Great Expectations and a Christmas Carol a True Gentleman...

Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol: A True Gentleman According to Dictionary.com, a gentleman is a civilized, educated, sensitive, or well-mannered man. However, by Victorian definition, a gentleman was, perhaps most importantly, a rich man. â€Å"Charles Dickens†¦was an author of relatively humble origins who desired passionately to be recognized as a gentleman, and insisted, in consequence, upon the essential dignity of his occupation† (Victorian Web). In Great Expectations he portrays Pip, a poor boy turned rich through expectations, who must learn what true dignity is. A Christmas Carol, too, reveals Scrooge’s distortion of the gentlemanly role and the dire need to understand genuine goodness. In both Great Expectations and A†¦show more content†¦Charles’ father is a perfect example of this shift in power, more to the rich and less to the poor. â€Å"One of the important perceptions of Dickens’ fiction is of Victorian society as on e in which the weak support the strong, the starving underwrite the satiated, the poor prop up the rich, the children sustain the parents- and the female holds up the male† (Houston 13). Dickens was leading a kind of social revolution, trying to reenergize the presence of the working class not only in politics, but in society as well. Pip in Great Expectations is a warrior used to fight in this social clash, showing that the true gentleman is not rich with money, but rich with satisfaction and happiness. Dickens is trying to show that when Pip is thrown into his expectations and becomes a â€Å"gentleman† he is not a gentleman at all, it is only by the end of the novel when the true gentleman is shown through Pip. Like the three ghosts of Christmas in A Christmas Carol, Pip, too, has three role models who aid him in his transformation into a gentleman. The first of these role models is Biddy, who had an early influence on Pip and helped to teach him in his early age. Sh e aided Pip’s sister after she was attack and although Pip never found Biddy overwhelmingly attractive, especially afterShow MoreRelatedCharles Dickens Great Expectations1669 Words   |  7 Pagesvarious themes and ideas of that time are perfectly showcased in his many novels and short stories, such as Nicholas Nickelby, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. Much of the inspiration for these works came from the trials and conflicts that he dealt with in his own life. His volumes of fictional writing show the great empathy with which he regarded the poor people of his time. His name was Charles Dickens. 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