디킨스와 자조: 『위대한 유산』을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper attempts to examine Dickens’ perception of the concept of self-help in the middle class and how it is embodied in his work. This is because self-help is the spirit of the mid-Victorian society, and therefore Dickens’ criticism on self-help is a criticism on Victorian society. The middle class, who was proud of their own class, began to immerse themselves into the desire to be incorporated into gentlemen by the middle of the Victorian era. In the mid-Victorian era, it was the general atmosphere of society to achieve economic independence through self-help and to achieve a rise in status based on this. The fact that the expectation of the rise in status of Pip in Great Expectations inevitably leads to his moral degradation can be said to be a charge against the attitude and value that Pip shared with his time. However, in Great Expectations, the harshest caricatures of self-help are given to characters such as Magwitch, who uncritically accept Smile’s principles. Therefore, Pip’s story can be said to be a euphemistic warning to mid-Victorian society and a painful personal confession.