The Pitfalls of Wealth

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" and Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights and shows how they see the frailty in man and the dangers lurking behind selfishness and greed. The paper compares how both authors convey the lesson that wealth can corrupt even the most innocent individual.

From the Paper:

"Victorian writers were facing fantastic social change. Modernity was making its way into Great Britain and the quiet, rustic way of life was giving way to a busy, industrial one. Industrialization was a painful process but, more than anything, it was profitable. Britain was at the forefront of this economic movement with her merchants becoming wealthy. The energy in the country was alive and people were active, inventive, and full of ideas. Money was more of a focal point than it had been because it was suddenly easier to get. Britain became a place of social unrest as individuals attempted to deal with the changes surrounding them. Because art often reflects life, it is no wonder that the writers of this period reacted strongly to the social changes taking place."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Boll, Theophilus. Reader's Supplement: Great Expectations. New York: Pocket Books. 1973.
• Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. 1963.
• Chesterson, G. K. Reader's Supplement: Great Expectations. New York: Pocket Books. 1973.
• Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Pocket Books. 1973
• Dobie, Ann. "Great Expectations." Nineteenth-Century Literature. JSTOR Resource Database.

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