An Interpretation Of Great Expectations From The Perspective Of Binary Opposition

As the greatest representative of English novels in the middle of the 19 thcentury,Charles Dickens creates countless masterpieces,and he is widely known not only in his own country and his own time,but enjoys enduring reputation all over the globe in the following ages.Dickens is an eminent critical realist writer,and to some extent his novels are an epitome of the social realities of that age.Reading his novels,we can get a deeper understanding of Dickens and his novels,and even the Victorian Age in which he lives.Great Expectations is an important work of his later literary career,and in this period,Dickens is getting maturer in all respects,without blind optimism in his youth,and he has a relatively sober understanding of the social realities,so it is of higher research value.Great Expectations is abundant in binary oppositions and if we read through the text,we can find that Dickens is quite adept in employing binary opposition.The thesis intends to make an attempt to utilize theories related to the binary opposition principle,that is,the core of structuralism to detailedly analyze the text on the basis of the previous researching fruits,thereby revealing how Dickens successfully deepens and sublimates themes,portrays characters and reinforces the tragic atmosphere of the novel.The writer hopes this kind of analyses can be of great benefit for readers to better understand the novel,experience and appreciate Dickens' great talents in literary creation on a deeper level as well.On the whole,this thesis is comprised of three parts,namely,introduction,main body and conclusion.Its main contents are as follows:The first part is the introduction,which firstly focuses on the brief accounts of the writer's life and his works composed in various phases.And then expounds the research status on Great Expectations home and abroad comprehensively.Finally the research perspective and approach,points of innovation as well as research significance of this thesis are presented.The second part,main body of the thesis,consists of four chapters.The beginning chapter is the theoretical foundation of the thesis,which mainly contains two parts.Firstly,it will dwell on the relationships between binary opposition and the structural linguistics,namely,its theoretical source.And then the second partdeals with the relations between binary opposition and literary criticism,that is,its application to literary criticism.The second chapter principally explores the embodiment of binary opposition in the themes.Here it centers on the discussion of two pairs of binary oppositions and they are“ideal and reality” and “good and evil”,thus exploring how Dickens deepens the themes by employing binarism and expresses his own thoughts as well.To start with,this chapter analyzes the binary opposition between ideal and reality,which is typically embodied by Pip the protagonist.Pip is always in the conflicts between ideal and reality,and unfortunately his dream disillusions after several twists and turns,and finally he returns to the harsh reality.Secondly,it takes some characters and their fates in the novel as examples to analyze the binary opposition between good and evil,and expound the novelist's poetical justice,to be more brief,his firm belief that good is rewarded and evil punished.Meanwhile it points out the idealist features implied in the text and the clear significance of moral admonition pervasive in the story.The third chapter mainly discusses the manifestation of binary opposition in the characters,which primarily consists of the conflicts between characters and within individual characters.The binary opposition between characters is mainly manifested by the conflicts and contrasts between angel images like Joe and Biddy,and villain images like Orlick and Compeyson.And this kind of opposition reveals Dickens' humanitarian thoughts and also implies his firm belief in the value that good is rewarded and evil punished.The binary oppositions within individual characters are presented by taking Pip,Miss Havisham,Jaggers and Wemmick as examples.Here it mainly involves five pairs of binary oppositions,including Pip as narrator and protagonist,fact and fancy in Pip,kindness and wickedness in Miss Havisham,cold and caring in Jaggers,and finally private and public life of Wemmick.The binary opposition in Pip's double identities makes it possible for Pip the observer to criticize sometimes snobbish Pip as a participant.The binary opposition between fact and fancy best illustrates Pip's personality that is quite common in all humans.In the meantime,the expert employment of binary opposition in the novel reveals the double personality of people like Miss Havisham,Jaggers and Wemmick,and it also serves to make their images more lively and acceptable to the readers.The fourth chapter chiefly interprets the manifestation of binary opposition in the settings and images.For one thing,the binary opposition in settings is best embodied by the gloomy upper class and warm lower class,that is,the sharp contrasts between Miss Havisham's Satis House and London represented by Barnard's Inn and Joe's forge.For another,the binary opposition in images is primarily between light and dark and the typical examples are forge fire,the shining sun,etc.and heavy mist and prison etc.respectively.The employment of images and descriptions of the interior world of the characters display some literary qualities somewhat different from critical realism,and endow the text with certain romantic tastes,and meanwhile make the contrast between ideal and reality more sharp and clear.Attention should also be paid to the integration of the settings and images.The last part is the conclusion,which makes a brief summary of the previous chapters and comes to the conclusion that Dickens employs several pairs of binary oppositions in Great Expectations to successfully portray the characters,deepen the themes and enhance the artistic charms of the novel.It also points out that binary oppositions are also pervasive in Dickens' other novels and his skillful utilization of binary opposition strengthens the artistic effects of the novel.The interpretation of the text from the perspective of binary opposition is really of great significance to better understand the novel and excavate the deep connotation of his literary creation.