Charles Dickens Great Expectations Through Hard Times

Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations through Hard Times

As I read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, I continuously noticed certain aspects of the novel paralleling those of another of Dickens’ works, Hard Times. I read Hard Times last semester in another literature class, and absolutely loved it. So, of course, I compared the two novels in my head as I read Great Expectations. While the plotlines may not be too similar, particular aspects of Dickens’ writing and certain turns of events in the stories stood out to me throughout both novels.

While reading Hard Times, my class focused a lot of our attention on the meanings of characters’ names. We discovered that the names helped to describe the characters either through the way a name sounded or through a word within the name. One character’s name was James “Jem” Harthouse. His name described him perfectly because he truly was a gem, always dazzling others with his charm, and he followed his heart instead of his head. So, when I saw such names as Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, I immediately began to speculate as to how these names enhanced their respective characters. Pip sounds childish, which I think describes Pip well because he always struck me as very childish and immature. Estella means star, which works well for that character because she is the star of Miss Havisham’s and Pip’s worlds. The name Miss Havisham has the word “sham” in it, which could refer to how Miss Havisham’s half-brother and ex-fiancé shammed her years ago, or how Miss Havisham leads Pip on in thinking he will one day marry Estella. Even though I liked the names in Great Expectations, I think Hard Times is the real winner when it comes to descriptive names. My favorite one was probably Mr. M’Choakumchild, the teacher of the local school in Coketown.

Although the plots of the novels aren’t exactly the same, I did notice a quite few similarities between some of the characters and occurrences in both novels. Both novels include a crazy old lady, Mrs. Sparsit in Hard Times and Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. Neither is married—Mrs. Sparsit is a widow—and both meddle in others’ affairs. Dickens placed a lovable, simple working class man in each novel, Stephen Blackpool in Hard Times and Joe Gargery in Great Expectations. Although Joe has a happier ending than Stephen, Dickens made me love both of them. In Hard Times, Sissy Jupe, a sweet circus girl, takes care of Mrs. Gradgrind, who is an invalid who and eventually dies. A similar circumstance takes place in Great Expectations when Biddy takes care of an invalid Mrs. Joe, who also dies.

Apparently Dickens also enjoys bringing back characters from earlier in the novel to help carry out other characters’ plans. In Great Expectations, Orlick reappears to kill Pip to help Compeyson and in Hard Times, Sleary, Sissy’s former circus master, reappears to help Tom Gradgrind Jr. escape arrest. What I think to be the most amusing similarity between the two novels is that Dickens reveals characters to be other characters’ parents in both novels. In Great Expectations, Magwitch is revealed to be Estella’s father and Molly her mother and in Hard Times, the mysterious old woman Mrs. Peglar is revealed to be Mr. Bounderby’s mother. While reading Great Expectations, I actually only noticed a few of these similarities, but when looking back I was surprised to find so many.

I had never read Dickens before this year, but I am so glad I was able to read not just one, but two, of his novels. It really helped me to look at Dickens as more of an author independent of his works, instead of associating him with just one story, which is usually what happens when I read a novel in a class. I was able to contemplate his writing style, certain techniques he used, and reoccurring themes, characters, and events he assumedly liked. After reading both Great Expectations and Hard Times, Dickens has truly become one of my favorite authors and I cannot wait to read more of him.