When Pip has his first encounter with Magwitch there are many features which are similar between them. The fact that Magwitch just appears out of the marshes suggests he has come from the marsh “all in course grey” “A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars.” This is virtually the equivalent introduction we get to this character as we do for Pip, as the first image we are given is that he is an abandoned, isolated child that has been left out on the “dark flat wilderness” all alone “the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip”. Also the fact that both of the characters link their future with the marshland and are related to the marshland is also quite a similar feature. Magwitch says early on in the novel “glancing about him over the cold wet flat. “I wish I was a frog. Or a eel!”” which is linking himself again to the marshes.
Magwitch being strongly linked to the marsh is one key theme in the book. However it comes to my attention during the story that you cannot seem to divorce any one character from their background, this is why Pip keeps returning to the marsh as this is where we first see him “comparing my own perspective with the windy marsh view”.
Pip talks about the mist rolling up “there came an unknown way and a dark mist an then the sea” and how everything looks depressed and uncertain. Even right at the end of the novel when they are trying to catch Magwitch “It was like my own marsh country, flat and monotonous, and with a dim horizon;” Pip links the present life to the past life, and it is at this point it becomes crystal clear to the reader that the story goes in a full circle.
When Pip is looking into his future, he goes to the marsh for answers. At one point he describes it as “The low leaden line” representing that nothing is going to happen in his future and it is going to be completely empty: this is what I personally feel Dickens means when he says “Great Expectations”. I think it is all about starting with nothing and no hope to progressing into a gentleman who becomes wealthy and well off.
The novelist deliberately describes the marsh as a flat, featureless, barren place “the bleak stillness of the marshes” suggesting that the future looks bleak, “death-cold flats” represents that the future is going to be empty. Dickens does this deliberately to try to give the reader a picture that Pip’s future has no real prospects. This is quite ironic because the first place we see him is when he is depressed and in the graveyard. It is almost as if he were born in this graveyard we first find him in and this is why he cannot see anything bright in his future.
Orlick, Jaggers and Drummle are all linked to darkness, evilness and shadows. Orlick has an evil side to him which is clearly shown the night he attacks Pip’s sister”we came upon a man, slouching under the lee of the turnpike house”. The mist is described plenty during this section of the story showing how Orlick is immoral “heavy mist out, and it fell wet and thick”. Jaggers is associated with shadows, which are shown well in his office. The writer gives the reader the sense that Jaggers is a mysterious man and using descriptions of: “Mr Jagger’s own high-backed chair was of deadly black horse-hair, with rows of brass nails around it, like a coffin” shows how the room represents death and darkness. Finally Drummle who is referred to as an “amphibious creature” due to his way of always creeping up is linked to darkness. This is for the simple reason that he seems to always get Pip into dark situations. An example is with Estella. Estella is virtually Pip’s life and future, and Drummle takes this away from Pip as they get married, which emphasises the whole suspense about how Pip manages to escape out of the shadows time and time again.
One image that Dickens returns to many times is the mist and fog: he uses the mist to represent Pip’s confusion continually through the story. If ever Pip is uncertain, the mist appears in the marshes which causes him to become indecisive of which way to go: “the marsh-mist was so thick, that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village- a direction which they never accepted, for they never can’t there- was invisible to me”. The mist is linked to the hopes and fears in Pip’s head and when he mentions the signpost, the mist only allows for certain images to be visible.
The mist throughout the story gives Pip clues as to where his future lies and which direction to take. Even though the mist on the marshland confuses him “however, in the confusion of the mist, I found myself at last too far to the right”, the mist also guides him to clues about his future and shows him glimpses of people involved in his future. First Magwitch then Compencant. Whenever Pip is clear about a particular character in the novel, Dickens describes the mist as closing in again on the marsh “I indicated in what direction the mist had shrouded the other man, and he looked up at it for an instant”, I feel this is to show that Pip no longer is uncertain about the character in question.
“The last I heard of him, I stopped in the mist to listen, and the file was still going”, the mist being constantly linked to the involvement with assorted characters and situations. When a major event is about to occur the mist clears “either the mist was not out again yet, or the wind had dispelled it”, I think that the novelist is very clever to be able to use the mist in this way as it adds to the dramatic feel of the story and the tension. An example of the mist building up to a major event is when Orlick attacks Mrs Gargery and later when Magwitch is trying to escape. The mist is used in both cases to add to the suspense and drama of the scene.
Dickens keeps returning to light and dark colours such as “watery lead” grey. “Farewell, monotonous acquaintances of my childhood, henceforth I was for London and greatness”. The novelist compares the marshland to London and Pip’s great fortune that he is going to: “and the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me”, which again is giving Pip some kind of insight into his future of how great it is going to be: I personally believe that Pip has been blind up until this point.
