The Bildungsroman Great Expectations (1913) by Charles Dickens cannot help but impress upon the reader an overwhelming sense of guilt that permeates the novel at various levels. As the plot develops, the characters develop; the sense of guilt, however, remains immutable until the main character, Pip, completes his transformation. This guilt is thematically intertwined with the other themes of crime and punishment and human error; for Pip it results in a form of self-imposed guilt. Dickens' narrator recounts Pip's journey from attention to false values ​​to the development of self-awareness and moral strength. At the beginning of the novel, Pip finds himself involved in an act of criminal complicity as he steals to help the prisoner, Magwitch, an act that creates immense feelings of guilt in the boy: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay My state of mind regarding the theft from which I had been so unexpectedly exonerated, did not move me to sincere revelation;... But I Loved Joe - perhaps for no other reason in those early days than because the dear boy allowed me to love him - and, as for him, my inner self was not so easy to put together. I had it in my mind (especially when I first saw him looking for his file) that I should tell Joe the whole truth. Yet I didn't, and for the reason that I was wary that if I did, he would consider me worse than I was. The fear of losing Joe's trust, and of sitting in the chimney corner at night gazing sadly at my forever lost companion and friend, stuck my tongue. (33; ch. 6) From the beginning of the novel, therefore, young Pip becomes involved in a world of criminal behavior in which his sense of guilt constantly torments him. Instead of dissipating with time, Pip's guilt seems to overwhelm his conscience until it becomes an integral part of his character. In developing this theme, Dickens uses much of the novel's atmosphere and setting to achieve his goal. For example, as a child, Pip's world is bounded by the "long black marshes," the "black lighthouse by which the sailors steered," and "a gallows with some chains hanging from it, which had once held a pirate" ( 6 ; chapter 1). On the water there are the "hulks" - the prison ships - and on the shore looms the battery with cannons that warn of prisoners' escapes. Pip's immediate consciousness is, in effect, "bound" by the literal manifestations of the criminal world. The physical slavery created by Dickens's use of these dark and disturbing images highlights for Dickens the influence of the vision of crime that chronicles the life path of his main character. For Pip, explicit slavery translates into implicit slavery: legally he is tied to Joe commercially, while emotionally he is tied to Joe out of gratitude. As a direct result of his encounter with Estella and the perpetuation of several false values ​​in his mind, he no longer sees the profession of honorable blacksmith as an admirable career. Rather, the forge becomes Pip's figurative "prison", binding him to a lifestyle that now dissatisfies him. His aspirations have changed, making him feel like a prisoner. That mental dilemma adds to his brain turmoil: He feels guilty for aspiring to a different path. He is, in effect, signing his "death warrant," condemning himself to the "gallows" as he apprentices himself to Joe: Here, in one corner, my contracts were duly signed and attested, and I was "bound"; Mr. Pumblechook held me the whole time as if we looked in whilewe went to the gallows to eliminate these little preliminaries... Finally, I remember that when I entered my little room I was really unhappy and had a strong conviction about me that I would never like Joe's job. I liked it once, but I didn't like it anymore now. (85-86; ch. 13)The PhysiqueThe setting of the city of London, which is the scene of numerous revelations for the main character, is similarly presented in a prevailing atmosphere of unwholesomeness, as Pip comments during his visit to the Smithfield Meat Market: “…that shameful place, being all smeared with the dirt, grease, blood and foam seemed to stick to me” (133; ch. 20). Given Dickens's continued focus on Newgate Prison as a metaphorical image throughout the novel, one can only assume that the images of prison and the hateful criminal world it represents serve to underline the theme of crime and reflect the appropriateness of justifiable punishment. Pip's aspirations for wealth and success are inextricably linked to the image of crime, as evidenced by the irony of his wealth coming directly from a benefactor who is a convicted criminal. In addition to the physical environment with which Dickens surrounds his main character, many of Dickens' other characters in the novel that interact with Pip serve the purpose of thematic perpetuation of guilt and criminality. An interpretation of the text as a Panopticon, in Prison-bound: Dickens and Foucault, suggests that Pip's guilt and criminality can be seen through the actions of real criminals such as Orlick and Bentley Drummie: Orlick strikes Mrs. Joe with the iron leg ((which Pip is “guilty” of providing and thus, to some extent, enabling the crime), while Bentley Drummie becomes the instrument through which Pip gains gratification for the way Estella treats him. Both the characters are physical representations of Pip's secret desires for revenge against the people who have harmed him. As they carry out these crimes, they also fuel Pip's guilt, which keeps him trapped in the prison of his own conscience. Tambling, Bloom) Dickens's minor characters replicate the role of crime as a thematic influence in the text. This is reflected in characters such as Jaggers, who manages Pip's financial affairs on behalf of Magwitch. Jaggers is also a direct link to the criminal underbelly of the world the characters live in, providing legal representation to criminals on trial, including his housekeeper, Molly, who is acquitted of murder. Molly serves as a contrast to Dickens' theme in that the revelation of Estella's parentage highlights Pip's misguided values: when Pip professes to love Estella (although his values ​​focus on the high lifestyle she represents), she firmly denounces and rejects his love based on his low level. birth, considering it “a stupid and clumsy labor” (49; chapter 8). Ironically, however, Estella's parents, Molly and Magwitch, are members of the criminal element that both Pip and Estella seek to avoid. The novel does not praise Pip's aspirations for wealth; rather, throughout the tale, Dickens appears to juxtapose the idea of ​​wealth with the theme of guilt, an idea reinforced by Magwitch's role as a vehicle for Pip's progress. “Pip's terrible personification of guilt turns out to be the source of his expectations…. [H]he real guilt in pursuing them lies in his acceptance of empty values…. [H]e [therefore] feels that he has abandoned Joe, whose values ​​are the right ones” (Mac Andrew, 166-167). Dickens seems to draw attention to the duplicity involved in the acquisition of wealth. It suggests the rise of his character, 2010.