‘The mans hoarse throat’ chokes out mubbles of words, the power of him compared to Pip is dramatically shown. He has broken shoes and an old rag.
Dickens is clearly describing Victorian life and we, the readers; see the effects of the harsh, cruel, punishment. We also see the hierarchical class system, which the convicted criminal is at the bottom of. He is on the run, desperate and living rough and we can see from this that there is a harsh justice system existing in England at this time. We can see that the man is scared. If he is caught he will be sent to prison in Australia and this process was called transportation. When the prisoners got to Australia they would properly never of come back to England.
Miss Havisham is one of Dickens best – known characters. I think Dickens created her to bring in another ‘unusual’ character into the novel. The other ‘unusual’ character is the convict, Magwitch. Dickens was clearly sympathetic towards the common people. He shows their suffering and hardships they had to go through in nineteenth century Britain. The way the wealthy ‘toffs’ looked down their noses at the hard working common people was clearly shown. Dickens also shows this in characters in other novels he wrote such as, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Oliver Twist’, and ‘David Copperfield’.
Miss Havisham is a bizarre and strange person who sits in her wedding dress every minute and every hour of every day and every year of her life. She was left at the altar by her fiancée when she was younger. Even the food from the wedding is still present slowly decaying and her clock has stopped exactly twenty minutes to nine, the time at which she was left at the altar. Everything that she wore which should have been white ‘had lost its lustre and was faded yellow’. ‘The bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress and like the flowers’.
When Pip meets Miss Havisham for the first time she orders him around. She asks him if he is ‘afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since you were born’. This makes us feel frightened. At this moment we think that she this barmy and that she might do something to hurt or harm Pip. We fear for Pips health. Miss Havisham is very pleased to have Pip with her. She hates all men after what her fiancé did to her at the alter and now she wants revenge. She is going to take it out on Pip. She speaks to him very ‘eagerly’ and with strong emphasis, and with a weird smile’. She tells Pip to call her helper, Estella. Pip thinks Estella is very pretty, but Estella just calls him ‘boy’. Miss Havisham has brought her up to despise men and to hurt them whenever she has the opportunity to do so. Miss Havisham tells Estella to ‘break Pips heart’ while playing a game of cards. This is very evil of miss Havisham as Estella is only a child and her bringing Estella up the way she has done means she will think that every man alive is evil. This is not true, as Pip really likes her and would like Estella to like him back.
Wemmick is a completely different character compared to the other two and here Dickens’ tone and mood has changed considerably. Pip has been invited to his house for a Sunday visit. Pip is much older now. He is in his twenties and knows Wemmick from Mr Jaggers office.
When we arrive at Wemmick’s house we can tell that he is very proud of it as he tells Pip, ‘looks pretty, don’t it’. His ‘castle’ as he calls it ‘was a little woodhan cottage in the midst of plots of garden, and the top of it was cut out and painted like a battery mounted with guns’. This language that Dickens uses is a Victorian style. He says words like ‘chasm’ and ‘besieged ‘. These are words we don’t really use in our every day language any more. This type of language I think brings an extra effect to the novel.
Pip ‘highly commended’ Wemmick’s house. The house has the ‘queerest gothic windows, and a gothic door, almost too small to get in at’. “That’s a real flagstaff, you see… and on Sundays I run up a real flag. After I have crossed the bridge, I hoist it up so and cut off the communication’. This quote from Wemmick is very eccentric. Wemmick tells Pip that he has a ‘fortress around his castle’. This fortress was ‘constructed of lattice-work’. This is ironic of course as lattice is not very strong, but a fortress is meant to keep the enemy out from invading a castle. ‘For it’s a principle with me, if you have an idea, carry it out and keep it up’. This small quote from Wemmick shows us that he is an extremely determined character. Wemmick tells us to imagine ‘the little place besieged’. He wants his home to be surrounded by solders. He is living in his own dream world, maybe as a solder. Wemmick is someone who can do everything. He tells Pip, ‘I am my own engineer, and my own carpenter, and my own plumber, and my own gardener, and my own jack of all trades’.
Mr Wemmick calls his father the Aged Parent, which is a bit odd as you normally call your parent Dad or father. Aged Parent wants to keep Wemmick’s garden after he dies and make it into a garden for the publics enjoyment. This is also quite strange as the garden is very small.
In conclusion I feel that Wemmick is an easier character to relate to because he has not had a past like Magwitch or Miss Havisham. Magwitch has been in jail and has a feud with the man with the scare on his face and Miss Havisham was left at the alter by her fiancé. On the other hand Miss Havisham is a character you can easily talk about. She has the past with the wedding and she hates all men. She has brought up Estella to hate men. That is very wrong and evil.
Dickens creates Magwitch, Miss Havisham and Wemmick in a very clear, vivid and dramatic way by using many adjectives. He also drives the adjectives at us very quickly, one after another.
From what I read of Great Expectations I found it very enjoyable. I hope sometime in the near future I get to read this thrilling novel by Charles Dickens.
