In the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens,Dickens suggests that ambition can be a positive trait, But when taken too far, it can lead to the downfall of the person in pursuit of those ambitions. Dickens displays through the character Herbert that ambition is a positive trait when not taken too far. He then shows what happens to those that obsess about their ambitions using the characters Pip and Miss Havisham.
In the novel, Pip, the protagonist is an example of how ambition can be taken too far and how it can lead to their downfall. In the story pips ambition is to become a gentleman and when the heart of a girl named is Estella. He pursues this dream relentlessly and he gets caught up in his ambition before he realizes he has lost …show more content…
dickens shows this through the character Herbert who could be seen as an alternative to pips the result of Pips ambitions, which further suggest that ambition is good unless it is taken too far. We can see this by the result of pips & Herbert financial success. Herbert pursues this ambition in a smarter manner than Pip. Herbert takes his time and invest and he does not spend money carelessly. He is very smart with his funds. Pip like Herbert wants to rise and social class, however he does so unwisely. He buys things that he does not need an over spends his allowance, he believes he can gain in class by buying luxurious items and looking the part rather than saving his money and investing in order to actually rise and social class. Although in the end pip realizes his mistakes and joins Herbert, he almost gets arrested and thrown in a debtors prison. Another similar goal between the two boys is that both have a love interest who is it out of their class. However Herbert's love interest is more reasonable since she also has feelings for him and Herbert has a more sensible way of gaining his financial status so he can marry her. Pip however deals with his love differently. She relentlessly pursues is Stella despite her having no interest in him and unlike Herbert this leaves him sad since he has no way to reach his ambition.
In the novel, Pip, the protagonist is an example of how ambition can be taken too far and how it can lead to their downfall. In the story pips ambition is to become a gentleman and when the heart of a girl named is Estella. He pursues this dream relentlessly and he gets caught up in his ambition before he realizes he has lost …show more content…
dickens shows this through the character Herbert who could be seen as an alternative to pips the result of Pips ambitions, which further suggest that ambition is good unless it is taken too far. We can see this by the result of pips & Herbert financial success. Herbert pursues this ambition in a smarter manner than Pip. Herbert takes his time and invest and he does not spend money carelessly. He is very smart with his funds. Pip like Herbert wants to rise and social class, however he does so unwisely. He buys things that he does not need an over spends his allowance, he believes he can gain in class by buying luxurious items and looking the part rather than saving his money and investing in order to actually rise and social class. Although in the end pip realizes his mistakes and joins Herbert, he almost gets arrested and thrown in a debtors prison. Another similar goal between the two boys is that both have a love interest who is it out of their class. However Herbert's love interest is more reasonable since she also has feelings for him and Herbert has a more sensible way of gaining his financial status so he can marry her. Pip however deals with his love differently. She relentlessly pursues is Stella despite her having no interest in him and unlike Herbert this leaves him sad since he has no way to reach his ambition.