the Victorian age, the gentleman refers to the person who has a great deal of wealth, with good education and refined manners. The concept of the gentleman has close connection with the social background, with its politics, culture and moral values in the Victorian England.In order to pursue higher social status and become a gentleman, the protagonist Pip of Great Expectations changes from an innocent and kind man to a spurious and selfish person. He realizes his false values; and he finally finds his true self and becomes a true gentleman after he experiences a great deal of sufferings in society; and he comes to understand what a true gentleman is. A true gentleman does not just possess the outward trappings such as wealth, education and manners and so on; and what is more, he must have moral virtues such as kindness, wisdom and integrity. This essay aims at a discussion of the gentleman concept and its cultural connotations in Great Expectations, at an exploration of Dickens’ opinions for a true gentleman and his most profound commentary on the Victorian civilization and its values, through an analysis of the characterization of Pip and the so-called gentleman image and non-gentleman image in this novel, which is closely connected with Dickens’ personal life experience and moral values.