Charles Dickens’s "Great Expectations": Analysis of Didacticism and Morality
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss2.1580Keywords:
Dickens, Great Expectations, didacticism, morality, Victorian ethics, BildungsromanAbstract
This paper argues that didacticism and morality are closely intertwined in ""Great Expectations"" by Charles Dickens, an illustration of his adult moral vision. Dickens goes beyond mere moralizing and employs a psychologically subtle first-person narration to examine how morals are constructed through the protagonist, Pip's, guilt, shame, and redemption. Through an examination of the novel's symbolic geography, characterization, and issues of social mobility and crime, the paper reveals how the novel compels the reader to track Pip's moral collapse and rebuild, challenging the Victorian ideals of class and respectability. The didacticism of Dickens is reflective and humanistic. It has been formed through experiencing empathy, suffering, and personal responsibility. According to the novel, moral, rather than material, "Great Expectations" inspire individuals to engage in ethical thinking, and, by extension, the role of literature in doing so.
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