Great Expectations Literary Criticism Quotes

GE - second ending "[blank_start]psychologically[blank_end] [blank_start]wrong[blank_end]" but "[blank_start]artistically[blank_end] much more [blank_start]congruous[blank_end] than the original" - George [blank_start]Bernard[blank_end] [blank_start]Shaw[blank_end] (1937)

GE - novel "is too [blank_start]serious[blank_end] a book to be a [blank_start]trivially[blank_end] [blank_start]happy[blank_end] one. Its beginning is unhappy; its middle is unhappy; and the [blank_start]conventional[blank_end] [blank_start]happy[blank_end] [blank_start]ending[blank_end] is an [blank_start]outrage[blank_end] on it." - George [blank_start]Bernard[blank_end] [blank_start]Shaw[blank_end]

GE - "begins with him as a [blank_start]victim[blank_end] of [blank_start]society[blank_end]'s [blank_start]corruption[blank_end], and ends with him as the [blank_start]single[blank_end] [blank_start]unforgiven[blank_end] [blank_start]source[blank_end] of it" - [blank_start]Jack[blank_end] P. Rawlins (1983)

GE - "the older Pip's [blank_start]perspective[blank_end] [...] is [blank_start]narrow[blank_end] and oddly [blank_start]slanted[blank_end] to his own [blank_start]detriment[blank_end]" - Jack P. [blank_start]Rawlins[blank_end] (1983)

GE - "expressing the [blank_start]social[blank_end] [blank_start]ironies[blank_end] underlying both his own and his generation's [blank_start]preoccupation[blank_end] with the idea of a [blank_start]gentleman[blank_end]" - Robin [blank_start]Gilmour[blank_end] (1999)

GE - "where the idea of [blank_start]gentlemanliness[blank_end], however [blank_start]laudable[blank_end] in principle, is one based on [blank_start]illusions[blank_end]" - Jolyon [blank_start]Connell[blank_end] (20[blank_start]12[blank_end])

GE - "[blank_start]Gentility[blank_end], the novel suggests, involves [blank_start]alienation[blank_end] and [blank_start]repression[blank_end]" - [blank_start]Jolyon[blank_end] Connell (20[blank_start]12[blank_end])

GE - "he [blank_start]submits[blank_end] to a growing [blank_start]consciousness[blank_end] of [blank_start]class[blank_end] that destroys his [blank_start]spontaneous[blank_end] [blank_start]warmth[blank_end] and [blank_start]generosity[blank_end]" - Hardy

GE - "the [blank_start]significance[blank_end] of [blank_start]honesty[blank_end] and self-[blank_start]knowledge[blank_end] for the [blank_start]moral[blank_end] life" - Gold

GE - "psychologically [blank_start]aberrant[blank_end] '[blank_start]strong[blank_end]' women" - Lucy [blank_start]Frost[blank_end] (19[blank_start]94[blank_end])

GE - "because their [blank_start]strength[blank_end] is [blank_start]negative[blank_end] and associated with their [blank_start]ability[blank_end] to inflict pain on men they must be '[blank_start]bent and broken[blank_end]' before they can [blank_start]win[blank_end] [blank_start]approval[blank_end]" - [blank_start]Lucy[blank_end] Frost (19[blank_start]94[blank_end])

GE - "he is a boy [blank_start]looking[blank_end] [blank_start]for[blank_end] [blank_start]a[blank_end] [blank_start]glittering[blank_end] [blank_start]star[blank_end]: he is looking to [blank_start]freeze[blank_end] [blank_start]to[blank_end] [blank_start]death[blank_end]" - Hilary [blank_start]Schor[blank_end] (19[blank_start]99[blank_end])

GE - Estella - "a [blank_start]coldness[blank_end] opposed to the [blank_start]warmth[blank_end] of [blank_start]forge[blank_end] and the [blank_start]hearth[blank_end]" - Gold

GE - Pip's [blank_start]superiority[blank_end] has the effect of "reducing the [blank_start]moral[blank_end] [blank_start]significance[blank_end] of his [blank_start]earlier[blank_end] [blank_start]experiences[blank_end]" - [blank_start]Cringing[blank_end]

GE - Pip's disapproval of Joe - "[blank_start]cutting[blank_end] him off from the [blank_start]simple[blank_end] [blank_start]morality[blank_end] of the forge and [blank_start]isolating[blank_end] him still further in his own [blank_start]consciousness[blank_end]" - Robin [blank_start]Gilmour[blank_end] (19[blank_start]99[blank_end])

