How Does Estella Serve As A Foil To Pip?

776 Words4 Pages
As in several literary pieces, authors and writers have used foil in several different ways, which include adding depth to their novels, and also adding up to the plot development of the story. A foil is a minor character that has different characteristics from the major character which is portrayed in a novel to emphasize the main character’s characteristics. A novel which serves as a great example regarding the use of foil is “Great Expectations”, written by Charles Dickens, which portrays a contrast between the characters of Pip and Estella. The use of this foil not only shows the differences between both characters, but also reveals to the reader features about the relation between both characters which were never imagined throughout the reading of the novel. Pip, the main character of Great Expectations, is an orphan who was born into a poor family. Being raised by his older sister, Mrs. Joe, a mean, harsh woman, Pip has always been considered a very insecure character from the novel. He’s unsure of who he really is, and doesn’t really know what he will do about his life, until he finds out that he has received a large fortune and has just become rich. But, although Pip becomes wealthy, he’s still unsure about who he really is, since he is ashamed of his poor past, troubled about his present, and afraid of what is yet to come in his future. Although Pip has such bad characteristics, he is also considered an open-hearted and friendly person, but he still has a problem regarding the fact that he suffers from excessive pride, and he doesn’t care about the others surrounding him, especially if they are from a lower social class. In other words, Pip could be considered a weak and incoherent character. Estella isn’t completely different from Pip, since she was also a raised orphan, but unlike Pip, she was born into a rich family and lived her whole life with an
Open Document