Dicken's System of Values

Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations contains wonderful example of Victorian system of values. It showcases the division between poor and rich, in the constantly changing times after Industrial Revolution. The lower class was always connected with being poor and uneducated, while people from upper class were admired from afar and everyone wanted to join them. We can see this in comparison of two characters – Compeyson, who receives lighter charge for the same crime than Magwitch only because of their social status. That, in turn leads people to pursue the need to socially advance and self-imrpove.
In Victorian times everyone was trying to be better and to belong among people they once admired, which is very visible in the behavior of our main character. Pip is a common laborer at the beginning of the story but he is very unhappy with the situation, constantly trying to improve his skills and education so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming a gentleman. When the fortune turns and he receives a big fortune, Pip doesn’t stop his education, quite the opposite his friends and tutors help him learn how achieve his dream.   His burning ambition to climb the social ladder and his desire for wealth blinds him to loyalty towards his sister and her husband, whom he forgets and regards without any sympathies.
In Great Expectation we can see how the our character matures through the course of the story. At the beginning we can see some of the romantic qualities in Pip – he dreams and hopes to one day become a gentleman and be a part of the upper class so that he can marry the woman he loves, Estella. He is a romantic and a dreamer, constantly pushing   and expecting more from himself than he should. He tends to be immature and after becoming a gentleman he becomes stand-offish with his friends; however, he has a good conscience and generous heart. While his desire for advancement overshadows his basic goodness, we see him grow and learn to place his sense of...