The Poor Labyrinth: The Theme of Social Injustice in Dickens's "Great Expectations"
Author(s): John H. Hagan, Jr.
Source: Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Dec., 1954), pp. 169-178
Published by: University of California Press
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The Poor Labyrinth:
THE THEME OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE
IN DICKENS'S "GREAT EXPECTATIONS"
JOHN H. HAGAN, JR.
I N THE SURFACE Great Expectationsis simplya notherv ery
good exampleo f that perennialg enre,t he educationn ovel.I n particular,
i t is the storyo f a restlessy oungb oy from the lowerc lasses
who comesi nto possessiono f a fortuneh e has donen othingt o earn,
foundsa host of romantica spirationus pon it at the cost of becoming
a snob,c omest o be disappointedb othr omanticallya nds ocially,
and, finally, with a more mature knowledge of himself and the
world, works out his regenerationA. s such, the novel is what
G. K. Chestertono nce calledi t, "ane xtrac haptert o 'The Booko f
Snobs."' But while admitting that Pip is a fairly good specimen of
a certaint ype of mentalitys o deart o Dickens'ss atiricals pirit,w e
cannoto verlookt he factt hatD ickensi s usingh is charactetro reveal
some still more complex truths about society and its organization.
Though its shorterl ength and more compacto rganizationh ave
prevented it from being classed with Bleak House, Little Dorrit,
and OurM utualF riend,G reatE xpectationiss reallyo f a piecew ith
that great social "trilogy"o f Dickens'sl ater years.I n the briefer
novel Dickens is attempting only a slightly less comprehensive
anatomizationo f sociale vil; thematicallyt,h e implicationso f Pip's
storya re almosta s large.C onsiderf, or instance,h ow many different
stratao f societya reg otteni nto the comparativelsym alln umber
of pagest hat storyt akesu p. In the firsts ix chaptersa lonew e meet
members of the criminal, the military, and the artisan classes,
togetherw ith a parishc lerka nd two well-to-doe ntrepreneurTs.h e
E I691
170 Nineteenth-Century Fiction
principadl ifferenceb etweenG reatE xpectationas ndt he morem assivep
anoramicn ovelsl ies morei n the artisticm eanse mployedt han
in the intellectuacl ontent.I n GreatE xpectationDs ickenss tripst he
largern ovelst o theiri ntellectuael ssentialsT. he pointo f one line of
action in Bleak House, we remember, was to show how Lady
Dedlock had been victimized by social injustice operating in the
form of conventionalm oralitya nd its hypocrisiesB. ut into that
novel Dickens also packed a great deal else; the Lady Dedlock
action was but part of a gigantic network. In Great Expectations
all such additionalr amificationsa re discarded.D ickens concentratesw
ith greati ntensityu pon a single line of developmenta, nd,
to our surpriset, his line turnso ut to be remarkablys imilari n its
theme to that of Lady Dedlock's story. For Pip's career shows not
only a hapless young man duped by his poor illusions, but a late
victimi n a long chain of widespreads ociali njustice.
The story'se ssentialf eaturesm ake this fact plain. We learni n
ChapterX LIIt hatt he primem over,s o to speak,o f the entirec ourse
of eventsw hich the novel treatsi mmediatelyo r in retrospecits a
man by the name of Compeysona, cad who adoptst he airs of a
"gentleman." Significantly, he remains throughout the book
shrouded in mist (literal and figurative), vague, remote, and terrifying,
l ike some vast impersonafl orce.T hroughh is actionst wo
peopleo nce camet o grief. First,a fters trippingh er of a greatd eal
of her fortune, he jilted the spoiled and naive Miss Havisham, and
thereby turned her wits against the whole male sex. Secondly, he
furtherc orrupteda man namedM agwitchw ho had alreadyb een
injuredb y poverty,a nd revealedt o him how easilyt he law may be
twisted into an instrument of class. The trial of Magwitch and
Compeyson is so important a key to the novel's larger meanings
that the former'sd escriptiono f it in the later pages of the book
shouldb e readi n entirety.W hat the passager evealsi s that impartiality
in the courts is often a myth. Judges and jury alike may be
swayedb y classp rejudiceT. he whole judicials ystemm ay tend to
perpetuatec lass antagonisma nd hostility.I n short,a n important
"Great Expectations" 171
element at the root of Magwitch's career is great social evil: the
evil of povertya, ndt he evil of a corruptibljeu dicials ystemT. hough
not entirelys o, Magwitchi s certainlyi,n part,a victim.T he conventional
words Pip speaks over his corpse at the end-" 'O Lord, be
mercifult o him a sinner'" -remain merelyc onventionalf,o r the
man was more sinned against than sinning. From his very first
appearancein the novel, when we see him shiveringo n the icy
marshesh, e is depictedw ith sympathya, nd by the time we get to
the end, he has risen to an almost heroic dignity.