“Once more, the mists were rising as I walked away”, I believe that Dickens has chosen to use this description to show that the mist rises to represent the fact that Pip is now too important for the village. At the end of the novel the mist is involved again “the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge” Pip here is referring back to when he was a young man: “the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.” Dickens uses this vital line to show that Pip has now become older, bringing with it more intelligence and how he has now suddenly realized what a fool he has been. The mist first rose to show him he was too important for the village but then at the end he realizes how stupid he has been and he can see that he has realized the errors of his ways and grown up mentally. It is the mist that shows him that he has aspired to his “Great Expectations” “how my great expectations had all dissolved, like our own marsh mists before the sun”
Miss Havisham, throughout the book linked with shadows and darkness, tries to bring Estella up in the gloominess of Satis house. When Dickens first describes Satis house it is depicted as if it were a shipwreck “like the noise of wind in the rigging of a ship at sea”. Decayed, run down and disused, “it was paved and clean, but grass was growing in every crevice” “all was empty and disused. The cold wind seemed to blow colder there”. Whilst inside Satis house, Pip is described as bringing light to the dark, drab house “found myself in a pretty large room, well lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it”. Dickens gives the reader the notion that Satis house has been totally neglected “it was a deserted place, down to the pigeon-house in the brewery-yard, which had been blown crooked on its pole by some high wind.” The garden of Miss Havisham’s residence comes to represent Pip’s life have he of followed Joe’s examples. No hope in his future at all, “Behind the furthest end of the brewery, was a rank garden”.
Miss Havisham is like her surroundings, always linked to time and the past. An example of this is her wedding dress, symbolising Miss Havisham punishing every person of the male species for it. So is the cruelty she puts people through deliberate? Now instead of beauty shining out of the dress there is a very unpleasant picture: “which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes”.
After being stood up at the altar we are given a tiny indication that the only person keeping Miss Havisham going is Estella, the bright star to her life and another way of getting to the male species to break hearts. Miss Havisham also keeps Estella away from the light “daylight never entered the house”, which is yet again another way to keep Estella away from the human race “the daylight was completely excluded”.
During the novel Miss Havisham is always referred to as a ghostly figure, who is very artificial. I felt she was a deathly, frail creature, who is frequently linked to death, “so heavily overhung with cobwebs” “the blackbeetles took no notice of the agitation”.
Once Pip gains his little fortune he thinks of Miss Havisham as “My fairy godmother” and she knows that encourages the deception. But again Pip is not seeing images clearly and the mist suggests that he is not sure of what is happening, “And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me”. There is one side of Pip letting him see the generous side to Miss Havisham, showing that the novelist is only letting Pip see un-realistic images and not seeing reality. It is the use of mist again that deceives the eye and disguises the truth.
A contrast to Miss Havisham’s character is shown when she comes to her death as light comes to be associated with her “I saw a great flaming light spring up” “I saw her running at me, shrieking, with a whirl of fire blazing all about her, and soaring at least as many feet above her head as she was high”. It is almost as if the evil inside Miss Havisham has been destroyed and the two different worlds are revealed.
Estella is deliberately compared to Miss Havisham in the story as Dickens has created them so they are deliberate contrasts. Miss Havisham is always linked to darkness and death, whereas Estella is always associated to brightness and radiance “her light came along the dark passage like a star”.
I feel that Estella and Pip have a hopeful future as they are both related to bringing light to Satis house. Estella was the person who was brought up in a dark environment, who had a bad upbringing “the distinct shadow of the darkened and unhealthy house in which her life was hidden from the sun” and Pip identifies himself as the light to bring the sunshine into these dark rooms “She reserved it for me to restore the desolate house, admit the sunshine into the dark rooms”.
Dickens forever tries to show the passion Pip feels for Estella and how he totally adores and worships her. The novelist also uses descriptions to portray the fact that Estella is everything that suggests hope and represents nothing but brightness- dazzling everyone who sees her “as if she were going out into the sky”. In Pip’s eyes Estella is his future “did I never give her a burning love, inseparable from jealousy” this quote interestingly related to Miss Havisham in her artificial use of candles and her death amidst fire.
Miss Havisham keeping Estella in the dark destroyed a part of Estella, making her have no experience feelings. It was like the writer intended to give the image that if you are shut up without light, your feelings are shut up as well and there is no way for them to escape. Throughout the book you have a deliberate contrast between Miss Havisham (darkness) and Estella (star, brightness), bringing a battle between the two dissimilar worlds, which in the end do collide to create a series of tragedies.
Conclusively I feel Dickens uses an abounding diversity of environments and characters to represent the ever-changing situations that Pip is in. He also uses the contrast between light and dark to create key symbols between the character and their background. Throughout the novel Dickens explores a wide range of themes, some of which including the two sides to Pip’s character and weather his aggressive side has anything to do with his working class background and how uneducated he is. I think Dickens captures the symbolic battle between darkness and light well using the contrast between mist and clearances in the mist and the contrast between using candles in dark settings. Overall I believe Dickens using light vs darkness creates a sensational feel to the novel which dramatically links Pip’s ever-changing fortunes to the eerie marshland mist.
