55810 Mr. Pagtakhan Per.

1 Honors Sophomore English October 1, 2013 The Detriments of Idealism

Raised to believe that friendship and love are destined to bring people happiness, humanity constantly searches for these three concepts. The need for personal relationships is an embedded part of human nature, but often, the pursuit of success distorts the view humankind has on its connections with people. This idea is presented in Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations, which tells the story of idealized expectations negatively influencing real life attachments to others. Pip and Estella have been given the opportunity to become rich and successful, but their views on what will happen in their futures take a toll on their interactions with others. These two characters are the main representations of how such relationships can be destructive. Because they are blinded by their expectations, both of them create a false reality for their prospects of personal relationships. Pips fixation for his personal goals exposes the fickleness of his friendships. One of the first parts of the story where this exposure is shown is when Pip is notified that a benefactor has provided him with money to become a rich man and live in London, and Pip says to Joe and Biddy, Five more days, and then the day before the day! Theyll soon go (Dickens 160). Pips arrogance and lack of consideration for Joe and Biddys feelings immediately strain the situation. This hurts his closest companions because he delves into his high expectations for his new life and makes them his main focus and priority. Such thoughts and actions easily cause the rapport to disintegrate, which contributes to instability in many of these relationships where personal achievement is valued over friendship. As Pip settles in London and dreams about reaching the top of the social class, he is notified that Joe will be visiting, and he describes the news as a

2 considerable disturbance, some mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity (237). The preoccupations that Pip has for the life of an upperclassman results in a lack of respect for his best friend Joe; consequently, their strong bond becomes erratic as it is subdued by Pips avarice . The positive aspects of a steady relationship are often sacrificed due to society conditioning people to place future success over healthy connections, and the happiness that results from this is often superficial. Dickens explains how the desire to achieve a self-centered ambition warps ones view of friendship. Pip and Estellas fantasized belief about romance and love causes them to be unable to distinguish when it becomes destructive. For example, Pips nave nature leads him to center love around wealth and personal materialistic gain, as shown when he talks about Miss Havishams past by saying I wonder he didnt marry her and get all the property (174). Because people like Pip often take wealth into consideration before entering a relationship, it creates a falsified version for the true intentions of love. With this ignorant idea of prioritizing money, many are incapable of realizing how problematic and damaging this form of love is, leading to a great disparity between ones reality and fantasies. This ultimately causes unhappiness due to the real life being a disappointment. Aside from his obsession for wealth, Pip also sacrifices his loving relationships with Joe in order to pursue Estella only because he found her beautiful and simply because [he] found her irresistible (223). Infatuation is often mistaken for being in love; the physical attraction towards someone without acknowledging other traits, and in this case, Estellas cold-heartedness, is a direct cause of being in denial since many are unwilling to admit they are miserable in a relationship. Because society greatly emphasizes the importance of appearance, wanting to love someone only because of their aesthetics has been ingrained into peoples minds. This produces disappointing results by tricking them into believing that a form of love based only on lust and not personality traits can lead to happiness. Another part in the story where unhappiness in a

3 relationship is caused by ones expectations is when Estella tells Pip that her husband, Drummle, became quite renowned as a compound of pride, avance, brutality, and meanness (518). Due to Miss Havisham using Estella for revenge against men, the girl does not have a chance to experience what love actually is, which causes her to think that it is based on wealth and not on emotional bonds. This is a consequence of her growing up in an affluent household without any love from her guardian, and she ends up marrying Drummle because of her background. Unfortunately, many think like Estella. People are often hindered from comprehending the fact that love cannot be based solely on materialistic ideals since they are so intent fulfilling their fantasies for their expectations. As a result, one often deceives himself into thinking that his improbable dreams will bring him unconditional happiness. True love is merely a hallucination unless the person can distinguish the difference between realistic and unachievable expectations. Pip and Estella are convinced that because they have a high standing in social class, everything will come effortlessly to them; they do not realize that this mindset is damaging as it places them in a fantasy world where they do not realize the destructiveness that overpowers their relationships. It is important to have aspirations and pursue them, but one must recognize where the line is drawn in order to have healthy affections with others, whether it be platonic or romantic. Friendship and love are necessities in order for a human to survive, but they are fragile and cannot function with the influence of impractical expectations.