Charles Dickens Contempt for Lawyers Revealed Great Expectations :: Great Expectations Essays

Charles heller Contempt for Lawyers Revealed keen Expectations Charles Dickens viewed lawyers as being mean, cruel, and relatively heartless (Collins 175). Throughout much of Dickens literature, lawyers are stereotyped through characters and these characters are used as a means of commentary round the lawyers of the time. Jaggers, from the novel Great Expectations, seems non to be an exception. Through the character of Jaggers, an understanding of Dickens view of early nineteenth-century lawyers can be obtained. Dickens felt that lawyers were overly concerned with power and non concerned enough about truth. Through Jaggers, the first evidence of this claim can be seen by his name alone. By sound, the name Jaggers creates an image of something that cuts. In a similar vein, Jaggers closely resembles jagged which portrays a rough and sharp image. The images produced by this name aptly describe the business attitude of Jaggers, an attitude that Dickens seems to rever e as efficient, but condone as heartless. The first meeting with score reinforces the idea of Jaggers as the power-centered lawyer. In explaining his presence t present to Pip, Jaggers states, If my advice had been asked, I should not have been here (140 ch. 18). After reading about the business that Jaggers is there to conduct, this statement begins to take on some meaning. Jaggers is saying that if he were asked, he would not advise anyone to throw away such money on a trivial charity case. Jaggers, wrapped up in the power of his profession, could not by chance advise such a careless handling of money. For Jaggers, power is not about helping the little man for charitable purposes. Dickens seems to suggest here ideas about how power has corrupted the intentions of lawyers, people who are in a position to help those in need. Even Jaggers mannerisms seem to suggest the image of power. For example, Pip observes Jaggers eating a sandwich and comments that he seemed to bully his sandwich as he ate (167 ch. 20). It is as if Dickens wants to make a point about how lawyers are power hungry all of the time, even in the handling of their inanimate meals. The way that Jaggers bullies his sandwich is not unlike how he bullies the clients that he is mantic to be serving.