Re: Coincidences in Great Expectations

Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Wed, 19 Nov 1997 11:34:29 -0100 

My dear Miss DeJong,

  Coincidence, let me suggest to you, is one of the defining features of
fiction.  Most novels tell a carefully constructed story: about a young man,
for instance, who makes mistakes in life, suffers as a result of them,
learns from his suffering, and achieves happiness as a result of his
learning.  This is something that happens to many of us, perhaps to most of
us.  But the cast in a novel is smaller than the cast we move among in our
own lives.  The young man in the novel may seem to lose the young woman as a
result of his mistakes, and then regain her, when he has learned better, at
the end of the book.  Most young men make their mistakes with one young
woman, and do better with another later in their lives.
  You point out that there are some more surprising coincidences in "Great
Expectations."  I am willing to allow that, but submit it is a question of
degree, not one of coincidence or no coincidence.  Some, moreover, can be
defended.  Pip finds himself in chambers with Herbert Pocket because of Mr
Jaggers, who is a lawyer who acts both for Miss Havisham and her family and
Magwitch.  Magwitch would have encountered Mr Jaggers because it was his
accomplice who jilted Miss Havisham.  Where is Pip more likely to meet
Estella, if he meets her at all, than at the place which has been so
important to both of them?  Since the hulks are moored near to Pip's
childhood home, public conveyances travelling there are likely to have
convicts as passengers, even if the topic of their conversation is
surprising.  Mr Wopsle's recognition of Compeyson has surely to do with the
fact that the events that Christmas day, so many years earlier, were among
the most exciting in a quiet life.
  I think today's readers look for a more deft management of coincidence
than did the original readers of my books, but I say again, it is a question
only of degree.

Faithfully yours,


Charles Dickens
________________________________________________________________________________

>Dear respected sir:
>
>I have just completed reading your novel Great Expectations which I
>enjoyed very much.  I have a few questions to ask you regarding some
>of the coincidences in the novel.
>
>I have learned that you have been critisised for some of the events in
>the book which are such incredible coincidences, they are difficult
>to grasp.  Some such situations include:
>
>When Pip goes to London for the first time, his room happens to be
>shared with the "pale young gentleman" (Herbert) whom he'd met many
>years before.
>
>The last part of the book when Pip meets Estella after over 10 years
>apart-at the exact same time at the exact same place on the late Miss
>Havisham's property.
>
>When Pip returns to see Miss Havisham at one point and he shares a
>carraige with convicts who are talking about him.
>
>Mr. Whopsle, at the theatre in London recognized the second convict
>(Compeyson) sitting behind Pip.  He identified the convict after 15
>years whom he'd had a glimpse of on the marshes in dusk.  Compeyson
>was not in prison clothes anymore and yet he was recognized?
>
>In my opinion, this novel is superbly written but these occurrences
>are difficult for me too understand because some of them are simply
>too far fetched and unrealistic even though possible.
>
>I would appreciate if you would comment on this.  Was it simply the
>style of that time in literature?  (I noticed that in other works
>written during the Victorian time, there area also such
>coincidences.  These include "My Fair Lady" when Higgins meets the
>Linguist from India in a common marketplace of all places)
>
>Was is part of your unique style?
>Is there any other reasons you have included such coincidences? (Such
>as importance to plot and themes)
>
>I thank you for your time in answering my questions.
>
>Yours sincerely,
>
>Terah DeJong
>South India
>
>

======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author