时间：2022-09-18 06:37:50
1 Introduction
Since late of 1950s，Great Expectations comes to be studied by many scholars and universities. They have studied the background that Dickens wrote the novel，the relationship between Pip and Estella，the relationship between Pip and Miss Havisham，Dickens' thought and attitude towards the hierarchical，and they compared David Copperfield with Great Expectations.
As to the novel Great Expectations，from the Encyclopedia Britannica E.S. Dallas said that “Mr. Dickens has in the present work given us more of his earlier fancies than we had for years，Great Expectations is not，indeed，his best work，but it is to be ranked among his happiest. There is that flowing humor in it which disarms criticism.” (The Times，17 Oct. 1861) Some called it was Dickens' darkest work，and some considered it was Dickens' greatest use of plot，characterization，and style and thought it was his masterpiece.
This paper will get an outline of the relationship between Dickens and Pip. Lu Xun once said that the context of an author's work comport with the author's thought and experiences. Whether Pip's experiences tell Dickens' early life，whether Great Expectations tells Dickens' story? We will try to come to a conclusion through comparing the life of Pip and that of Dickens in youth.
2 Comparison between the experiences of Charles Dickens and that of Pip
Great Expectations is permeated with Dickens' own past history，although Pip's life history does not correspond with Dickens' own to the degree as David Copperfield has done，because Dickens tried to avoid repeating the plot and the story of those in David Copperfield，then he reread the latter before he undertook Great Expectations； it is true that in most circumstances，Pip's experiences and Dickens' differ. But we still can see the shadow of young Dickens on Pip，because as sensitive young men from the country，they are full of idealism，striving to better themselves and hope to be gentlemen.
First，we can compare the process during which they realized their fancy. To make their fancy to come true，they underwent a resembling spiritual journey.
To some degree，we may say that pip's fancy is Dickens' made in his early life. When Dickens was about four years old in his father's reading room，he read many books such as “Roderick random”，“Peregrine Pickle”，he made his first decision to be the man as the heroes in those books. At that time，he studied from his mother，he kept confident about his fancy. When his father was imprisoned unfortunately，and he had to work in the Factory for six shilling a week to support the family，he felt desperate that “all my hopes of a bright future seemed crushed” (Letters to John Foster，P 734). This period was regarded as the darkest experience in his life and he “never spoke to anyone about this shameful past”. The miserable experience caused Dickens to forgive his mother's insistence that Dickens should stay in the Factory when his father took him away from it. When he fell in love with Maria，he took an oath to gain a stable income and a bright future for Maria. Some scholars considered that it was Maria's parents regarded Dickens unacceptable for Maria because of his low position and poor finance，so when Maria refused his courtship，he put all his minds fighting for his great expectations. When Pickwick Papers completed in a magazine，he became the famous man in England.
During the process，Dickens was encouraged by his fancy，and felt depressed on his fancy when he had to work in the Factory，then he tried his best to fight for the realization of the fancy to be a learned and famous man. Moreover he was bestirred to gain a great expectations for his love. The process re-acted on Pip.
Pip had no idea about his future until he was introduced to Miss Havisham's，and he thought he would get a better life. When he was assigned to play cards with Estella and Estella looked down on him that “with this boy! Why，he is a common laboring-boy” “and what coarse hands he has，and what thick boots!” (P59)，he felt “so humiliated，hurt，spurned，offended，angry，sorry” (P 61) that he “had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before，but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair” (P59). Suspicious came to creep into his mind about his fancy，he complained that “I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up，and then I should have been so too” (P61). So he asked biddy to educate Joe. He longed to be a gentleman like the man he fought with in the courtyard in Miss Havisham's，while he was apprenticed to Joe. He began to scorn Joe. When Mr. Jaggers told him “that he will come into a handsome property……as a young man fellow of great expectation”(P135)，he thought that “my dream was out，my wild fancy was surpassed by sober reality； Miss Havisham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale”(P135). He went to London to be educated as a gentleman. When his provider appeared，he felt his great expectations crushed，and he began his own career.
They almost underwent the same process that they had the fancies in their early year，and fought for their fancies hardly. They tasted the happiness as well as desperation. At last Dickens became a famous novelist and Pip became a gentleman on London.Second，we can see that they spent the similar childhood. Dickens' childhood was full of happiness，loneliness and misery，but those re-occurred on Pip.
Young Charles was weak and he could not play with other children，but saw them playing，or stayed in his father's bookroom，reading. Out of his bedroom window，he can see a church and cemeteries near by. No record could show that he once or often went to stay in the graveyard，but he often went to the church. A priest who Dickens was appreciated for his sympathy ever suggested Charles read more classic works. Before his father's imprisonment，Charles was happy but lonely. Pip almost went to a churchyard daily，and he was so familiar with it that “my first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things，seems to me to have been gained on a memorable are afternoon towards evening”. He knew the yard，the cemeteries of his parents，of children at the same age of him. It was in the churchyard that Pip came across the “fearful man”----Magwitch.
