Jealousy: Everyone's Enemy

Great Expectations Final Response

Love is all around us whether we know it or not. But there is something even greater that comes with love that many people don’t even notice: jealousy. Somebody is always going to be jealous of this person, or that relationship, and that cleary shows in many places in the novel Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

Throughout this novel there is love in many places, but there is also jealousy right along with love. In the beginning of this novel Pip thinks that he finds his true love when he meets Estella, the mistress who lives with Miss Havisham. He truly believes that they were meant to be together forever and will some day grow up and get married. That is: until Pip see’s Estella with another man—Drummel. Pip gets very jealous because he can see that Estella is falling for him and he is afraid that Estella will forget all about him and in the end go with Drummel instead of him. Pips jealousy is starting to come out because of Estella and Drummel, but that is not the only part of this novel that jealousy happens.

Orlick, a man who is learning blacksmithing with Joe and Pip. He is learning the art of blacksmithing just like Pip is, and they are going just fine, until Pip starts moving higher in society. He is learning more, doing better things and Orlick starts to get jealous. He wonders why Pip is so much better even though he is younger than him. He also wonders why he is not that high and that is when Orlick starts to get jealously, and that is how their friendship starts to break apart.

Those are just a few points in Great Expectations showing jealousy and how even if there is love, jealousy still happens. People really don’t notice what love can do to people or what love and jealousy can even to do to a friendship.