The connection of all this with Pip is plain. The young boy becomes
for both Magwitch and Miss Havisham a means by which,
in their different ways, they can retaliate against the society that
injuredt hem. One of Miss Havisham'so bjectsi s, throughP ip, to
frustrate her greedy relatives who, like Compeyson himself, are
interestedin herf or herm oneya lone,a ndw ho, againl ike Compeyson,
t ypifyt he rapaciouas ndp redatorye lementso f societya t large.
Magwitch,o n the otherh and,r etaliatesa gainsts ocietyb y striving
to meet it on the groundo f its own specialp rejudicesT. hough deprivedf
romc hildhoodo f the opportunityto becomea "gentleman"
himself, he does not vow destructiont o the "gentleman"c lass.
Havings eeni n Compeysonth e powero f thatc lass,t he deferenceit
receives from society, he fashions a gentleman of his own to take
his placei n it. He is satisfiedt o live vicariouslyth roughP ip,t o show
societyt hat he can come up to its standardsa, nd, by raisingh is
pawn into the inner circle, to prove that it is no longer impregnable.
Thus Pip, in becomingt he focal point for MissH avisham'sa nd
Magwitch'sr etaliation-the one who is caughti n the midst of the
cross fire directed against society by two of the parties it injured,
who, in turn,d isplayi n theird esiref or proprietorshispo meo f the
very tyranny and selfishness against which they are rebellingbecomess
ociety'ss capegoatI. t is he who must pay the price forl
originalo utragesa gainstj ustice,w ho must sufferf or the wideri njustices
of the whole society of which he is but a humble part. The
resulti s that he too takeso n society'sv ices,i ts selfishnessi,n grati172
Nineteenth-Century Fiction
tude, extravagancea,n d pride.H e, too, becomess omethingo f an
impostorl ike Compeysonh imself,a nd therebyf ollowsi n the fatal
footstepso f the very man who is indirectlyt he causeo f his future
misery. Thus the worst qualities of society seem inevitably to
propagate themselves in a kind of vicious circle. Paralleling the
caseo f Pip is thato f Estella.A s Pip is the creationo f Magwitchs, he
is the creationo f MissH avishamH. er perversionh ass tartede arlier;
as the novel opens, it is Pip's turn next. He is to be the latest heir of
originali njusticet, he next to fall victimt o the distortiontsh ath ave
already been forced upon Magwitch, Miss Havisham, and Estella.
He is to be the latestp roducto f Compeyson'esv il as it continuest o
infect life.
But injusticed oesn ot comet o bearu ponP ip throughM agwitch
and Miss Havisham alone. There is injustice under the roof of his
own house. Throughout the first stage of Pip's career, Dickens
presentsd ramaticallyin scene after scenet he petty tyrannye xercisedo
vert he boy by his shrewishs ister,M rs.G argerya, nd someo f
her friends, particularlyM r. Pumblechook,t he blusteringc orn
merchant,a nd Wopsle,t he theatrically-mindepda rishc lerk. It is
the constant goading Pip receives from these people that makes
him peculiarlys usceptiblet o the lure of his "greate xpectations"
with their promiseo f escapea nd freedom.B ut more importanti s
the fact thati t is Pumblechooka nd Mrs.G argeryw ho firstp ut the
treacherouisd ea into Pip'sh ead that Miss Havishami s his secret
patronessO. ne of the veryr easonst hey insistu pon his waitingo n
the old woman in the first place is their belief that she will liberally
rewardh im, and thereafterth ey neverl et the idea out of the boy's
mind. In short, Mrs. Gargery,P umblechooka, nd Wopsle do as
much as Magwitch and Miss Havisham to turn Pip into his erring
ways. To be sure,t he novel is not an essayi n determinismB. ut
despitet he legitimacyo f the reproacheosf Pip'sc onsciencew, e cannot
forget how earlyh is impressionablme ind was stampedw ith
the imageso f greeda ndi njustice-imagest hatp resenta small-scale
versiono f the greedy and unjust world of "respectabilitya"s a
"Great Expectations" 173
whole.T he tyrannye xercisedo verP ip by his sister,P umblechook,
and theirl ike is a type of the tyrannye xercisedb y the conventionally
"superior"el ementso f societyo ver the sufferinga nd dispossessed.
