Great Expectations: But He's Not Supposed to Have Her!

I've never read anything by Charles Dickens before. I know the story of A Christmas Carol from its many adapted film and TV versions - of which A Muppet Christmas Carol is by far the best - but Great Expectations was my first 'read' Dickens.

Originally published in 1861 as a three volume set, it is considered Dickens' last great work. The copy I have has is laid out in the same three volume format which made for a nice reading experience. I could set goals on how far was getting in a set amount of time. I don't think I would have made it through the book otherwise.

The story follows a young boy named Pip through life changing events in his childhood that follow him into his adult life. It all starts with a scary chance-encounter with an escaped convict and Pip is frightened into helping him. This mysterious man continuously manages to appear and have an influence on Pip's life when he is a child.

The next life altering event happens when he is introduced to Miss Havisham, a wealthy, crazy, frail, recluse of an old woman who seems to find him amusing. Along with her comes Estella, the bane of Pip's existence even though he is madly in love with her. Estella becomes a constant desire of his that he can't and won't let go of despite all the horrible things she says and does to him. Even during his adult years, Pip never lets go of his want of Estella. 

During his formative years, Pip 'inherits' a benefactor and gives up his trade as a blacksmith to go to London and become a gentleman. He makes friends, overspends his money and still constantly tries to win Estella's affections; to no avail. Pip considers his fortune from his benefactor his 'great expectations' and his possibility of obtaining Estella as his own as another 'great expectation.'

The big twist comes in volume three and I was surprised. I did not seeing it coming and was even more surprised that it had never been spoiled for me before. Then again, I don't know a lot of people in my circle who have read Great Expectations, but with a classic work the risk is always there. The first two volumes are a bit slow moving, but are chalk-full of the over-the-top Dickensian characters the author is known for. In fact, there are a lot of characters to keep track of, which can be hard to follow at times. But the those volumes are important because without them all the events that happen in the last one wouldn't be as exciting or make any sense at all. I found the last third a lot more interesting to read once all the plot lines started coming to a head and secrets were revealed. 

However, I did not like the ending. There are three endings to this novel and each one is interpreted differently. These interpretations were not something we covered much in class unless it was in direct relation to the film adaptation we watched.

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Speaking of the film adaptation... this is the version we watched: a modern-dress one.

Along with being a CRAP adaptation - it really should have been an 'inspired by' and not titled Great Expectations at all - I really disliked the relationship of Finn and Estella in the film. Oh yeah, Pip isn't even Pip, he is Finn in the movie. Why? My classmates kept relating his name change to the abundance of fish imagery in the film. I don't get why he couldn't still be Pip, the name still would have worked in the modern day setting based on the location of Florida.

I will get to the Finn/Estella thing, but first I want to speak to all the omissions the modern day dress made. There was a limited amount of characters, which I think if they had added more it could have benefited the movie. They could have rounded things out a bit more instead of the intense focus on the trash fire that was the romance plot of Finn and Estella. Also, the convict from the start of the story is largely ignored in the film. He has a sort of looming presence in the novel which is key to the development of Pip's character and story, which is completely erased in the film and is set solely on Miss Dinsmoor (Havisham).

Now, on to the trash fire: Finn and Estella's romance plot. I think the one girl in my class put it the best when she said that they (the filmmaker and writers) just wanted a romance film but didn't want to write the characters themselves, so they just changed Great Expectations into a romance film (paraphrased). I agree with her. As the title to my post says: He's Not Supposed to Have Her! The whole novel is Pip's unrequited love for Estella and his denial that she was never meant for him. However, in the film - SPOILER ALERT - Finn has two separate sexual encounters with Estella. Both of which are really uncomfortable to watch. I don't think that is right! He isn't supposed to have her! But in order to have a 'romance' film there has to be sex between the two love interests right? I could go on and on, but I digress.

I did not like the movie, at all, but it was beneficial to study it in class as an adaptation because of the all the things stated above and then some. We even did a scene study on the Art Gallery Show Opening section of the film and that was really interesting. In the end, the class was divided, some liked the film and others didn't, and those that did said it was good as a film, but not as an adaptation because it didn't really keep the 'feeling' of the original text. This is something we constantly come back to in our class: the feeling the book gives and did the adaptation keep that feeling.

Just some food for thought.

P.S. I'm hoping at some point to watch the 2011 BBC three-part mini-series for Great Expectations! It has been on my 'To Watch' list for a long time before I ever endeavored to read the book for my class.