Great Expectations was written during Queen Victoria's reign. Its author, Charles Dickens, penned the novel around 1860.

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Great Expectations was written during Queen Victoria's reign. Its author, Charles Dickens, penned the novel around 1860, however it was not immediately published in book format but rather it appeared as weekly episodes in a daily newspaper. From research, we know that Dickens observed a lot of poverty and misery when he moved to London at the age of two. His father was put into a debtor's prison followed by his wife and five children later on. His experiences can clearly be seen in the themes within Great Expectations. When he died Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey to be remembered as a superb novelist.

The opening to Great Expectations is a fascinating piece of descriptive writing. It catches the reader's attention and puts the plot in motion with dramatic action. The story commences in a graveyard where a young orphan, named Pip, stands alongside his parent's gravestones, staring in deep bewilderment. As the boy makes his way home, we are told that an escaped convict suddenly grabs him. This startles the innocent child tremendously. The fearful man, Abel Magwitch, threatens Pip and promises in a disturbing manner:

"You get me a file, and you get me wittles. You bring them 'em both to me, or I'll have you heart and liver out."

The young boy scared and shivering agrees to the task and runs home without stopping. In this way, Magwitch is described menacingly under unusual circumstances. The reader considers him a monster, like an ogre out of a fairy tale, threatening to eat young children.

In this way Dickens creates a superb setting from the outset. The day of Pip's visit to the deserted graveyard on the moors is described as:

"One memorable raw afternoon"
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The rather bleak graveyard gives the story a very tense and exciting start and contributes wholly well to the atmosphere and events that are to follow. Opening in the graveyard, we are succinctly (though also quite humorously) informed of Pips family history during a conversation he has with the fearful Magwitch:

"Where's your mother?" said the man

"There Sir" said I.

Under different circumstances an author might have taken longer to explain a character's background. This technique, where we imagine Pip pointing at the gravestones of his parents and five siblings, immediately invites the reader ...

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