There are many things about the Victorian Age that are different from our way of life today. Evidence of this can be found in such elements of the 1800's as courting manners, child- rearing, transportation, housing and careers. The novel and film Great Expectations give many examples of the contrast of the present and the past. Victorians were a very class-conscious society. These days, just about anyone can manage to have fairly nice clothes, a decent car, a place to live, and reasonable job security. Not so in Victorian times. Great Expectations clearly illustrates the rich and poor extremes of the society. As a boy, Pip was seen as obviously poor by Estella, due to his calling knaves jacks, and having coarse hands and thick boots. She was disgusted even to be around him simply due to this fact. Pip simply couldn't afford many nice clothes because he was a blacksmith's son. The other end of the dress spectrum is shown by Pip's trip to the tailor later in the book. His money has all of a sudden made him an important man and he can have only the finest clothes. He spends much of the book walking around London decked out in suits and a top hat like he's better than everyone. While dress prejudices still exist in today's times, they are not as drastic as they seemed to be in the Victorian period. If you're looking to go to a bar and pick up a one-night stand, the 1800's are not the spot for you. Many marriages were arranged or were marriages of convenience. There were not very many common-law relationships and not a lot of premarital sex. Victorians were very preoccupied with how things appeared and making sure they were behaving properly. The illustration of this in Great Expectations was the supposed arranged marriage between Pip and Estella. This shows that betrothments were not unheard of. Most of the marriages in the book, however, although they had more to do with money and status than love, were mutual agreements between husband ...
