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Charles Dickens wanted his readers to get it! Light vs. dark. Rich vs. poor. Good vs. evil. In Great Expectations, Dickens wastes no time telling us who’s good and who’s bad. In 60 seconds, here’s exactly how he does it.

Video Transcription:

If you watched Recap 5, you know that in the world of Great Expectations, there are connections everywhere. Coming up, a motif that reinforces this point. Big time.

So you’re either going to think that this is really, really cool, or really, really ridiculous.

One of Dickens’s motifs is:

Doubles!

They’re everywhere in this novel.

Think about the characters. Pip discovers two convicts on the marsh:

Magwitch and Compeyson.

There are two invalids:

Pip’s sister and Miss Havisham.

There are even two secret benefactors:

Magwitch, who’s Pip’s benefactor, and Pip himself, who’s Herbert’s benefactor.

Tell me more! Tell me more!

Don’t forget that Magwitch and Miss Havisham have something in common, too.

That’s right! Magwitch and Miss Havisham both have visions for the young person in their lives. Magwitch wants to make Pip a gentleman …

And Miss Havisham raises Estella to break men’s hearts.

Finally, even the action in the story is doubled. The book ends with two deaths, two weddings, and two men who go abroad.

All of which reinforces the idea that Dickens develops throughout the novel:

When it comes to the world of Great Expectations,

Everything is connected!