"He was a mild, good-natured,sweet tempered,easy going, foolish, dear fellow-A sort of Hercules in strength , and also in weakness"
Such an introduction of Joe paints us a picture of a gentleman, but at the same time who is limited by his lack of wisdom such as Hercules
He is married to Mrs Joe who treats him like her son, an equal to Pip
Perhaps his oddly sick and submissively sweet character has everything to do with his abusive childhood. It's like the character is adamant to keep his gently because he wants to avoid being his father. It's like killing your enemies with kindness...even if Mrs Joe deserved to be mistreated by Joe... Joe is an exemplary/consistent "good" character
Joe is not really well educated
He fails to read what Pip has poorly written for him
"“I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.
Joe is a character used by Dickens to show him what true "Gentility" is
Unlike Pip... Joe is extremely content with being a common and hard working man...whereas Pip searches fro riches that give no significance to his life. Dickens rebukes the life and the ambitions to find wealth that has not been well worked for.
"That no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner"
"No varnish can hide the grain of the wood,the more varnish you put on the more the grain will express itself."
“Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man's a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Diwisions among such “must come, and must be met as they come.”
In short... one must be content with their position in life..their class and wealth. It's your search for happiness that is most important