Love in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations: A Psychoanalytic Approach

This research project studies love in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations through Pip’s ego fluctuations. Freud’s division of the human psyche into the three components of id, ego and superego is applicable to the analysis of the rise and fall of the hero in his quest for Estella’s love. Four main questions have been dealt with: First, what makes up Pip’s id when it comes to love? Second, what are the main components of his superego that stand in the way of his love? Third, does Pip’s ego succeed in striking a balance between his id and superego? In what ways does it fail? And fourth, how does it eventually succeed if ever? The study has managed to answer its key research questions: First, Pip’s id is illustrated in the feelings and actions exerts in order to win Estella’s love. Second, Pip’s superego is mainly made up of the attitudes of characters that stand in his way. Third, Pip’s distress at the attitudes of Estella, Miss Havisham, Biddy and his friends, bring Pip’s ego to its worst situation. Fourth, the quest of Pip’s ego for winning Estella’s heart finally becomes possible mainly thanks to Miss Havisham’s repentance and Estella’s transformation.