T heirsi s a versioni n miniatureo f the societyt hat tolerates
the existenceo f the dunghillsi n which Magwitcha nd his kind are
spawned, and then throws such men into chains when they violate
the law. When Pumblechookb oastso f himselfa s the instrumenot f
Pip'sw ealth,h e is truthfuli n a way he nevers uspectso r wouldc are
to suspectF. or the obsequiousa ttitudet owardm oneyh e exemplifies
is, indirectlya, t the root of Pip'sn ew fortune.I t was just such
an attitudet hat resultedi n the debasingo f Magwitchb elow Compeysona
t their trial,a nd thus resultedi n the former'sf atal determinationt
o transformP ip into a "gentleman."
Injustice is thus at the heart of the matter-injustice working
upon and through the elders of Pip and Estella, and continuing its
reigni n the childrent hemselvesW. ith thesec hildrent, hereforew, e
have a theme analogous to one deeply pondered by another great
Victoriann ovelist: the idea of "consequencesa"s developedb y
George Eliot. Both she and Dickens are moved by a terrifying
vision of the wide extent to which pollution can penetrate the
different,a pparentlys eparatea nd unrelated,m emberso f society.
Oncea -na ct of injusticeh as beenc ommittedt, herei s no predicting
to what extenti t will affectt he liveso f generationsy et unborna nd
of people far removed in the social scale from the victims of the
originalo ppressionT. hough on a smallers cale,D ickenss ucceeds
no lessi n GreatE xpectationtsh ani n his largerp anoramicn ovelsi n
suggestinga comprehensivseo cials ituationN. o less than in Bleak
House, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend-and in A Tale of
Two Cities as well-the different levels of society are brought togetheri
n a web of sin,i njusticec, rime,a ndd estructionT. he scheme
bearsa n analogyt o the hereditaryd iseasesr unning throughout
several generations in Zola's Les Rougons-Macquartsse ries.
Dickens compressesh is materialm ore than Zola by startingi n
medias res, and showing Pip as the focal point for the past, present,
174 Nineteenth-Century Fiction
and futurea t once. In him are concentratedth e effectso f previous
injustice, and he holds in himself the injustice yet to come. The
interest of the novel is never restricted merely to the present.
Dickenso pensa greatv ista,a "poorl abyrinth,"th roughw hich we
may see the present as but the culmination of a long history of
social evil. Society is never able to smother wholly the facts of its
injustice. As Dickens shows in novel after novel, somehow these
factsw ill comet o light again:B ounderby'ms otheri n Hard Times
risest o revealh er son'sh ypocrisyt o the crowdh e has bulliedf or so
many years;t he factso f Mrs.C lennam'sr elationshipto the Dorrit
family,a nd of society'sin juryt o LadyD edlock,h er lover,a nd her
child, are all unearthed in the end. Immediate victims may be
skillfullys uppresseda, s Magwitch,r eturningf rom exile, is finally
caughta nd imprisoneda gain.B ut the balefule ffectso f sociale vil
go on in a kind of incalculablec hain reaction.I t is the old theme
of tragicd ramar ead into the bleak world of Mid-VictorianE ngland:
the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the heads of their
children; the curse on the house will have to be expiated by future
generationso f sufferers.
Thus it is fair to say that Pip's story is more than a study of personald
evelopmentI.n his lonelys trugglet o work out his salvation,
he is atoning for the guilt of society at large. In learning to rise
aboves elfishnesst,o attaint o a selflesslo ve for Magwitchh, e brings
to an end the chain of evil that was first forged by the selfish
CompeysonH. is regenerationh as somethingo f the samef orce as
Krook's" spontaneoucso mbustion"in BleakH ouse,o r the collapse
of the Clennam mansion in Little Dorrit, or even the renunciation
of his family heritage by Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities.
