Rough DraftBrooke Gladstone5/17/2000Period #3What is true love?The quality of true love is highly debated among different people. Some peoplebelieve true love relies on rules or that it simply does not exist. However, true love is anunconditional love between two people, when two people love each other for whothey are. In Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations there are many differentsituations where true love become relevant.
First of all, there is a gentle giant by the name of Joe is Great Expectations. He isPips brother-in-law. Joe is a very peaceful man, but by looking at him you would bescared. He is a very large man and the blacksmith of the town. In the beginning of thebook he is married to Mrs. Joe Gargery (Pips sister).
Joe loves Mrs. Joe very much, andin the book he states that she is a, Fine figure of a woman, (Dickens, pp. ). In a scenein the novel he discusses with Pip how he is happy with his life, but on the opposite Mrs.
Joe is not exactly on the same term. She is very unhappy with her life, and she believesthat she deserves better than Joe, or a blacksmith. Dickens portrays Mrs. Joe as abitter woman, but the audience can see the love she has for Joe, even if she is notsatisfied with her marriage to Joe. At a later time in the book Mrs.
Joe sadly passes away, and you can feel thesadness Joe has towards her death. A few years later he marries Biddy. Biddy hasalways been around the family to help in the house while Mrs. Joe was sick.
Thefriendship between Joe and Biddy eventually became a loving relationship and Joepurposed to her. Obviously Joe may had loved Mrs. Joe very dearly, but he shortlyrecovered from his lost and married Biddy. Mr.
Pocket, Pips roommate, is a friendly man whom Pip meets while he moves toLondon. Mr. Pocket is very proper and teaches Pip about posture, manners, and eatinghabits. Mr. Pocket proposes to a lady named Clara. Pocket describes Clara as a gentle,kind lady who he is in love with.
He talks of her much in Pip and his conversations. Itseems as if he loves her very much, but their relationship has just begun and their love isstill growing towards each other. The audience may not feel the love between the twoas much as other relationships. On the other hand, Miss Havashams relationship with her fiancee was horrid. Itturned out to be a terrible nightmare.
Compeyson was Miss Havashams fiancee wholeft her at the altar. Miss Havasham dreads this day in the novel. Pip visits Satis Houseand she is wearing her wedding dress, she has the wedding cake on the dining roomtable, and the clock is stopped at the time she was left at the altar. It is obvious that sheloved Compeyson very much, but doing what he did she now hates men. Because ofthis she raises Estella to hate men and torture them.
Estella tells Pip later in the book howshe wouldnt want to marry Pip because she doesnt want to hurt him. Finally, Pips relationship with Estella. Although there is no such thing, Pip lovedEstella very much. Above true love is described as an unconditional love between twopeople, so according to that definition this relationship would not be considered truelove. Pip has a very strong and indescribable love towards Estella, but the passion is notreturned. Estella plays with Pip as if he is a yo-yo.
One moment she mentions somethingthat may make Pip believe that she does love him, and another she is upset with him forthinking she admired him. In conclusion, true love is perceived many different ways. In the novel GreatExpectations there are many different relationships which display different levels of loveand romance. There is a relationship where one of the members passed away, anotherwhere the relationship is so young the love has not blossomed and two relationshipswhere the love is not returned from the other member of the relationship. All in all,Charles Dickens never places a relationship where true love is evident.BibliographynoneBook Reports
