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

Charles deuce Contempt for Lawyers Revealed Great Expectations Charles fiend viewed lawyers as macrocosm mean, cruel, and relatively heartless (Collins 175). finishedout much of Dickens literature, lawyers be stereotyped by characters and these characters are used as a means of commentary active the lawyers of the time. Jaggers, from the novel Great Expectations, fronts not to be an exception. Through the character of Jaggers, an judgment of Dickens view of early nineteenth-century lawyers can be obtained. Dickens felt that lawyers were excessively concerned with originator and not concerned enough about truth. Through Jaggers, the first evidence of this claim can be seen by his shout alone. By sound, the name Jaggers creates an image of something that cuts. In a similar vein, Jaggers most resembles jagged which portrays a rough and sharp image. The images produced by this name capably describe the business attitude of Jaggers, an attitude that Dickens see ms to revere as efficient, but condone as heartless. The first meeting with Pip reinforces the estimate of Jaggers as the power-centered lawyer. In explaining his presence there to Pip, Jaggers states, If my advice had been asked, I should not shed been here (140 ch. 18). After reading about the business that Jaggers is there to conduct, this instruction 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 possibly 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 machinate 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 empty-bellied 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 supposed to be serving.