Just as Darnay must atone for the guilt of his family by renouncing
his propertys, o Pip must atonef or the evils of the societyt hat has
corrupted him by relinquishing his unearned wealth. And as
Darnaym arriest he girl whosef atherw as one of the victimso f his
family'so ppressions, o Pip desirest o marryt he girl whosef ather,
Magwitch, is the victim of the very society whose values Pip himself
has embraced.
"Great Expectations" 175
II
In givingh is themei maginativee mbodimenDt ickensu sedw hat
arep erhapss omeo f the mosti ngeniousa nds uccessfudl eviceso f his
entirec areerW. ith disarmings uddennessf,o r example,G reatE xpectationso
pens with the presentationo f a physicalp henomenon
almost as memorable as that of the fog in Bleak House: the
marshesM. oret han a Gothicd etailc asuallyi ntroducedto give the
storya n eerieb eginning,t he marshesr eappeara gaina nd again,n ot
only in the firsts ix chaptersw, herei ndeedt heyf igurem ostp rominently,
b ut throughoutt he book.T hey hauntt he novel from start
to finish,b ecomingf inallyo ne of its greati nformings ymbolsT. he
varietyo f waysi n which Dickensm anagesu nobtrusiveltyo weave
them, almost like a musical motif, into the texture of his tale is
remarkableA. t one time they may flickerb rieflya crosst he foregroundo
f one of Pip'sc asualr everies;a t anothert hey mayp rovide
the materiaol f a simile;o r Pip mayr eturnt o them in fact when he
is summonedt herel atei n the storyb y Orlick;o r, again,h e may see
them from a distance when he is helping Magwitch make his getawayd
own the Thames." Itw as like my own marshc ountry,"P ip
sayso f the landscapea long the parto f the riverh e and Magwitch
traverse:
... some ballast-lighterss,h aped like a child's first rude imitation of a boat,
lay low in the mud; and a little squat shoal-lighthouseo n open piles, stood
crippled in the mud on stilts and crutches; and slimy stakes stuck out of the
mud, and slimy stones stuck out of the mud, and red landmarks and tidemarks
stuck out of the mud, and an old landing-stage and an old roofless
building slipped into the mud, and all about us was stagnation and mud.
Mud is a peculiarlya ppropriatesy mbolf or the class of society
thatM agwitchr epresents-thed owntroddena nd oppressedo f life,
all those victims of injustice whom society has tried to submerge.
It is a natural image of the social dunghill in which violence and
rebellion are fomented, the breeding place of death. Likewise, it is
the condition of death itself upon which certain forms of life must
feed. It is no accidento n Dickens'sp artt hatw hen Pip andh is com176
Nineteenth-Century Fiction
panions stop at a public house on their journey down the river, they
meet a "slimya nd smeary"d ock attendantw hose clothesh ave all
been taken from the bodies of drowned men. In fact, the motif of
life thrivingu pon deathi s underlinedm oret han once throughout
the novel in a number of small but brilliant ways. On his first trip
to Newgate, Pip meets a man wearing "mildewed clothes, which
had evidentlyn ot belongedt o him originally,a nd which, I took it
into my head,h e had boughtc heapo f the executioner.T" rabb,t he
haberdashera nd funeral directoro f Pip's village, is still another
kind of scavengerH. e, too, like the manyu ndertakerisn Dickens's
other novels and Mrs. Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit, profits hideouslyb
y the misfortuneos f others.I t is this conditiont hat Dickens
sumsu p most effectivelyin the repulsiveim ageo f mud.
But together with the marshes, he uses still another symbol to
keep the idea of social injusticea nd its consequencesb efore us.
ChapterI opensw ith a descriptiono f the graveyardin which Pip's
parentsa nd severali nfantb rothersa reb uried.T hough lessp rominent
as an imaget hant he marshest,h ato f the gravep resentsm uch
more explicitlyt he idea of the death-in-lifes tate to which Magwitcha
ndo thersi n his predicamenat rec ondemnedW. e remember
that it is from among the tombstones that Magwitch first leaps
forthi nto the story;a ndw hen,a t the end of the chapterh, e is going
away,P ip has been so impressedb y his likenesst o a risen corpse
that he imaginest he occupantso f the graveyardr eachingf orth to
reclaim him. This is not a merely facetious or lurid detail. The
grave imagery suggests in a highly imaginative way the novel's
basics ituationM. agwitch,i n relationt o the "respectableo"r derso f
society,i s dead;i mmuredi n the Hulkso r transportedto the fringes
of civilization,h e is temporarilyr emovedf rom active life. But
when in the opening scene of the book he rises from behind the
tombstoneh, e is figurativelyc omingb ackt o life again,a nd we are
witnessingt he recurrenceo f an idea Dickensm adea centralm otif
of A Tale of Two Cities,t he idea of resurrectiona nd revolution.
