Explore Dickens' Success in Presenting Characters through a Symbolic use of place

Authors Avatar

Explore Dickens’ Success in Presenting Characters through a Symbolic use of place

Great Expectations was written by Charles Dickens in 1861 and was set in the Victorian times. This is very evident from the choice of language, characterization, style of writing and the storyline also shows this. Also the novel was a serial publication, this means that the story was published in several parts, perhaps week by week. It is very obvious that Dickens uses the novel to express his views on Victorian society.

The main characters are Pip, Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Jaggers and Wemmick. The novel is about an orphan boy named Pip, who has lost all hiss family except his wicked sister and her caring husband Joe Gargery, the blacksmith. The novel follows Pip’s troubled life and how he succeeds his Great Expectations in going to London and fulfilling his ambition of becoming a gentleman. The message of the novel is that Dickens is trying to portray his views on how he feels money is not everything and don’t try to be who you are not or want to be.

Join now!

When we first meet Magwitch in the churchyard, it seems to present a symbol of death because this is where dead people are laid to rest.  This is a very daunting place for a young boy to be exploring. ‘Dark flat wilderness’, this shows the threatening atmosphere evoked on young Pip, he obviously was very intimidated by his surroundings and this is also shown by his language and tone of voice when speaking to Magwitch. ‘O! Don’t cut my throat, sir’ pleading in terror, Pip is not afraid to show his petrified self. Magwitch is very similar to the atmosphere ...

This is a preview of the whole essay