Surname 1

Name

Tutor

Course

Date

Textual Analysis: Jane Eyre and Great Expectations

The texts present two protagonists who have their similarities and differences as well.

The similarities are shown in how Charles Dicken has created the journey of Philip Pirrip,

popularly known as Pip, his growth and reflections of his days, and how he has transformed from

the immature character he once was. Dickens offers the protagonist voice and the narrator's voice

to bring out the story through the character Pip and bring about the aspect of character growth.

On the other hand, Charlotte Bronte creates the character of Jane Eyre in a manner that the reader

relates to the character as she grows up. Both characters demonstrate their transformation in

social class status as they grow up. The essence of this essay is to compare Pip and Jayne Eyre,

the protagonists in both novels, and explore their journey through social classes.

The creation and development of the character of Jae Eyre in Charlotte Bronte's novel,

"Jane Eyre," is very deliberate and integral to the development of the plot and the

communication of the intended thematic concerns in the text. Jane is presented as a character

who boasts a deep sense of self-worth, dignity, and unprecedented commitment to the cause of

justice and founded principles that she stands and lives. She also demonstrates her faith and

unmatched trust in God, with a deep and passionate disposition. Throughout the novel, Jane must

balance various aspects of her life, which seem to be conflicting with high frequency. The sole

purpose of this balance is for her to find her contentment in life while at the same time

demonstrating her unrivaled growth.

 Surname 2

From her childhood, Jane is presented as an orphaned young girl who lives with her Aunt

Reed. She feels that there is a need to find freedom from the space she shares with her aunt and

her cousins, who periodically mistreats her (Bronte 66). The fact that Jane does not have parents

to take care of her and supply her needs shows that she has been condemned to start from the

base in social class. As her need for freedom intensifies, it translates into the need to self-

determine, creates her own social class with the kindred who belongs with her and with whom

she feels more comfortable to associate. Hence, in her urge to find a social class where she

comfortably belongs, Jane meets Rochester. He is the man who offers her an opportunity to

emancipate herself by becoming his mistress. It does not take Jane, with her mature mind and

character, long to realize that she would only be getting herself in a new form of slavery instead

of finding freedom by being a mistress. It does not take Jane a long time before she finds an

alternative that she considers to be close to what she is looking for but then determines that it

would not work for her. St. John Rivers promises her an opportunity to live unreservedly as her

morals and principles best allow her to do. Then, she is expected to migrate to India and live

there. However, like the first offer, Jane realizes that the proposal to go to India may not allow

her to live expressing her very real and genuine feelings, as well as her passions. Hence, she

considers that to be a new form of imprisonment and shows that she is yet to find a social class in

which she belongs. The creation of the character of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a

conventional way of giving the writer a voice through the character, to offer an opinion on what

it means to seek to strike a balance in life and seek a sense of belonging in the social class that

one creates in their mind. Towards the end of the novel, Jane Eyre has her agency, and she has

transformed into a powerful and independent woman who can choose who she would get married

to, and she decided Edward Rochester (Bronte 67). Charlotte Bronte has developed the character
 Surname 3

of Jane Eyre in a sense that she grows to understand that social class is a mental creation that she

would need to figure out where to settle best to gain her freedom, and not live in a manner that

she feels enslaved and imprisoned to express her true feelings, passions and also express her

character.

On the other hand, Charles Dicken created Pip's character in the novel "Great

Expectations." From the childhood days, Pip is portrayed as a young man who is immature and

hardly knows where he belongs. Like Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Pip also grows up

as an orphaned boy. This also means that he is born into the lowest social class in society.

However, he does not hope to remain at the base, and that is what motivates him to want to make

over his life when he meets Miss Havisham, who is extremely wealthy by the societal status. He

also falls in love later with Estella. It does not take long before it dawns on Pip that he does not

belong to Estella or where Havisham is. The reason being, Like Jane Eyre, Pip is mistreated by

the same people he hopes would be close to him socially and offer warmth. He moves to live

with his sister and brother-in-law. Still, they mistreat him, and he realizes that he does not belong

there socially either. The mistreatment he faces denies him the agency and the courage to express

himself and assert his feelings and needs. As such, he resorts to reacting to the people around

him instead of seeking to express himself. Hence, socially, he feels like he lacks the self-

determination key in offering him the much needed and useful social freedom to push for his

social status.

Pip has created an imaginary world in which he hopes to exist, as he feels much of a

displaced individual in the real world where other people with whom he coexists continue to

dismiss him and treat him as a social outsider. The creation of the character of Pip by Dickens

reveals that Pip is ready to pay the highest price to achieve the social status that he has been
 Surname 4

hoping for in his life. This means that he is not afraid or does not have any reservations going to

any lengths, whether conventional or otherwise. Hence, Dickens presents Pip's transformation

from his childhood innocence to a man who throws caution to the wind, obsessed with the greed

and desire to achieve his goals in life. He gets to rob Joe and Biddy, and drags Herbert into

unprecedented debt, and also trades Joe for the money of a convict. Charles Dickens does not fail

to portray Pip as a god person even when he indulges in crime (Dickens 55). Instead, he

rationalizes his actions by demonstrating that Pip is doing everything to express his agency while

at the same time seeking to achieve his dreams in life. His goal is to live in a social class where

he feels like he truly belongs and can find a social class with the level of agency he hopes for in

his life. It is only when Magwitch, a character portrayed to be more deplorable than Joe, who Pip

robbed and despised, confesses to being the one who had helped him rise through the social class

ranks and manage to achieve his goals. Dickens uses Pip as a character to demonstrate the

themes that are intended in the text. He shows that there is nothing that comes easily. Hence, one

has to work for what they hope for, and in addition to that, be prepared for the consequences that

come with relentlessly pursuing goals no matter what it would take.

In conclusion, both Jane Eyre, the protagonist in Charlotte Bronte’s novel, “Jane Eyre,”

and Pip, the protagonist in Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations,” do compare in a significant

way. Both characters are born and grow up from the base of social class. They are orphaned at a

young age, and they grow up under the watch of the world. The writers transform the characters

to show that they have grown and had the agency choose what they want. Hence, they both work

hard and, in the end, after growth and transformation, achieve their goals of life to live in the

social classes they had wanted.

 Surname 5

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Great expectations. Vol. 1. JB Peterson & Bros., 1861.

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 2018.