Great Expectations: why having a black character in a Dickens novel isn’t historically inaccurate

Advertisement

A new BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ *Great Expectations* by British screenwriter Stephen Knight has aired in Britain, sparking immediate debate. Some viewers criticized the casting choices, citing color-blind casting for key roles. For instance, Jaggers is portrayed by Black actor Ashley Thomas, also known as the UK rapper Bashy, and Wemmick is played by Asian actor Rudi Dharmalingam. Notably, Estella Havisham, considered by many as the book’s second most prominent figure, is played by Shalom Brune-Franklin, an English-born Australian actor with Mauritian and Thai heritage.

The series also explores the brutal and corrupt legacy of the British Empire.Abel Magwitch, revealed as the benefactor of the protagonist, Pip, claims that the empire was “built on the lies of privileged white men.” These and other changes have led to accusations of the adaptation being “woke” and not true to the original. The term “woke” originates from African-American vernacular, meaning alert to racial prejudice and discrimination, but some, including racists, use it similarly to how “political correctness gone mad” was used in the past. This criticism stems from a reluctance to confront imperial history and ignorance about Britain’s past. The misconception that no Black people lived in Britain during Dickensian times is widespread but incorrect. Even Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo initially believed Britain was a “white” nation before the post-World War II Windrush migrations began until she read Peter Fryer’s *Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain*, published in 1984.

Yet, four decades later, such a public misconception should no longer persist. *Great Expectations* was published in 1861, but the narrative of Pip and the individuals influencing his expectations unfolds over about 30 years, starting around 1810. Bashy argues that his role as Jaggers is accurate; during this period, there were at least 5,000 Black Georgians in London, with many more Black Victorians. While many were servants, a notable number were affluent and independent members of Britain’s upper-class society. Though unlikely to inherit titles, Black Victorians could still be found among individuals like Estella, Wemmick, and Jaggers. Several exhibitions, educational initiatives, and publications in the past decade affirm this. Nonetheless, color-blind casting does have challenges. There have been cases of white actors portraying or voicing non-white characters, and sometimes diversity quotas lead to negative typecasting of Black characters. Critiques also suggest that casting Black actors without regard for cultural history can assimilate African or Caribbean culture into a so-called “neutral” or white culture, which some see as racism.

However, there’s a difference between color-blind casting and “color-conscious casting,” which adapts a script to reflect an actor’s skin color, body shape, or other physical traits. From my perspective, color-conscious casting has been used in this version of *Great Expectations*. For instance, Estella being adopted means there is no inherent reason she must be white. The story of a poor boy rising to become a gentleman, only to discover his journey to wealth was orchestrated by a criminal, prompting him to reassess his values, is compelling. Several intriguing reinterpretations exist, like Peter Carey’s Jack Maggs, which likely influences Stephen Knight’s 2023 adaptation, featuring a London abortionist Ma Britten and an underworld industry built on child abduction and robbery. Lloyd Jones’s *Mister Pip* is another, set in Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, where Dickens’ novel is reimagined. Readers surely desire new stories? Numerous recent British novels and short stories represent Black Britons from Georgian, Victorian, and pre-Windrush eras. These writers are reintegrating Black people into British history.

For example, David Dabydeen’s *A Harlot’s Progress* is set in 1730s London, envisioning the life of a Black page boy in an engraving by William Hogarth, telling his story as a favored child slave aboard a slave ship. He is brought to London as a gentleman’s servant and is urged to share his tale with an editor similar to the one who retold Mary Prince’s slave narrative for publication in Britain in 1831. Bernardine Evaristo’s *Yoruba Man Walking* recounts the story of a Black sailor who settled in Cornwall, became a miner, and was killed in the 1880s. Louise Hare’s *Miss Aldridge Regrets* is a murder mystery exploring race in Britain before World War II. The late Leonora Brito’s *Dido Elizabeth Belle* reconstructs the life of the 18th-century Black British heiress residing with the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales’ family, inheriting wealth. Her sons were privately educated and part of the British colonial administration. Additionally, Caryl Phillips’s *The Lost Child* revises *Wuthering Heights*, acknowledging the suggestion that Heathcliff is Black

In Bronte’s novel, Heathcliff arrives speaking an unfamiliar language and is described as dark-skinned and a shipwreck survivor from America, leading many to speculate he might be a descendant of African slaves or Indian indentured laborers.

Advertisement
Advertisement