Great Expectations - character analysis

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Magwitch is a convicted criminal who has escaped life in Australia to come to London to see Pip. Miss Havisham is a mad, old, rich lady who hasn’t ever got over the fact that she was jilted at the altar on her wedding day. Estella is Miss Havishams adopted daughter, she is cold hearted and mean especially towards Pip. Jaggers is a lawyer who helps people not get hung.

When we first met Magwitch, he seemed threatening. “I’ll strike you dead”, Magwitch threatened Pip to make him do what he wanted him to do. Part of the reason why Magwitch seemed so scary at first is because he was in an overgrown cemetery and it was getting dark. “…and the sky was just a row of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed”. Then we met Miss Havisham who seemed like a mad old woman. “Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred”, this shows that she is frightened and doesn’t want to let anybody else in; her house or in her life. After we met Miss Havisham we met her daughter Estella, she seemed proud, stuck-up and cruel especially towards pip. “He calls knaves, jacks this boy!” this shows that Estella looks down on Pip for being a working class citizen, this also shows how rude and stuck-up she is. Jaggers was the last out of the four that we met, he seemed to be a frightening man. “Clients seemed to have a habit of backing up against the wall”, this shows that Mr Jaggers had frightened a lot of people/clients, also he was in a scary place…London. The reason why London seemed so scary is because it had hanging posts where people got hung, whipping posts for all of the public to see.

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Magwitch played a big part in Pips growing up, for many reasons. One of them is because he frightened Pip. “…I’ll cut your throat”, something else that makes him seem so scary is the scenery, he is in a churchyard when Pip meets Magwitch, and Pip feels threatened. Magwitch later pays for Pip to become a perfect gentleman. Miss Havisham makes Pip feel embarrassed because she says, “I sometimes have sick fancies”, and Miss Havisham said this to Pip and carries on saying, “I want to see some play”. This makes pip feel embarrassed as it is unnatural for ...

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