First Impressions of Magwitch When Magwitch first appears to Pip inn the graveyard he is dressed "all in course grey, with

First Impressions of Magwitch

When Magwitch first appears to Pip inn the graveyard he is dressed “all in course grey, with a great iron on his leg”, this is when we realise he is a convict. He has “no hat”, “broken shoes” and “an old rag tied round his head”. He looked like he had been “soaked in water, and smothered in mud”, his walk has been described as a limp, like he had been “lamed by stones, and cut by flint”. He must have been cold as he was “shivering”. Also he “glared and growled” and his teeth “chattered in his head”, this is as though he is a wild beast who has seen his enemy. Within the first few seconds of meeting Magwitch we already thing he is evil as he tells Pip to “keep still” and threatens to cut his throat.

Magwitch acts like a dog, as he licks his lips and tells Pip: “What fat cheeks you ha’ got”. Its as though he is a cannibal when he says “Darn me if I couldn’t eat ‘em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t”.

When he finds out that Pip’s mother and father are dead he turns for a second and feels sorry for Pip but quickly turns back and asks Pip if he knows what “whittles” and a “file” are. When Pip says he does Magwitch threatens him again, “Lord strike you dead if you ...

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At dinner that night Pip saves his bread for Magwitch, so he is obviously frightened of him and thinks Magwitch will kill him if he doesn’t, for this he nearly gets into trouble with his sister.

During the night Pip steals food and a file for Magwitch and the next day he goes back to the marshes to find Magwitch. When Pip finds Magwitch he takes the food and eats the mincemeat like he was “putting it away somewhere in a violent hurry” Magwitch changes again and says thank you to Pip for bringing him food.

Magwitch is again described as a dog: “I noticed a decided similarity between the dog’s way of eating, and the man’s”. When Pip asks Magwitch if he is going to leave any for “him”, Magwitch stops eating and asks Pip who “he” is and more questions about where he saw him and what he looked like, but he has already realised who “he” was and we later find out it is a convict Magwitch knows, “I’ll pull him down like a bloodhound”, and who he obviously hates. He then started filing at the iron on his leg like a “madman”. When Pip left Magwitch didn’t even look up, he was too anxious about getting the iron off his leg to care.

When the soldiers find Magwitch they also find the other convict, Compayson, and they are fighting. Compayson tries to accuse Magwitch of trying to murder him. Magwitch says that he was making sure that Compayson didn’t get away, “He’s a liar born, and he’ll die a liar”; this makes us think that Magwitch is telling the truth and really didn’t want Compayson to get away.

As Magwitch gets into the boat no one acknowledges him and it was like it happens a lot. “No one seemed surprised to see him, or interested in seeing him, or glad to see him, or sorry to see him, or spoke a word”.

In the first five chapters we see Magwitch’s character as evil and he doesn’t come across as a nice man.