EngLit

Teacher · Administrator Data inscrierii: 26/Mar/2008 Mesaje: 471

As we have already discussed in class, there are two endings for this novel.

First the commercial ending, the one that appears in all editions. It is not the ending Dickens originally had in mind, but one he altered at the suggestion of his friend Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It runs like this:

1. THE COMMON (COMMERCIAL) ENDING

[...] had done so, and was looking along the desolate garden-walk, when I beheld a solitary figure in it.

The figure showed itself aware of me, as I advanced. It had been moving towards me, but it stood still. As I drew nearer, I saw it to be the figure of a woman. As I drew nearer yet, it was about to turn away, when it stopped, and let me come up with it. Then, it faltered as if much surprised, and uttered my name, and I cried out:

“Estella!”

“I am greatly changed. I wonder you know me.”

The freshness of her beauty was indeed gone, but its indescribable majesty and its indescribable charm remained. Those attractions in it, I had seen before; what I had never seen before, was the saddened softened light of the once proud eyes; what I had never felt before was the friendly touch of the once insensible hand.
We sat down on a bench that was near, and I said, “After so many years, it is strange that we should thus meet again, Estella, here where our first meeting was! Do you often come back?”
“I have never been here since.”
“Nor I.”
The moon began to rise, and I thought of the placid look at the white ceiling, which had passed away. The moon began to rise, and I thought of the pressure on my hand when I had spoken the last words he had heard on earth.
Estella was the next to break the silence that ensued between us.
“I have very often hoped and intended to come back, but have been prevented by many circumstances. Poor, poor old place!”

The silvery mist was touched with the first rays of the moonlight, and the same rays touched the tears that dropped from her eyes. Not knowing that I saw them, and setting herself to get the better of them, she said quietly:

“Were you wondering, as you walked along, how it came to be left in this condition?”

“Yes, Estella.”

“The ground belongs to me. It is the only possession I have not relinquished. Everything else has gone from me, little by little, but I have kept this. It was the subject of the only determined resistance I made in all the wretched years.”

“Is it to be built on?”

“At last it is. I came here to take leave of it before its change. And you,” she said, in a voice of touching interest to a wanderer, “you live abroad still?”

“Still.”

“And do well, I am sure?”

“I work pretty hard for a sufficient living, and therefore—Yes, I do well.”

“I have often thought of you,” said Estella.

“Have you?”

“Of late, very often. There was a long hard time when I kept far from me, the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth. But, since my duty has not been incompatible with the admission of that remembrance, I have given it a place in my heart.”

“You have always held your place in my heart,” I answered.
And we were silent again until she spoke.

“I little thought,” said Estella, “that I should take leave of you in taking leave of this spot. I am very glad to do so.”

“Glad to part again, Estella? To me, parting is a painful thing. To me, the remembrance of our last parting has been ever mournful and painful.”

“But you said to me,” returned Estella, very earnestly, “ ‘God bless you, God forgive you!’ And if you could say that to me then, you will not hesitate to say that to me now—now, when suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape. Be as considerate and good to me as you were, and tell me we are friends.”

“We are friends,” said I, rising and bending over her, as she rose from the bench.

“And will continue friends apart,” said Estella.

I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.

And here is the much shorter, much more ambiguous Autentic Ending:

2. THE ORIGINAL ENDING

“It was two years more, before I saw herself. I had heard of her as leading a most unhappy life, and as being separated from her husband who had used her with great cruelty, and who had become quite renowned as a compound of pride, brutality, and meanness. I had heard of the death of her husband (from an accident consequent on ill-treating a horse), and of her being married again to a Shropshire doctor, who, against his interest, had once very manfully interposed, on an occasion when he was in professional attendance on Mr. Drummle, and had wit nessed some outrageous treatment of her. I had heard that the Shropshire doctor was not rich, and that they lived on her own personal fortune.

“I was in England again—in London, and walking along Piccadilly with little Pip—when a servant came running after me to ask would I step back to a lady in a carriage who wished to speak to me. It was a little pony carriage, which the lady was driving; and the lady and I looked sadly enough on one another.

“ ‘I am greatly changed, I know; but I thought you would like to shake hands with Estella too, Pip. Lift up that pretty child and let me kiss it!’ (She supposed the child, I think, to be my child.)

“I was very glad afterwards to have had the interview; for in her face and in her voice, and in her touch, she gave me the assurance, that suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham’s teaching, and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be.”

Study the two variants and discuss the diffrences between them. Are these major or minor differences?

Which one doe you think is closer to the spirit of the novel?

Which one do you prefer?

Alexandra Pop · Trimis: 21/01/2016 13:51 Titlul subiectului: Autentic Vs. Commercial Ending

I believe that the autentic ending, although is much shorter, has a stronger message than the first, commercial ending. In the second version, the emphasis is put on Estella and on the fact that although she realizes that her behavior around Pip has been inappropriate, hurting him the whole time, now it is too late for her to take it all back.I think the original ending is more dramatic and is the best way this novel should end. Whilst the first version of ending is clear and it presents the two characters remaining friends, the second one, through its ambiguity, leaves a thread of suspense and wonder, so that the reader would poză his best version on what should happen next.

Ulici Dorina · Trimis: 26/01/2016 00:27 Titlul subiectului: GREAT EXPECTATIONS

In my opinion, at first glimpe, the common/ commercial ending seems more optimistic, giving the reader the possibility to hope that Pip and Estella might have a future together. But if we take a little time to analyze each sentence, we notice that Estella says "And will continue friends apart", which makes me believe that she wishes to live alone. Although they leave holding hands, this might be a mere sign of friendship. Still, to the common eye, this might look like a happy end.
On the other hand, the autentic ending is clearly pessimistic, in the sense that Estella is not single, but has remarried a doctor after her first husband's death. This gives Pip no "great expectation" for a future with her. But Pip is content that at least she got to understand eventually "what my heart used to be", what he felt for her.
The theme of the novel is rather melancholic, so I think that, in order to keep the ending in the same perspective, Dickens should have remained faithful to the original ending.

Aura Costin · Rookie Data inscrierii: 27/Ian/2015 Mesaje: 7

There are some major differences in the two presented versions. First difference that we can notice is that in the commercial ending the author uses a lot more expressions such as “…its indescribable majesty and its indescribable charm remained.” ,” The silvery mist was touched with the first rays of the moonlight”, these expressions are meant to make the story sound really poetic and also describe a very similar reality. Also this version is very well knit together and it describes details that probably most of the readers are interested to find out about. On the other hand, the second version is a lot briefer but that does not affect the storyline. Also this version is a bit sadder at least for Estella, we find out that she is not having a happy marriage and obviously she is not treated like a woman should be treated “I had heard of her as leading a most unhappy life...”,”...used her with great cruelty...”.
I think that the autentic one is closer to the spirit of the story although I don’t really like the idea of Pip and Estella not having a future together. I prefer the commercial ending because in this one Estella and Pip meet at the same place where they once said goodbye. Although they decide to remain friends the idea of still being friends makes me happy.