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Why Is Frankenstein And Great Expectations Considered Realist Or Gothic Novels?

Great Expectations and Frankenstein provide us with examples of the nineteenth century English novel frequently labeled 'realist' and 'gothic' respectively. This essay aims to discuss the characteristics that contribute to these labels and how far this sets the two novels apart.

The realist novel is classified as such by its attempt to represent social types of the time and symbolize the community of a historical era by portraying particular individuals. Consequently, characters within the novel serve as examples of their particular social type. One of the aims of the realist novel was to bring life to history, to add a human viewpoint to a real historical situation. This means that the realist narrative focuses on the everyday concerns, thoughts and feelings of society's people. Not concerned solely with immediate feelings, the ambitions and desires of a person are also of great interest to the realist writer. As a result we are presented with a picture not just of how the world was, but how different social types imagined it to be.

Great Expectations is set in early Victorian England at a time when great social changes were taking place. The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists and manufacturers to amass huge fortunes that would otherwise have been unattainable; social class was no longer a status dependent purely on birth. This is the dynamic environment into which Dickens places his protagonist, Pip. Pip's sudden transformation from country laborer to city gentleman allows Dickens to commentate on the differences between social extremes. Pip's decisions are constantly influenced by the strict rules and expectations that governed Victorian England at this time. The setting of the novel would have been familiar to its readership and certain aspects can clearly be linked to historical truth. For example, in 1841 there would have been three thousand civilian prisoners held aboard nine 'hulk' ships anchored in English waters. It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that Magwitch could have escaped from a ship that found itself anchored off the Essex coast.

The moral of the story is clear: social standing is a superficial and insufficient guide to character. Pip swiftly becomes driven by the fantasy of becoming a gentleman, and it is these 'great expectations' that form the basic plot of the novel. As a result Dickens is able to satirise the very class system that he is a part of. The consequences of Pip's actions allow us an insight into Dickens' social ideals - Pip's life as a gentleman is no more satisfying or moral than his life as a country laborer. Indeed it is through Joe, Biddy and Magwitch that Pip learns that social and educational improvement are irrelevant to a person's true worth. Consequently, it must be noted that the realist novel is heavily influenced by the way that the realist novelist sees the world; Dickens focuses firmly on those in the community who have earned their status through commerce and as a result, the post-Industrial revolution class system portrayed largely ignores the nobility and aristocracy by birth. In this respect the realist novel can be read as more subjective social criticism and raises the issue of how reliable one author can be when it comes to presenting an objective view of the world. Characters in the novel naturally present us with conflicting views of society and it is left to Dickens to reconcile these ideas and present us with the 'answer,' an answer that is heavily influenced by his own ideals. It can be argued that this technique over-simplifies social issues, in the words of Joe, 'one man's a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come.' There seems to be little in between and each must be met as they are presented by Dickens.

Other factors may also have come into play when producing this 'realist' novel, particularly, the novel's market. The content of Great Expectations would have been heavily influenced by the requirements of All the Year Round, one of the magazines for which Dickens wrote. Having just published a rather unsuccessful serial by another author, Dickens saw Great Expectations as a means of drawing in readers and getting the magazine back on track financially: an ironic influence considering the moral of the story which condemns the pursuit of financial and social gain.

As mentioned previously, the setting of Great Expectations would have been familiar to its contemporary readers, allowing them to relate to characters. Setting is one factor that sets the realist novel apart from the gothic. The landscape presented in Frankenstein would have been wholly alien to readers of the time. Gothic novels tend to locate narratives in mysterious locations and this convention is clearly adhered to in Frankenstein, with action taking place in continental Europe and Arctic regions - places it is unlikely Shelley's readers would have ever visited. In the same respect Victor's experiments take place in an unknown setting as the majority of readers would have been unfamiliar with laboratories and scientific experiments. The use of strange and eerie settings succeeds in creating a mood of suspense and unsettling atmosphere, 'Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave.'

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