디킨스의 ＂위대한 유산＂에서의 온화한 기독교인의 이상

Abstract

Dickens's Great Expectations has long been recognized as a Victorian masterpiece treating sense of guilt and atonement for its society. On the surface, we might say that the idea above would be truly connected to the major point of this work, but this paper aims at exploring the more complicated, and multi-layered motifs stirring up Pip's desire of being a snobbish 'gentleman'. Following Pip's path of abandoning Joe's world in the marsh, and adapting himself to city life in London, we see Pip's life exposed to the realistic, and furious elements in the Victorian London at the exact point at which Dickens himself stood to watch over it as a witness. On the other hand, to grasp the hidden meaning behind the inner level of Pip's mind, René Girard's theory is introduced in this paper in terms of 'triangular desire', and 'scapegoat' to explain how these two key characters - Pip and Magwitch - are tied together as 'physical doubles', and how the relationship functions to make Pip get Magwitch's violent side in the deeper level of his mind. Girard's theory is about how human desire, which is acquisitive and mimetic, results in violence, which is blind, and not rational, finally leads to an extreme kind of confusion. At this stage is brought the 'scapegoat' mechanism to solve all confusion, which leads to peace. In this context, Magwitch is sacrificed as a 'scapegoat' to bring a resolution. As a result of Magwitch's death, Pip loses his expectations, but his original spirituality, once abandoned, is restored, when he pronounces Joe to be a 'gentle Christian man' in his sick room. By splitting 'gentleman' to insert 'Christian' between 'gentle' and 'man', Pip demonstrates that he has given up his snobbishness. So Pip's life journey leads him to social failure, but moral triumph.