great expectations

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How does Charles Dickens uses descriptive language to convey mood and character in chapters 1, 8, 11 and 25 of Great Expectations?

In his novels Charles Dickens uses vivid imagery to make the reader aware of the mood of a scene and the characters in it. This imagery is evident throughout the novel “Great Expectations”.

                In chapter 1 Pip goes to the graveyard where he meets Magwitch the convict for the first time. The graveyard is overgrown with nettles as it has been neglected and not looked after, there are nettles everywhere and they pose a threat as they sting. The graveyard is described as a cold, bleak and lonely place; it could be a threat as it is dark and bleak. Beyond the graveyard, Dickens describes the low leaden line and the distant savage lair.

                Pip is described effectively when Dickens describes him as “a small bundle of shivers” to tell us that he is a small frightened child. In contrast, Dickens describes Magwitch the convict as a “fearful man,” a man to be scared of. He is wearing “coarse grey clothes”, they are rough dirty and cheap. He has a “great iron on leg”, he is shackled like an animal, and he is not wearing a hat, which would make us believe that he is not a gentleman. His shoes are falling off, they are described as “ broken shoes”, and he has an old rag tied around his head, which means he could have been hurt. He ate his bread ravenously like an animal. This makes the readers feel sympathy for him. Magwitch also brings the threat of Cannibalism because if Pip tells of Magwitch, he threatens to rip his heart and liver out, “ or I’ll have your heart and liver out”. There is nowhere safe for Pip to run. As Dickens writes, “lock his door, “warm in bed”, “draw clothes over his head”, softly creep and creep” and “will never be safe”.

                At the end of the chapter, Dickens repeats his description of the marshes and the sky. “ The marshes were just a row of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed”, and the gibbet “where had once held a pirate”, these descriptions again emphasise pain, death and the strict penal system.

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                In chapter 8, Dickens describes how Pip goes to satis house to meet Miss Havasham for the first time. The house is described as a fortress, “which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. There was a court-yard in front, and that was barred; so, we had to wait after ringing the bell, until someone should come to open it”. The garden is not looked after and is neglected, Dickens describes this by saying, ...

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