Dickensian Archetypes

Dickensian Archetypes

Both Great Expectations and David Copperfield, written by Charles Dickens, perfectly embody many archetypal features of classic Victorian literature. Specifically in these two novels, Pip and David are in search for a privileged and comfortable life, expending great effort into establishing themselves into society and among their peers. Dickens focuses on a young boy’s transition into the immense responsibility of a wealthy adult from a miserable and seemingly shameful past. While much of these novels are a reflection of Dickens's distinctive outlook and experiences as an individual living in the Victorian era, these two novels are perfect examples of classic Victorian literature, and illustrate many societal innovations of the period. Dickens used various literary archetypes and tropes that eventually became common patterns within Victorian literature, such as the desperate orphan, the ineffectual motherly figure, the empathetic victim of law, and the bitter elderly woman.

The first Victorian literary trope -highly abundant in both Great Expectations and David Copperfield, and possibly the most obvious- is the noble orphan who expends immense effort into pursuing his longing for a warm and comforting family presence in his life.

In Great Expectations, Pip longs to acquire the title of a gentleman, and to be surrounded by a family that treats him as such. As Pip is introduced into the privileges of the upper class, he begins to demonstrate his desperation to escape his discredited poor life and establish himself among people that share the same gentlemanly manor. Addressing a visit to Satis house, Pip begins to identify himself as a “common laboring boy,” undeserving of high class acquaintances, his “hands…coarse” and “boots…thick”(pg.105). In his fascinations of a life greater than his own, Pip desperately attempts to assimilate to principles of the upper class, devoting his entire life into receiving identification as a gentleman. This objective is not dissimilar to that of David in David Copperfield, as he frequently travels around Victorian England, staying with various family members in search of a person or way to fill the void of his miserable past and deceased mother in his heart. However, unlike Pip, David lacks a family base from which he can strike out from, while Pip merely resents his relationship to his low-class and common family.

Similarly to his use of the noble orphan trope, Dickens uses another common archetypal feature of Victorian literature, categorized as the ineffectual motherly figure. Both novels represent each end of the spectrum of this trope; Mrs. Copperfield is an incapable mother while Mrs. Joe is an unloving one. In Great Expectations, Mrs. Joe, Pip’s older sister who acts as his guardian, is cold and harsh towards Pip and instills no affection or warmth into him, seemingly resenting her responsibility as his guardian. In Pip’s description of her alone, she is conveyed as a threatening influence on Pip “[Mrs. Joe wore] a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck full of pins and needles”(pg. 5), lacking affectionate qualities found in a desirable mother. In her description Charles Dickens uses symbolism to illustrate Mrs. Joe’s impenetrableness, as if she wears needles close to her heart, portraying her as a menacing tyrant in the eyes of young Pip. Dickens demonstrates this trope as well in David Copperfield, as David’s mother is weak and inefficient as the central individual of the household, unsuccessful in shielding Pip from the dangers of the unfriendly world he has never known. Once she is flattered into marrying Mr.Murdstone, she loses her motherly dominance as she is defenseless under Murdstone’s guise of disciplining the household. Murdstone tortures Mrs. Copperfield by abusing David and sending him to a miserable boarding school where the children are beaten in order to learn disciplinary principles. Both David’s mother and Mrs. Joe fall into a similar illustration of this repeated character within Victorian literature, but are however extremely different in manor and description. Mrs.Copperfield is childish and incapable of independently raising David, and cracks under the authority of the menacing Mr. Murdstone, as opposed to Mrs. Joe, who is not only independent, but also highly dominant, which was a common interpretation of non-respected and low class women of the period. Furthermore, Dickens incorporates the ineffectual motherly figure into both Great Expectations and David Copperfield, while at the same time creating imposing examples of incompetent motherhood.

Another example of a reoccurring trope among Victorian literature is the warm-hearted victim of the law. In Great Expectations, Magwitch- who Pip encounters and helps very early in the novel- although bearing a threatening presence, is internally grateful for Pip’s help at the very start of the novel, devoting his entire life, even sacrificing his personal safety under the law, in order to become Pip’s benefactor. “As I giv’ you to understand just now, Im famous for