Pip's Motivation In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

3.3 Motivation to be Better
Freud thought that the psychological motive power is decided by the inborn instinct drives and the human behavior is driven by the biological urge directly or indirectly. So Pip’s motivation is natural and involuntary. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs in 5 levels, namely physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging need, respect need and self-actualization need, Pip made great efforts to learn blacksmithing and hoped to win people’s respect and to change his future life. Pip was an orphan of a poor family and often laughed at by his sister, so his pride was hurt seriously. Thus his need for respect is one of his motivations. When he visited the Satis House, he was in contact with people of …show more content…
But he didn’t know the social skills and had no cultural knowledge. He wanted to possess these and improve himself, so he joined the literacy classes and accepted financial aid to London for study. All these reflect Pip’s motivation to be better. We can’t say that Pip’s dream for Estella’s love is the only motivation for Pip to pursue for an upper class life. It can be found that the curiosity and thirst for knowledge is so great that he desperately wanted to change himself and cherished any chance to get rid of the status quo. But this motivation lacks a clear and correct objective, and he doesn’t know this point because of the limit to his surroundings. From that, we can find his need for love and belonging and for self-actualization which are high-level and crucial. In a word, his motivations are positive and helpful to his development. His motivations inspire him to struggle for his dream, although the reality is cruel and the process is difficult, he doesn’t lose heart because of the external conditions and he doesn’t expect to depend on others. He accepts the surroundings and is always prepared to strive and be closer from his goal. It is obvious that his …show more content…
Pip becomes even more deeply ashamed of his position in society because he believes that it will ruin his hopes to get Estella’s love. Almost immediately, Pip’s ego grows tremendously and he becomes arrogant as he looks down on his “common” yet caring and loyal friends. Pip’s life begins to reverse when he is taken to London by the lawyer. Pip can get the considerable money from the lawyer every month and attends the gentlemen training class tailored for him in order to learn to become the gentleman in the life of city. Except that, Pip also takes part in a dull society group and pays a regular visit to Estella, who has moved to London. He is addicted to her lying and beauty; what’s more, he becomes jealous of a rich township gentleman who is obscene and dirty and has a close contact with Estella and he begins his communicative activity. In short, Pip’s character has a dramatic change and he doesn’t keep pure and kind, which is replaced by pride and conceit. These unprecedented changes make Pip live happily and his concept of life is not to save any more. What’s more, he is extravagant and wastes suspicious money. In his opinion, there is nothing more important than money and even Joy, not to mention others. Pip has realized the importance of money and position which will give him more cheerful and vanity. The more wealth he achieves, the more sense of satisfaction he has. When he knows the benefits of