GE - "Pip is [blank_start]fully[blank_end] [blank_start]human[blank_end] in having [blank_start]impulses[blank_end] flowing [blank_start]freely[blank_end] in different directions" - F.R. and Q.D. [blank_start]Leavis[blank_end] (19[blank_start]70[blank_end])

GE - "the [blank_start]remaking[blank_end] of oneself by the [blank_start]confrontation[blank_end] with the [blank_start]past[blank_end] and one's own [blank_start]nature[blank_end] is essential to being fully [blank_start]alive[blank_end] and [blank_start]aware[blank_end] in the present" - [blank_start]Gold[blank_end]

GE - "the [blank_start]inevitability[blank_end] of Pip's [blank_start]feelings[blank_end] given the [blank_start]circumstance[blank_end] in which he finds [blank_start]himself[blank_end]" - F.R. and Q.D. [blank_start]Leavis[blank_end] (19[blank_start]70[blank_end])

GE - Pip grows up in "[blank_start]rural[blank_end] society depending almost exclusively on [blank_start]physical[blank_end] [blank_start]disciplines[blank_end] and not at all on the [blank_start]development[blank_end] of [blank_start]mind[blank_end] and [blank_start]spirit[blank_end]" - Jolyon [blank_start]Connell[blank_end] (20[blank_start]12[blank_end])

GE - Dickens' Inspiration for GE comes from a "[blank_start]deep[blank_end] [blank_start]place[blank_end] in Dickens' [blank_start]imagination[blank_end]" - Claire Tomalin (2012)

GE - audience - "[blank_start]full[blank_end] and [blank_start]feel[blank_end] [blank_start]sympathy[blank_end]" - James [blank_start]Phelan[blank_end] (2007)

GE - "Estella can only [blank_start]respond[blank_end] to [Pip] when he exhibits [blank_start]qualities[blank_end] of [blank_start]physical[blank_end] [blank_start]force[blank_end] and [blank_start]animal[blank_end] [blank_start]aggression[blank_end] which, in order to [blank_start]win[blank_end] her, he is at pains to [blank_start]civilize[blank_end] out of himself" - [blank_start]Robin[blank_end] [blank_start]Gilmour[blank_end] (1999)

GE - "Pip's [blank_start]desire[blank_end] to [blank_start]improve[blank_end] himself gets caught up in [blank_start]social[blank_end] and [blank_start]sexual[blank_end] [blank_start]fantasies[blank_end]" - Robin Gilmour ([blank_start]1999[blank_end])

GE - Pip's [blank_start]expectations[blank_end] have a "[blank_start]sordid[blank_end], [blank_start]hidden[blank_end] [blank_start]reality[blank_end]" - Robin [blank_start]Gilmour[blank_end] (1999)

GE - "Pip's [blank_start]fathers[blank_end] urge upon him the [blank_start]necessity[blank_end] of [blank_start]identity[blank_end]" - Alan Lulchuk (1970)

GE - "Pip's [blank_start]feelings[blank_end] towards Estella's '[blank_start]irresistibility[blank_end]' relates to his [blank_start]tendency[blank_end] to enjoy being [blank_start]hurt[blank_end]" - A.L. French (2012)

GE - "as he [Pip] moves up the [blank_start]social[blank_end] [blank_start]ladder[blank_end], he [blank_start]sinks[blank_end] lower on the [blank_start]human[blank_end]" - Alan [blank_start]Lulchuk[blank_end] (1970)

GE - Dickens writes of "a [blank_start]society[blank_end] in which all are therefore [blank_start]guilty[blank_end] [blank_start]inescapably[blank_end]" - [blank_start]F.R.[blank_end] and [blank_start]Q.D.[blank_end] Leavis (1970)

GE - "Dickens shows a [blank_start]society[blank_end] that first [blank_start]makes[blank_end] and then [blank_start]executes[blank_end] [blank_start]criminals[blank_end]" - F.R. and Q.D. Leavis ([blank_start]1970[blank_end])

GE - Meeting Miss H and Estella [blank_start]precipitates[blank_end] the "[blank_start]birth[blank_end] of a new [blank_start]concept[blank_end] of the [blank_start]self[blank_end]" - Michal [blank_start]Peled[blank_end] [blank_start]Ginsburg[blank_end] (1984)

GE - "For him [Pip], she [Estella] is [blank_start]Circe[blank_end], the [blank_start]siren[blank_end], the [blank_start]Lorelei[blank_end], [blank_start]Rappaccini[blank_end]'s Daughter, all myths of [blank_start]alluring[blank_end] and [blank_start]unattainable[blank_end] love" - Gwen Watkins (1987)