The structure of GE Flashcards
3 part book
The structure of the novel is fairly straightforward and traditional
+ 3 equal parts of 19 chapters each with a dialectical progression = Arithmetical precisiO in the structure of the novel
3 parts
Part 1 116pages
First 19 chapters / end marked by “this is the end of the 1st stage of Pip’s expectation( p125)
Pip who is at first in a state of relative innocence and naivete is driven at lenght from Eden by - expectations
Part 2 118 pages
Chap 20-39 end marked by ‘this is the end of the second stage of pips expectations p 244
The convict’s return = may event
Depicts his corrupO in the city where his hopes though realizerd prove to be delusions
Part 3 114p
Chapters 40 to 59 end marked by “the end of Ge” p358
It records the utter loss of material wealth and the concomitant recovery of spiritual integrity.
BUT rather deceptive (deception) structure at the same time
BESIDES, the intricate web of imagery and the complexity of the plot and subplot emphasise the balance of it all rather than undermine it.
- YET the plot is very intricate and complex & is the means by which the novelist is to impose some personal structure on what appears to be the chaos of existence
- Whole unified by recurrent symbols and by solidity of structure
- Linear pattern YET proliferation of sub-plots : stumbling blocks
⇒ Contrast btw a straightforward outer structure & a confusing & complex developpement.
+ the title
pip is defined by his expectation. The whole plot is turned to what is yet to happen. Yet again proliferation of subplot that seem to postpone the moment of epiphany when PIp will stop expecting, when he will be in full control of his life and started living
Dickens Studies. Vol 2 N° 1, January 1966, 26-23
“GE is not unlike a tangled ball of yarn : a whole composed ofa confusing mass of threads that winds itself yet is ultimately consistent when considered in it oneness”
Clifford B Hallam “The structure oF GE in respect to Style and Artistry”,
The plot defined :
Bounded piece of land / ground plan of a building / chart or map / Outline of a literary work / scheme or machination / accomplishment of some purpose, usually illegal
Outline of a narrative demarcating its boundaries / suggesting its intention of meaning and the direction of its scheme or machination for accomplishing a purpose
⇒ Sometimes sth illegal about plot = illegal machination. Plots have a design but also an intentionality as well.
→ Three parts / supremacy of one character
Miss Havisham : the origins of Pip’s expectations, character who triggers most of the plot
Jaggers : the catalyst
Magwitch : the true benefactor
Pip taking part From illusion and fallacy to truth and epiphany.
⇒ slightly misleading structure : Magwitch = one of the 1st we encounter and reappears in 1st part, seems absent form the 2nd part. Magwitch runs through the plot as an undercurrent
This is a deceiving plot :
plot : Dickens decided the plot would be articulated round Pip and Magwitch at first / manipulative narrator
“Of course I have got in the pivot of which the story will turn too- and which indeed, as you remember, was the grotesque tragi-comic conception that first encouraged me(..)” (Dickens while conceiving GE) ⇒ Magwitch = the pivot
Yet from chapter 6 onwards the convict seems to disappear and the very last words of chap 5 seem to have a prophetic ring to them :
“ then the ends of the torches were flung hissing into the water, and went out, as if were all over with him” p36
Until he appears again in chap 39 again, the convict is only faintly alluded to in filigree
One main plot runs through by a number of sub-plots which converge to unify into a whole. Pip’s character : pervades all the sub-plots.
Several subplots
1st subplot : Pip and Magwitch : the marshes
2nd subplot : Pip / Joe and Biddy : the forge, the village
3rd subplot : Pip / Estella / Miss Havisham : Satis House
4th subplot : Pip / Jaggers / Wemmick : London
Structure of the Bildungsroman, Definition (Cuddon : dictionary of literary terme p 88)
Literally an “upbringing novel” or éeducation novel” : (..) an account of the youthful dvpt of a hero or heroine (usually the former)
→ See also Flaubert’s L’educatO sentimentale is exactly contemporary to Dickens David copperfield 1849-1850
Plot of the Bildungsroman inseparable from the idea of progress BUT here
the plot runs counter to the structure. The pattern is circular rather than linear although there is developpement. nothing is straightforward
Reader // Pip misled only to be put on the right track at the end : where are these expectations. We are like Pip.
Somehow the plot of GE is that of a cautionary tale warning the reader against expecting too much
Role of subplot
- They bring comic relief at times when the plot is too intense and threatening. Sort of cathartic device that brings balance btw tragedy and comedy
- They act as digressions from the main plot and yet help the reader cast a different on the main plot. (when too dramatic etc)
- Help the reader cast a different light from the main plot
Different climaxes in the novel
- the main one being Magwitch’s return : from then on the awareness of Pip’s mistakes is rather progressive.
- He is helped at that by Herbert : he is Pip’s main ally. The plot is like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, each character whether secondary or not adding his own piece to the final design and helping Pip build the edifice
People act as eye opener
⇒ Pip as a man not only gentleman
⇒ a patchwork. The writer build as the narrator patchwork
⇒ active role when reading : anaphora, cataphora, prolepses : see how chapters interact :
