In the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, a young man is overcome by the burden of love; he falls for a cold hearted, beauty that he knows will hurt him in the end. He presses on, believing the two of them are destined to be together. “The unqualified truth is that, when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection.” (pg 232-233) Even though Pip felt a great sense of unhappiness after each time he was acquainted with his subject of love, he still went on to think of her and dream of her—wishing she was his. It’s not that he was lonely and looking for something to fill that hole, it was only that he had found himself caught in a deadly trap. As a man he fell madly in love with a vision. He didn’t see through to the heart of the situation—this heart, cold and careless. I suppose he thought loving this girl was worth it, but was it really worth getting himself hurt in the end? What he saw was simply a form of beauty of which he thought to be perfection, though that perfection pushed him away at a constant rate and grew to be a wounding matter upon poor Pip’s heart.
I agree with the idea that Pip really fell in love with the idea of her, and not her as a person. The point about him being hurt in the end, so maybe he never should have loved, I disagree with. There's a famous quote, "Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." I think that holds true. If we are too scared to venture into the world and build relationships, when the time is right, then they wil lnever be built. There's always the risk of being burnt in the end. That's why we should take it slowly, carefully, and with the wisdom and advice from our loved ones.
ReplyDeleteI did think about that point in my outline, but as I began writing this is what it ended up as. A point I didn't quite hit is that, when you choose someone to love choose them wisely and don't fall for only a vision, find a pure heart also. I think you are completely right Mr. Johnson. Thank you for the input.
ReplyDeleteLiv this is really good. I love how you consistantly state that Pip fell in love with perfection. I also love your title :) I am going to have to agree with Mr. Johnson because a person does need to feel love, whethere it be them having love or someone having love for them.
ReplyDeleteLiv,
ReplyDeleteGreat piece. I absolutely love the quote you chose and how you explained it. Your sentence structures are awesome, they really make you sound mature and sophisticated. I think that both you and Mr. Johnson are right on your ideas, it's just up to the person to decide what they would like to do.
-KC
Liv,
ReplyDeleteGreat piece! I didn't read the story but from reading your piece I can really tell what it was about!
-Emily S. :)