Hamlets Themes Revived in Great Expectations :: Great Expectations Essays

Hamlet's Themes Revived in Great Expectations      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many of Hamlet's themes are revived in the text of Great Expectations. Charles Dickens creates characters and plots that are intertextually linked with the elements of the fatherly ghost and revenge in Hamlet. Pip chronicles his quest for self-discovery and establishing and/or diminishing his relationships with fatherly figures. In doing so he, much like Hamlet, is challenged by situations filled with revenge and dauntless ghosts. By Dickens integrating the Hamlet motif into Great Expectations, he promotes the reader's understanding of the dominant themes and message of Pip's tragedy, which directly correlate to the character of Prince Hamlet. Dickens makes references to Hamlet throughout the novel, but he establishes strong parallels particularly in the first and thirty-first chapters of his novel. Furthermore, Dickens dedicates chapter thirty-one to an actual performance of the play. He connects the roles the reader is to recognize Pip portraying in hi s life to the actors and scenes being comically reenacted on stage. In order for Dickens to emphasize Pip's inconsistent identity, he relies on a commentary on each of the boy's attempts to play the role of someone else. Besides the resonance of Prince Hamlet in Pip's character, the fatherly figures of Joe and Magwitch are drawn in the image of the Ghost of Hamlet's father. Both Hamlet and Great Expectations bear the struggles of young men striving to fulfill their obligations to a vengeful father figure. The fatherly figures propel their "sons" to attain the place in society which they lacked a chance to themselves, but the fatherly intentions only lead to Hamlet and Pip's self-destruction. Hamlet is defeated by his contempt and lust to satisfy the revenge his father seeks through him. In Great Expectations, Pip is given the fortunate opportunity to escape the constraint of revenge; despite a difficult journey, he ultimately succeeds in becoming a gentleman. Pip, unlik e Hamlet, learns to avoid the vengeful behavior which soured his expectations; rather he accepts the just father figure of Joe and distinguishes his identity.    Parallels to Hamlet can be drawn throughout the text of Great Expectations, but the issues that relentlessly plague Pip and Hamlet are both introduced in the novel's first chapter.