Dickens's Great Expectations

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Jerome Meckier explores the literary rivalry among Victorian novelists in his analysis of Great Expectations, revealing how Dickens reinterpreted works by authors like Lever, Thackeray, and the Brontës. He argues that Dickens parodied their themes and characters to critique their narratives as unrealistic fairy tales, particularly through a darker lens that replaces the traditional Cinderella motif with the story of Misnar's collapsible pavilion. This shift serves as a commentary on social disparity and reflects Dickens's tragicomic worldview, offering a corrective to the era's romanticized tales.