Explore Dickens introduction of the characters of Magwitch and Jaggers in Great Expectations, and consider how these characters are developed during the course of the Novel

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Joseph Fitzpatrick, 10B                GCSE English Literature Coursework

“Explore Dickens’ introduction of the characters of Magwitch and Jaggers in Great Expectations, and consider how these characters are developed during the course of the Novel”

Throughout the novel “Great Expectations”, Charles Dickens introduces his characters in very mysterious and intriguing ways, and keeps the reader guessing about their motives for the greater part of the novel. This technique serves multiple purposes; not only does it keep the reader entertained, as would be expected from a novel, it also allows Dickens a lot of scope for creating interesting literary effects, making the reader feel certain emotions and therefore making him able to convey his ideas to the reader; he effectively uses the personalities of the characters in the novel as a vehicle to display his beliefs, and give them a favourable foothold in the minds of the readers. Abel Magwitch is introduced with the direct speech; “hold your noise!”, giving the reader the immediate impression that a malefactor character is about to be introduced, and it is not until the latter part of the novel that the reader finds out about his kind-hearted personality and the way he has been mistreated to the point of him becoming “rough” – in the sense that the younger Pip would find him very threatening and the older Pip would dislike him due to class issues.

Of all of the characters in the novel, it is Pip’s unknown benefactor Abel Magwitch; and his acting guardian, known only as Mr. Jaggers, who come across as the most mysterious. In fact, throughout the novel, it is almost impossible for the reader to achieve a complete understanding of Mr. Jaggers’ personality and motives. Dickens clearly created him as a “strong” character, who would have the power to greatly assist or greatly hinder the protagonist, Pip. Magwitch, on the other hand, seems to be almost the inverse of this. He comes across from near the beginning of the novel as very open, and very easy to read into; his weaknesses and strengths are shown, through the eyes of the young naive Pip – the reader will be able to see things that Pip cannot. When Magwitch is reintroduced into the story, it soon becomes apparent that he is prepared to do as much as he can to benefit Pip, despite the fact his poor and uneducated background would make this a great challenge. By doing this, Dickens goes against the expectations of the reader, establishing himself as a social commentator and making the reader question their own lines of thought.

At the start of the Novel, Magwitch is presented as a basic antagonist character, as might be found in a children’s novel with a young child as the protagonist: he is much older, larger and apparently stronger than Pip, and through Pip’s eyes he would have appeared very strange and different from the norm. He is described as having a “terrible voice”, and he appears from the direction of the graves, giving him a more sinister introduction into the novel. Dickens is using this encounter as a way to immediately grab the reader’s attention with action, and is also throwing in a red herring, as many readers will quickly jump to the conclusion that Magwitch will take on the role as the primary antagonist in the novel.

However, unlike most Children’s’ Novels antagonists, much stranger and less threatening details are included in his initial description. He is described as “A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head”, which creates the foundations of a stage for him to be a much more mysterious, complex and unique character than a basic “villain” character – subconsciously, the reader will already be pondering the significance of certain details, and gradually beginning to build their own picture of Magwitch. Despite this, the opening part of the storyline continues to establish Magwitch being portrayed as a threatening and dangerous character. Dickens deliberately includes small suggestive details – another example being the description of Jaggers’ office later in the novel - among fast-paced action sections of the novel, or sections of particular interest or tension, so that later on, during events of revelations, the reader subconsciously pieces the puzzle together with feelings of surprise and realisation.

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The reader sees much greater signs of Magwitch’s inner vulnerability with the phrase “he hugged his shuddering body in both his arms - clasping himself, as if to hold himself together”. At this point, most readers will subconsciously realise that there is more to this particular character than a basic antagonist, but it is also clear that the young, naïve Pip still feels very threatened by his presence. When Magwitch thinks that Pip’s mother is nearby, Dickens describes that “He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.” – showing his vulnerability for the first time. ...

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