November 2009
Whenever a formal exercise, such as an essay or an exam question, asks you to think about more than one text, you are expected to ‘compare and contrast’. The point of departure for your initial comparison can be the form of the texts (two sonnets, for example), their similar themes, or a shared context. Many texts themselves include variations on a theme which throw light on each other. In this issue Lucy Meredith focuses on a very minor character in Great Expectations (Molly — Jaggers’ maid and Estella’s mother), who not only complements the more prominent example of repressed female violence in the novel (Miss Havisham) but prompts some deeper and darker questions. What, for example, is the cause of Mrs Joe’s violence? And what aspects of her mother’s character has Estella inherited? The questions prompted by internal variations can be extended to other texts.
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