There were an alarming amount of people living in poverty in London around this time. Many of these, like Dickens, sought to fight and defy the class system by rising through by their own merit. While they did succeed, it is clear that they changed over the course of their rise to success. Evidence of this lies in Dickens' writings as he associates wealth and upper class with moral corruptibility. .
Dickens makes the role of the class system prominent to show the dangers of self-advancement, the corruptibility of power, and to show that one's class does not determine their character. He makes it prominent in showing Pip's advancement into high society. The numerous errors in the system are shown in various characters, such as Drummle, who is haughty and arrogant because of his high class. Also Magwitch, who is of low class but high worth and Pip through his own stages of self-advancement. Pip must look upon the narrow vision of morality of the class, as the Victorian class system itself is a facilitator of moral correctness. Dickens' gives Pip such ambition because the lower and middle classes were never involved in politics or money. This reflects Dickens' tendency to place a wish for reform within his writings. He wished to show that the lower class would become increasingly ambitious like Pip and wish to rise in the class system. The Victorian class system is so narrow and defined that the lower classes have no hope of a better life. The portrayal of the class system is perhaps the darkest of all the aspects of Great Expectations. Dickens also used it show that one's class does not matter when it comes to a character's morals. A lower class individual, such as Mrs. Joe, may be as mean hearted as the high class Mrs. Havisham. The portrayal of the high class is a sharp contrast from the cradle of civilization and life that Victorian London was thought to be. Victorian London is, in fact, a barbaric place in that people must struggle to even live while the rich do not even have to work.