Dickens felt being abandoned when he was sent to the Factory，and stronger when his mother insisted that he should stay there，and he felt that “(her insistence) wounded me most deeply of all”，“this episode gave me a sense of how the poorest drudges I our city live，which has always informed my writing.” It also gave him a sense of insecurity in hislife. When Pip's sister begged Uncle Pumblechook to send Pip to Miss Havisham's，Pip thought that “I may here remark that I suppose myself to be better acquainted than any living authority，with the ridgy effect of a wedding-ring，passing unsympathetically over the human countenance.” (P52) His first feeling of insecurity was strengthened by Estella's teasing，he felt being offended and injured，and he cast back his sister's upbringing (P61).
Third，the women in Dickens' life shaped Estella. Maria Beadnell and Ellen Ternan sampled Estella.
Charles Dickens fell in love with four women all through his lifetime. Among the four women，Dickens made Maria and Ellen as the model of Estella in Great Expectations.
Maria was the daughter of the banker. Maria Beadnell indulged in making merry over cajoling men's favor，sometimes she was affectionate，sometimes she was indifferent； she was very intimate to Charles while made eyes at others secretly. Charles made decision that trying his best to gain high position and a stable income for Maria. But finally in a party，when Charles proposed to her，she refused and departed from the party immediately. Charles was depressed and ended the relationship with her in 1833. This experience impressed in his mind so deeply that 25 years later，he still remembered the color and style of the gloves he bought upon Maria's request，and he reckoned that the event changed his life and influenced his writing. Actually，the failure caused Dickens to marry his wife--though at first he love Catherine indeed----who was just a surrogate of the woman that Dickens imagined and the benefactor of Dickens' first failed love.
Another woman，Ellen Ternan，played in important role in Dickens' later life. They got to know each other in a theatrical company. Later Dickens fell in love with her. But actually Ellen did not love Dickens at all. She was only jealous of Dickens' wealth and reputation that can help her put of poverty. She was proud，flimsiness，avarice and coltish. Dickens knew what she was as well，so when writing Great Expectations，he created Estella sampled from Maria and Ellen. This love disturbed Dickens greatly，both psychologically and physically.
Estella----cited as Dickens's first convincing female character. Estella is a supremely ironic creation，one that darkly undermines the notion of romantic love and serves as a bitter criticism against the class system in which she is mired. Raised from the age of three by Miss Havisham，who destroyed her ability to express emotion and interact normally with the world，to torment men and “break their hearts”. Estella won Pip's deepest love by practicing deliberate cruelty. When Pip told her that he loved her，“she shook her head again” and said，“when you say you love me，I know what you mean，as a form of words； but nothing more. You address nothing in my breast，you touch nothing their. I do not care for what you say at all. I have tried ti warn you of this”. (P358)
Estella is cold，cynical，and manipulative. She，at the beginning，scorns Pip “a common laboring-boy” with “what coarse hands he has. And what thick boots!” (P59) While she is actually even lower-born than Pip； as Pip learns near the end of the novel，she is the daughter of Magwitch，the coarse convict，and thus springs from the very lowest level of society. At last rather than marrying the kindhearted commoner Pip，Estella marries the cruel nobleman Drummle，who treats her harshly and made her life miserable for many years.
Estella's character integrities all that of Maria's and Ellen's. like Maria，she cannot cherish her true love because of Miss Havisham and her stubborn. It is no doubt that her torments on man of “break their hearts” are resemble to Maria's indulgence in cajoling man's favor. The reason for her refusing to Pip's love is like that Maria's refusal to Dickens. The reason for her marriage with Drummle is other than because of Miss Havisham，her vanity for position and fear for hard life are the most important reason，which is similar with Ellen's marriage with Dickens. At end of the story，Estella came back to Pip，because her dream for gentlemen was broken with her first marriage failing.
3 Conclusion
From what has been discussed we can come to two conclusions.
One is that Dickens displayed his fancy and his psychology through Pip's recalling. By comparison we do find that there are many similarities between Pip's experiences and Dickens's life，from childhood to manhood. Pip repeated Dickens happiness and sufferings，shared the same fancy，and underwent the similar spiritual journey. To some degree Pip's great expectations are also Dickens' expectations.
The other is that author tell his thoughts and story through his works. One's thought originated from his times and is affected by his deeds and surroundings. By comparison of Dickens' fancy and Pip's fancy and their realization，the character of Estella and women in Dickens' life，we find that Pip's deeds reflects Dickens thoughts，for Pip's feeling is Dickens' feeling，Pip's spiritual movement is similar to Dickens.
References
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[2] Dickens，Charles. 1995. Great Expectations. Beijing： FLTRP.
[3] Dickens，Charles. 1981. All the Year Round. Dec. 1860-Aug. 1861.
[4] “Dickens”. 1977. Encyclopedia Britannica. 17 vols，P269.
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Received date：2007-11-17