Great Expectatios ENGLISH

Authors Avatar

In the Novel ‘Great Expectations’ how does Charles Dickens use language to portray the characters of Magwitch and

Miss Haversham to the Reader?

In this essay, I will be studying the characters of Miss Haversham and Magwitch. I intend to examine the language and techniques used by Dickens to depict them to the reader. I also plan to observe to observe the atmosphere created around these characters and examine how the character of Pip reacts to them.

The way in which Dickens presents Pip and his family situation is that, at the beginning Pip is in a graveyard looking at his families’ graves. Both his parents are dead; the reason for this is not explained and unknown as we are only told, ‘as I never saw my father and mother, and never saw any likeness in either of them, (for their days were long before the days of photographs). Also, as for any brothers and sisters that Pip had; they have also departed life on earth. Their reason for doing so is they, ‘gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle.’ This implies that they stopped scavenging for food and water and slowly disintegrated. This is all supposed to make us feel sorry for him as he has no family and he, as far as we know, is unhappy as Pip is a poor orphaned child with his main family dead with the exception of his sister who is married to a blacksmith which indicates that she is also working class. All of this establishes Pip as a poor unhappy, but also loving child.

The way in which Magwitch is first introduced is when he attacks Pip aggressively in the graveyard; in which Pip was looking at his families’ graves. The way that Magwitch attacks Pip is that he appeared from out of the graves and held a knife to Pips throat and threatened him by saying, ‘keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!’ this illustrates that he is either desperate or dangerous. Where it then explains what he is wearing, it shows that he has travelled a long way as it lists that he ‘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; and who’s teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

Join now!

This is supposed to make us feel both scared but also perhaps sorry for him as he has gone through a lot evidently to get as far as where pip is destination wise.

The character of Magwitch is speaks very aggressively and dangerously to Pip as he threatens to cut Pips throat. He also forces Pip to reveal his name and residence in quite an angry tone. This is made even worse by the phrase that he says, "you young dog.” What fat cheeks you ha’ got.’

This would all imply to us that ...

This is a preview of the whole essay