Charles Dickens : great expectations

Charles Dickens is the most famous and popular English author of the 19th century, and "Great Expectations" is often regarded as his finest work.

The dramatic story of Pip's journey from high hopes to devastating disappointment offers profound insights into Victorian society and into the workings of human desire.

In this guide, Nicolas Tredell introduces and sets in context the key debates about a novel which has provoked an immensely rich critical response.

The extracts and essays included here examine "Great Expectations" in structural, symbolic, political, psychological, social and sexual terms, relating it to its own time and to a range of 20th century critical and theoretical perspectives.