Between Identity and Dependency: The Psychological Dichotomy of Pip in Great Expectations

Abstract

This research paper investigates the gradual psychological development of the protagonist, Pip, in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations through psychoanalytic and clinical lenses focused on Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD). The paper argues that the development of Pip’s personality exhibits a certain level of chronic dependency, a pattern that permeates his behavioral tendencies and social relationships. It is a process that prevented the growth of his autonomous ego. The researchers applied a qualitative approach involving an intensive reading of the text and used the novel Great Expectations as the primary data. Secondary data sources include several articles on the psychoanalytical approach to the novel and several psychoanalytical theories to support arguments proposing the corrosive nature of the disorder. Prominent theories like Freudian psychosexual theory and Fairbairn’s object relations theory were used to define and investigate the oral fixation, maladaptive dependency, and fragmented selfhood of Pip, which started to develop during early childhood because of the inconstant and authoritarian nurturing of the primary caregiver. Key findings of this investigation are that Pip’s relationship with Miss Havisham, Estella, and Magwitch is not merely a social interaction but is indicative of pathological object relations. This relationship between Pip and the aforementioned characters also suggests that his identity was constructed entirely through the validation of idealised figures who ultimately reject him.