Discuss the Significance Of The Events, Which Occur In Chapter Eighteen of Great Expectations And Relate These To The Novel As A Whole.

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Discuss the Significance Of The Events, Which Occur In Chapter Eighteen of Great Expectations And Relate These To The Novel As A Whole

   

I shall now discuss the significance of chapter eighteen, and how the effects of this chapter relate to the whole novel, Great Expectations.

In Great Expectations, the names of the characters symbolize their personalities. For example, Biddy is a very timid person who will do your bidding obligingly. Then Pip is a small and insignificant sounding name, just like the actual character is. Jaggers, is a man with sharp wit, and features, he has a bullying manner, which can cut you up in front of an audience, just like a jagged knife.

Pip on his first encounter with Jaggers comments on how the smell of scented soap came from his hand. This is symbolism. One does not wash ones hands unless they are dirty, and since Jaggers is a criminal lawyer, they must be prone to doing illegal or immoral acts, in order to save his clients. Hence, he always has to wash his hands, in a sense, so that he is not caught by the courts, and found guilty of anything.

To prevent any legal trouble, Jaggers puts a lot of thought into the way he phrases his dealings with clients. He makes sure that he does not give any personal opinions, and makes sure that the clients remember the dealings as he wants them to, so if they are questioned, then his name does not come up for recommending, or ordering the client to commit any actions of moral or legal wrongdoing. For example, when he is dealing with Pip, he makes sure that Pip rephrases his statement, ‘...much obliged for his (Jaggers) recommendation…’ since Jaggers recommending anything, can be counted as being involved with the crime. He makes sure that Pip uses the word mention instead. This is how Jaggers makes sure his hands are clean of any dirt, because he ‘never recommends anybody’

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Jaggers job is a performance for him. He is a performer, and a better one then Wopsle, which is proved when he battles with him about the highly popular murder.  One of Jaggers performances is with his handkerchief that he pulls out whenever he wants a person to confess some knowledge to him. This is because it makes the audience want to confess before he sneezes, it is a dramatic performance, and has aided Jaggers many times. This tells us a bit about the justice system in those times, where defending criminals, and getting them off the death sentence ...

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