Hugh Sockett Livres

The first two working-class members were elected to Parliament in 1874, indicative of political class struggle. In this final volume of The Estella Trilogy , the Jaggers Trust for the Relief and Education of the Poor seeks to alleviate profound social problems including prostitution, rural poverty and education. Estella is now its Chair, part of her independent life since Pip’s death in 1870.Yet women struggle with social change although the suffrage is not yet pre-eminent. Divorce, relationships with servants, children’s education, new wealth, individual responsibilities in an age of colonial expansion, along with loyalty and status in marriage determine how women are to plan their futures.Estella is now a lady widely regarded as a fount of wisdom, a star that does not dim with age. Maturity brings constant self-reflection prompted by her reading the Jaggers - Havisham letters about her as a child. Yet she has many In Paris where Sargent paints her portrait; at Numquam House where she relaxes with Nellie, and the discussions in The League of Free Women.Yet her parental legacies haunt Molly, Abel Magwitch and Miss Havisham. From her mother she has inherited an unhinged jealousy. Estella admits to herself that both her parents were murderers, and wonders if everyone does not think seriously about killing someone.

Better Expectations explores Estella's evolving life as a recent widow committed to the pursuit of philanthropic endeavors, specifically in confronting social problems such as prostitution in the years 1870-1874. Her numerous friends come to see her as a fount of wisdom and good advice. Throughout the book Victorian strictures on sexual behavior crop up in terms of religious and social attitudes, and the legal prohibitions, punishments and obstacles in place. The book's portrayal of powerful women leads to their continual examining and testing the limits on their freedom and independence, on all of which Estella takes a tolerant and active view. She develops two profound friendships: The first is with Charlotte Mudge, married to Oliver, an eccentric and increasingly disturbed Norfolk vicar who dies falling off a ladder at his church. Her support and friendship for Charlotte is enhanced by the fact that Charlotte's niece Elizabeth is in love with Albert, her step-son, who finds himself trapped in the Paris Commune. More controversial for her friends is her loving relationship with Nellie Fletcher, wife of Pip's wartime comrade, now the blacksmith at Joe Gargery's forge. Estella and Nellie form an intimate relationship, rare in a mistress-servant context, but Estella explains to her friends how she sees her mother in Nellie and vigorously defends their Sapphic affiliation.

Pip and Estella is a sequel to Great Expectations continuing themes of shame, guilt, love, religion, war, murder and the wealth gap, developed within historical events and a quasi-feminist stance. Pip becomes a lawyer recruited by Jaggers, whose Will creates a Trust for the Relief and Education of the Poor. Estella is dramatically reconciled with her natural mother Molly, Jaggers' servant. Estella confronts Miss Havisham's legacy with Molly's help, exposing Estella's passionate love for Pip, and they marry after his first wife's death in childbirth. Pip's namesake 'Young' Pip is converted to Primitive Methodism and is wounded in the Crimean War. Equally varied are the fortunes of Dickens' other central characters (Mr. Jaggers, Joe and Biddy Gargery, John Wemmick) and such new characters as Beatrice Pocket 'Old' Pip's first wife; Susanna Urchadan, Young Pip's wife, and Hamish Macdonald, a new young lawyer.