Great Expectations Theme of Wealth

Great Expectations's characters define wealth in different ways. Some solely consider wealth to be monetary. Others perceive wealth in more general terms and as the means by which one might access society. Wealth serves to motivate individuals and to drive them to destroy others. Wealth promises freedom and the realization of dreams, but it never delivers upon these promises.

1. What does Wemmick mean by "portable property"?
2. What is Joe’s relationship to money?
3. How does Magwitch make his money? And how does he spend it?
4. Why does Pip want money?

Dignity has nothing to do with material possessions in Great Expectations and, in fact, wealth often traps Dickens’s characters into making less noble decisions.

Money combats society and promises characters social mobility, or the ability to rise in society.