Great Expectations Themes

Great Expectations Themes

Society and Class

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Pip desperately wants to be part of the cool crowd, but he doesn't have the right shoes, the right slang, or the right parents. Admit it: we've all be...

Dreams, Hopes, and Plans

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Dreams, hopes, plans … and Great Expectations. Fun fact about "expectations": having "expectations" in the nineteenth century specifically meant that...

Wealth

(Click the themes infographic to download.) All you need is love, but in Great Expectations love doesn't get you far without a little money. To Pip, there's no question that Estella might love him...

Friendship

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Pip doesn't deserve his friends. There. We said it. Joe, Biddy, and Herbert—not to mention Magwitch—all show Pip loyalty that he not only doesn't de...

Love

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Ugh, Pip. Pip is totally that friend of yours who will not shut up about his crush. He spends hours analyzing her last text message, changes his IM stat...

Innocence

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Children are our future, right? Well, someone needs to tell the adults of Great Expectations, because, for the most part, they seem to see children as l...

Lies and Deceit

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Great Expectations has more secrets than a season of Pretty Little Liars. From the source of his fortune to the mystery of Estella's parentage—not to...

Time

(Click the themes infographic to download.) If we could turn back time … we'd tell Pip to refuse to enter Miss Havisham's garden. But we can't. So, instead, we'll just point out that Great Expec...

Contrasting Regions

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Pip is just a small town boy wandering up and down the boulevard—and, like a lot of small-town boys (or girls), he finds that big city life isn't all...

Criminality

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Magwitch is more of a thug busting up a pawn shop than a smooth criminal: that role is left to the gentleman-like Compeyson. The novel is full of crimin...