Dickens then goes on to create a further understanding of Magwitch and Miss Havisham by illustrating their unusual appearances. Magwitch is described as “A fearful man, all in coarse grey” who “glared, and growled, and whose teeth chattered in his head”. Miss Havisham is described by Pip as “the strangest lady I have ever seen” who “had withered like the dress... and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes”. Pip also compares Miss Havisham to both a waxwork and a skeleton, concluding that “Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me”.
These descriptions are of people who would appear distinctly odd to normal Victorian society. To Pip, they both appear inhuman. Magwitch is likened to an animal as he “glared, and growled”, whilst in Miss Havisham, Pip sees a ghastly waxwork. The colours in which Pip associates them with could also reflect their characters. Magwitch is “all in coarse grey”, and Miss Havisham “had no brightness left”. These descriptions hint at darkness, a depression and also despair. Magwitch and Miss Havisham are unhappy characters, who have lost the rudiments which keep them human, or alive in spirit. Dickens also demonstrates this in the way he connects both to death. It is said of Magwitch that his “teeth chattered in his head”, which immediately conjures up the image of a skeleton as though Magwitch’s face consists only of a skull and teeth; and the setting is of course in a graveyard. With Miss Havisham, Pip himself says that she is like a “skeleton” that “seemed to have dark eyes” and he compares her to a “ghastly waxwork”, which is a mere representation of life, rather than an actual living being.
Additional descriptions of Miss Havisham as almost supernatural include a statement that she looked, “as if the admission of the natural light of day would have struck her to dust” and like she was “the Witch of the place”. Of course, this imagery cannot be fully true, as we well know that Miss Havisham is a human being and the creatures that she is being likened to do not truly exist. Instead, Dickens is showing the very limits away from essential sanity and humanity, that she has reached. Certainly he hints that if witches and ghouls were really to subsist, then telling Miss Havisham apart from them would be very difficult indeed.
Furthermore, Dickens develops Magwitch and Miss Havisham by displaying how Pip perceives them, as well as simultaneously giving the reader a different perception. For example, from the first moment Pip encounters Magwitch, he is terribly afraid of him. He appears to Pip as a “fearful man” who immediately begins to manhandle and threaten Pip’s wellbeing with a “young man” who has a “secret way... of getting at a boy, and his heart, and his liver”. Several times Pip depicts how frightening Magwitch appeared; he “pleaded in terror” and describes how he was “dreadfully frightened”. To Pip, this is an absolutely terrifying man, capable of causing a young boy like himself great harm, and someone who should be taken very seriously indeed. However, to the adult reader, Dickens has subtly shown that Magwitch is none of this, but rather a man who has experienced a great deal of hardship and who should be pitied.
The first description of Magwitch that the reader encounters is how he has been “soaked”, “”smothered”, “lamed”, “cut”, “stung” and “torn”. To a young child this sort of appearance would be very disconcerting, and quite easily alarming; but to an adult, this would be the appearance of somebody pathetic, wretched and pitiful. Magwitch then goes on to ask where Pip’s mother is. After misunderstanding the reply of “There, sir!”, and believing that Pip’s mother is there in person rather than buried in the graveyard, “he started, made a short run and stopped and looked over his shoulder”. The fact that Magwitch immediately starts to flee from another adult, and notably a woman, shows the reader that he is actually in no way brave, or as terrible as he may have first appeared. Finally, in order to make sure Pip complies with his demands, Magwitch feels the need to introduce a “young man”. This is obviously a fictional figure that Magwitch has created to scare Pip further, but to the reader it clearly shows that when it comes to the crunch, Magwitch is wholly unable to carry out his previous threats and invents a pretend person that Pip believes will.
Dickens also uses this technique with Miss Havisham. This character’s appearance is both frightening and disturbing to Pip; he says she was “the strangest lady I have, or shall ever see”, and describes her as being “skin and bone” with “sunken eyes” and that he “should have cried out, if I could” Dickens makes it clear that Pip was extremely unnerved by Miss Havisham, and that he found even looking at her quite fearsome. However, to the adult reader, the description of her seems to be one of both a physically, and mentally, ill and frail old woman. Several descriptions which are used to depict Pip’s troubled perception of Miss Havisham are at the same time employed by Dickens in order to evoke sympathy from the reader. For example, “the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress”. The word “withered” here suggests a certain fragility of Miss Havisham, but could also be used to pinpoint the way in which her mental health has also declined. As she simply sits alone, in her dressing room; her grasp upon reality has slowly slipped, and this makes her a subject of pity towards the reader.
