解读《远大前程》中皮普的性格.doc

Introduction Charles Dickens, pen-name “Boz”, is acclaimed as one of history’s greatest novelists and the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era. He has created some of literature’s most iconic characters, with the theme of social reform running throughout his work. Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to classical English literature. He is the quintessential Victorian author: his epic stories, vivid characters and exhaustive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable. And that’s the reason why his novels and short stories enjoy such a continuing popularity that they have never gone out of print. Considered as the greatest critical realism writer in British in the 19th century, Charles Dickens has left us a great work, one of his later period representative works, Great Expectations. Set in Victorian England, a time when great social changes were sweeping the nation, this is a novel of education and describes the growth and personal development of Pip, the protagonist. At that time, because social class was rigid and preexisting in London , where a teeming mass of humanity, lit by gas lamps at night and darkened by black clouds from smokestacks during the day, formed a sharp contrast with the nation’s sparsely-populated rural areas. More and more people moved from the country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity. However, feudal ideas died hard in England at this time; the manners of the upper class were very strict and conservative: gentlemen and ladies were expected to have thorough classical educations and to behave appropriately in innumerable social situations. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens introduces the reader to many intriguing and memorable characters, including the eccentric recluse, Miss Havisham, the shrewd and careful lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, and the benevolent convict, Abel Magwitch. However, without a doubt, Great Expectations is the story of Pip and his initial dreams and resulting disappoi