SeongJae Shin

Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens explores the class system of Victorian England, ranging from the m ost wretched criminals (Magwitch) to the poor peasant s of the marsh country (Joe and Biddy) to the middle cl ass (Pumblechook) to the very rich (Miss Havisham). The theme of social class is central to the novel’s plot a nd to the ultimate moral theme of the book, Pip’s reali zation that wealth and class are less important than aff ection, loyalty, and inner worth. Social class played a major role in the society depicted in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Social class d etermined the manner in which a person was treated a nd their access to education. Yet, social class did not de fine the character of the individual.

Great Expectations was se t in Victorian era. In Victorian era there wer en’t any differences betwe en commoners and poor people. But there were big gap of differences between com moners and rich people.

However, commoners wer e divided to three parts. P oor commoner, common commoner and rich com moner. Poor commoners could n ot feed themselves as mu ch as common commone rs would have. Rich commoners had bet ter jobs than common co mmoners which gets the m more money and digni ty.

Many men would have wor ked on the railways, or in d ockyards, which were thrivi ng places in Victorian Engla nd. These were badly paid, even worse than now Many people worked as do mestic servants, especially women. A woman might be working in dressmaking or millinery jobs (making hats and maki ng dolls) People might keep a pub or a pie shop or eatin g house. Some women ran boarding houses.

Some people would have w orked at independent trade s and crafts. Men might be blacksmiths f or instance, or builders or c arpenters or craftsmen of va rious kinds. People might be shopkeepe rs of various kinds. A woman might have her o wn dressmaking or milliner y business People might keep a pub or a pie shop or eating house. Some women ran boarding houses.

Offices employed large numbers of people, in the early Victorian e ra these would have been mainly men. But in the later part of the Victori an era more women began to be e mployed in offices. The invention of the typewriter l ed to a great increase in employm ent of women in offices, as it was found that women, with their sm aller and nimbler fingers, made b etter typists than men. Also, the people who invent thin gs were classified as richer part of the commoners. Some of the commoners who were fairly were educated could have been a teacher of a small village or town but not in big cities.

Both men and women might work as teachers, as the education system ex panded during the course of the cent ury more teachers were needed. Doctors were mainly male, but from the 1870s and onwards, some women did begin to qualify as doctors. Nursing became a respectable occup ation for women from the 1850s onw ards due to the reforms of Florence N ightingale. Richest of the riches would own a mine field or a factory or a well going lawyer. Also, all the high ranked generals and people who worked for kings and queens were rich too. But of course among these the richest people would have to be the kings and the queens.

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