When Magwitch looms up from the darkened stairwell of Pip's
"Great Expectations" 177
London lodging house at the end of the second stage of the boy's
career, we are witnessing, as in the case of Dr. Manette's being
"recalledt o life" from the Bastille,a n event of revolutionaryim -
plicationsF. or what this meansi s that one whom societyh as tried
to represst,o shut out of life, has refusedt o submitt o the edict.H e
has come back to take his place once more in the affairs of men,
and to influencet hemo penlyi n a decisivew ay.T he injuriess ociety
perpetrateos n certaino f its membersw ill be thrustb ack upon it.
Society,l ike an individual,c annot escapet he consequenceso f its
injustice; an evil or an injury once done continues to infect and
poisonl ife, to pollutet he societyr esponsiblefo r it.
This is suggested by the very way in which the material of the
novel is laid out. Within the first six chaptersD, ickens regularly
alternateso utdoora nd indoors cenes,e ach one of which is coincidentw
ith a chapterd ivision.T herei s a steadym ovementb acka nd
forth betweent he sheltera nd warmtho f the Gargery'hs ousea nd
the cold miserya nd dangero f the marshesT. hus,w hile gettingh is
plot under way, Dickens is at the same time vividly impressing
uponu s his fundamentaild eao f two worlds:t he worldo f "respectability"
a ndt he worldo f ignominy;o f oppressorasn do f oppressed;
of the living and of the dead.I n the firsts ix chapterst hesew orlds
are separatei;t is necessaryto come in or to go out in ordert o get
frome ithero ne to the other.B uti n his excursionfsr omt he houset o
the marshesa nd back again,P ip is alreadyf orging the link that is
to bring them together at the end of the second stage of his adventuresw
hen Magwitchr, efusingt o be left out in the cold anyl onger,
actuallyb ecomesa n inhabitanto f Pip'sp rivater ooms.T he clearest
hint of this coming revolution is given when the soldiers burst
from the marshes into Joe's house, and disrupt the solemn Christmas
dinner. The breaking in upon it of the forces of another world
shows on what a sandyf oundationt he complacencyo f Pumblechook
and his kind is based. Beneatht he self-assuredc rust of
society, the elements of discontent and rebellion are continually
seething,c ontinuallyt hreateningto erupt.T hus the alternationb e178
Nineteenth-Century Fiction
tween worlds that gives the novel's first six chapters their order
supplies the reader at once with the basic moral of the book as a
whole: the victims of injustice cannot be shut out of life forever;
sooner or later they will come into violent contact with their
oppressors.
Movingf romt he earlyp ageso f the bookt o the largerp atternw, e
discovert hat alternationb etweent wo differentl ocalesi s basict o
the whole. Pip tries to make his home in London, but he is forced
a number of times to return to the site of his former life, and each
return brings him a new insight into the truth of his position, one
progressivelym ore severet han another.T he alternationb etween
London and the old village becomes for Dickens a means of suggestingw
hat the alternationb etweeno utdoora nd indoors cenesi n
the first six chapters suggested: pretend as one will, reality will
eventuallys hattert he veil of self-deceptionL. ike the individual
who has comet o sacrificeh is integrityf or society'sfa lsev alueso nly
to find it impossibleto deny indefinitelyh is originsa nd the reality
upon which his conditionr ests,s ocietyc annote ffectivelys tiflea ll
the victimso f its injusticea nd oppressionT. here will alwaysb e
men like Jaggers-men to connect the dead with the living, to act
as the link betweent he undergroundm an and the rest of society.
As a defender of criminals, Jaggers is the great flaw in society's
repressiono f its victims;h e is theirh ope of salvationa nd resurrection.
Like Tulkinghorn, the attorney in Bleak House, he knows
everybody'sse crets;h e is the man to whom the lines betweent he
high and the low, the men of propertya nd the dispossesseda,r en o
barrierA. wise and disillusionedO lympianJ, aggersc ommentsl ike
a tragic chorus on the two great worlds that are the product and
expressiono f social injustice,f or the existenceo f which Pip and
othersm ust suffert he terriblec onsequences.