Ian Jedlica: The Importance of Being Named in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Article

This paper focuses on Dickens' use of nomenclature in Great Expectations as both an acknowledgement of respected earlier writers and his wish to bring more depth and understanding of his characters to the reader, and in so doing enriching the reading experience and increasing the readers' respect for his work. Using both classic works such as Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella and references from the Oxford English, Merriam-Webster, Collins and Urban Dictionaries, including Ancestry.co.uk and other sources, this paper wishes to show the connections between Dickens' characters' names and their actual characterisations in the novel. This paper also shows that due
to the persistence of writers such as Dickens, nomenclature, although put aside in the 19th and 20th centuries by writers for "the sake of realism", is still used today, for example by writers such as JK Rowling.