Discuss the plot construction & structure of Great Expectations.

It is essential to realise that Dickens carefully
structured this excellent story by dividing it into three distinct stages. These
actually relate to the three volumes of the first edition when this novel first was
published, but even though we do not have this novel divided up now, it is still
important to consider the structure and how and why it is divided into three books.
Critics have debated the structure of these three books hotly, and the following
conclusions they have come to are as follows.

One
interpretation is that the books represent the three Christian stages of innocence
(Pip's childhood), fall and sin (his "Great Expectations") and then finally redemption
through suffering (the ending). Dickens was a writer whose Christian beliefs impacted
his work greatly, and we can trace certain key Christian motifs through his journey, in
particular the concept of losing his world and his riches to gain his soul. An argument
that backs up this Christian interpretation of the structure of this novel is the number
of Biblical references that are used at key points in the novel, such as in Chapter 19
when Pip discovers his expectations. There is also a very telling allusion at the very
end of Chapter 19 from Paradise Lost, when Pip leaves his home and
says, "the world lay spread before me," comparing his departure from his home and the
marshes to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of
Eden.

A second interpretation involves looking at this
classic as a kind of moral fable, commenting harshly on a newly affluent society with
many people suddenly finding they have great expectations. Such an approach would
therefore focus on the dangers and possibilities of such a change in circumstance. This
might focus on the moral development of Pip. He is removed from his roots, goes to a
city that is consumed by commercialism where he receives an education. When tragedy
occurs, he realises that he can never return to his simple origins, but, a much maturer
and sadder individual, he can prosper as a businessman by using his own talents rather
than living off the corrupt money of others. This view would tie in very closely to
Pip's own growing sense and understanding of his own character and
motives.