Great Expectations - Why is Magwitch an Important Character in the novel?

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Great Expectations
Why is Magwitch an Important Character in the novel?

The character Magwitch is the first character the narrator Pip meets in the novel. The first meeting is not altogether very friendly, vivid ideas about the character are created by Dickens's description. Magwitch plays the part of a convict imprisoned most likely because of debt. The convict persona is later altered and modified by Dickens in the novel as he presents the ideas that Magwitch is affectionate, caring and does not deserve his earlier hardships. The idea of the character being a convict may cause readers who have strong opinions already developed to be bias against him. Dickens still expresses his views on injustice and the drawbacks of the social system effectively.

In the first chapter of 'Great Expectations', Pip (the first person narrator) has a confrontation with the convict Magwitch in a graveyard on the marshes. The chapter is set on a marshy area by a river in a churchyard: "ours was the marsh country, down by the river"; "was the churchyard" show this. The narrative describes the churchyard being a "bleak place overgrown with nettles" and explains, "The distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea". The churchyard scene gives a, cold and dark impression, somewhere most readers would probably not like to be on a cold day or night.

The actual confrontation with Pip and the convict is sudden and is quite shocking.”‘ Hold your noise!' cried a terrible voice, as a man started up" this quick, spontaneous meeting creates suspense and tension giving the convict a more frightening appeal. "Keep still you little devil, or I'll cut your throat" this expression from the convict Magwitch is quite offensive and nasty. The idea that the convict will kill Pip gives an even more aggressive feel about him. Further speech where Magwitch threatens and rushes Pip portrays a stereotypical criminal feel. Dialogue such as "'Tell us your name!' said the man. 'Quick'" and "'What fat cheeks you ha' got ………'darn me if I couldn't eat em,' said the man with a threatening shake of his head" gives this feeling. The way Pip reacts to this language is expressed in the narration "I pleaded in terror". It gives the idea that he is helpless and afraid. The collection of actions, conversation and thoughts all create a very terrible and unpleasant persona of Magwitch, Dickens is presenting him as an unfavorable character in an attempt to influence the reader.

The descriptions of Magwitch before his conversation with Pip presents modified ideas, which do not correlate with the ideas I have already explained; some statements are more sympathetic towards him. Dickens uses Pip's narration to add thoughts that the convict has been through great hardship. Magwitch is said to be "all coarse and grey" which shows that at first glance he seems like a very common laboring man with an ill look about him. The further depiction of Magwitch suggests that he has suffered extensively. "A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head" these sentences display the convict as having clothing in bad condition and he seems to have been robed of items such as his hat. "A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled". This vivid description is like a burst of thoughts and the short sentence points have beat effect giving more emphasis. The language such as 'smothered in mud'; 'lamed by stones' and 'cut by flints' propose that Magwitch has under gone pain and has suffered at the hands of others. Dickens has used the previously quoted actions and words such as 'shivered' to describe Magwitch. The illustration conveys a possibly metaphorical effect intended to mock and disagree slightly with the harsh treatment of convicts in Britain at the time the book was written. This hinted idea gives an edge to Magwitch, which although may at first go unnoticed by audiences, later becomes a significant point. When Pip travels home from the graveyard he starts to notice more sinister features of the landscape "the sky was just a row of angry redlines". This narration continues to press ideas to the reader of an unlikable character. The way Dickens uses this child-beating figure represents the dreadful persona of Magwitch.

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Soon after the section the confrontation Pip goes back to the marshes to bring Magwitch the things he'd asked him to bring him. It is mainly because of fear that Pip does this, which again supports Dickens first presentations of Magwitch. When Pip confronts Magwitch, Magwitch rapidly eats the food Pip has brought. "He was already handing mincemeat down his throat" and "He was gobbling mincemeat" giving the impression that he deserved it and it was not fair to deprive him of such a small amenity. The speech has less tension with Pip and Magwitch seeming to be less nervous ...

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