By then displaying Magwitch and Miss. Havisham’s behaviour towards Pip, Dickens develops them even further for the reader. Miss Havisham treats Pip very strangely, insisting that he walk her round the room. Pip does not really understand at first, but he recounts that “I made out from this, that the work I had to do, was to walk Miss Havisham round and round the room.” The reason for this is never explained, and so we are left wondering what Miss Havisham’s intentions were. She seems as though she is completely detached from reality, and her behaviour seems to hold no meaning for anyone but herself. Lack of clarification and the bypass of divulging any reason for her actions make her appear all the more crazy.
Magwitch on the other hand clearly behaves in the way he does for one reason only, to frighten Pip into doing what he wants him to. He physically manhandles Pip for much of their meeting and is very rough with him throughout. “After each question he tilted me a little more, so as to give me a greater sense of helplessness”. Magwitch knows exactly how to intimidate Pip, and he is presented as quite brutal in the quest to getting what he wants.
Magwitch’s manhandling of Pip also presents the reader with a subtle hint of the real effects that the character will later have on the young boy. Pip describes how he, “turned me upside down”. This physical contact is actually a sly representation of the whole meeting with Magwitch. By helping the escapee, Pip unknowingly has altered his whole future – for Magwitch is continually grateful for the help he received, and later provides Pip with the means to live his life among the wealthy upper echelons of Victorian society. As the statement suggests, this will indeed result in a complete turn around of Pip’s world and of his working class existence.
Finally, Dickens uses the character’s speech to help develop them as strong characters. Neither character speaks to Pip in a particularly courteous manner, which may be expected of commonplace situations in the Victorian period – this evidently helps to support the fact that the situations Pip finds himself in, and the characters that he is with, are not at all ordinary. Magwitch’s first contact with Pip immediately takes the form of a threat; “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!” This sort of language establishes Magwitch to be a dangerous character who seems both ruthless and violent. He matches the stereotypical profile of an escaped convict, and we are encouraged to worry for Pip’s safety in the hands of this man. Continued coercion on Pip’s life is made, and the harsh manner in which Pip is spoken to is obviously to incite fear within the helpless boy. “– supposin’ you’re kindly let to live” and “Or I’ll have your heart and liver out” both are expected to frighten and intimidate Pip, as well as help the reader grasp how perilous this man might be.
However, later in the text Magwitch demands, “You bring me, tomorrow morning early, that file and them wittles”. Although still a threat, this obvious dependency on Pip to help him escape presents a different persona to the reader. Magwitch is obviously desperate, and his reliance on such a young boy contradicts his more fearsome side. We are shown a rather more vulnerable character who is perhaps hiding behind empty threats and a pretend cruelty.
Miss Havisham’s verbal communication with Pip is still essentially threatening, but in a far more subtle and indirect manner. Pip understands that he must please her, but the old lady’s eccentric and unnerving demands are not well understood by Pip, and he is clearly intimidated by her strange behaviour. For example, within moments of meeting Pip she proclaims her heart “Broken!” This is a highly peculiar comment to make to a young child, who would not really comprehend the full meaning of what was being said, and as a complete stranger would wonder what on earth is happening. After that she says, “I sometimes have sick fancies… and I have a sick fancy that I want to see some play… play, play, play!” This is another bizarre statement, which could easily take anyone aback. Moreover, for a child it would be frightening and rather daunting – and one is led to wonder why this woman acts so oddly. The answer is of course simple. Miss Havisham is quite insane, driven mad by her torment and humiliation; she can no longer interact with other people in a normal manner. One more declaration seems to confirm Miss Havisham’s mental illness, “This… is where I will be laid when I am dead. They shall come and look at me here.” Surely, these are not the words of a sane old woman?
In addition, whilst Magwitch at first holds conversation with Pip only, Miss Havisham also speaks with Estella. This communication is actually quite revealing and even the simple statement, “Well? You can break his heart” seems to encapsulate how twisted and bitter she has become of the world, and the people in it. She is using Estella as her revenge upon men, and just as her own heart was broken by a man, she wants every possible man’s heart to be broken by Estella. Clearly, this warped sense of justice has been brought on by her own experiences, and we are led to understand some of the torment that Miss Havisham suffers. It also seems as though Pip is to be used by Miss Havisham as an experiment to how effective her own plans can and will be – Pip will be tested as Estella’s fist ‘victim’.
The various techniques that Dickens uses to create the characters Magwitch and Miss Havisham are both extremely well employed and highly interesting. Even through the short introductions, Dickens establishes his characters so that we are able to gain a good understanding of each. Their experiences, suffering, eccentricity and ultimately the profound effects that they will both have upon Pip, are all explored in a manner that still encourages the audience to read further. Although fictional, and existing in situations that are far beyond the average, they are still humane and pathetic characters who readers can both pity and yet fear as they recount Pip’s experiences with each one.
