Having an older Pip narrate a story about himself is a particularly effective technique. This feature brings us a lot closer to the character of Pip and allows us to understand him in more detail. One thing that Pip can do when he is narrating is to describe how he felt during events that took place during the story. For example, during the opening churchyard scene involving Magwitch, Pip is able to tell the reader how scared and threatened he felt. Also, because we see everything from Pip’s point of view, for example when he is visiting his family’s gravestones, we will immediately feel sorry for him, we will be able to experience how he is feeling and put ourselves in his situation. During his narration in the opening scene, Pip mentions that all of his five brothers died while they were infants. Not only does this make the reader feel sorry for Pip and sympathetic, but also tells you that the infant mortality rate was very high back in the Victorian era.
The setting of a story often conveys a sense of what the mood will be like and Great Expectations stays true to this. Setting is one of the most important parts of a story because it allows the reader to create a mental picture in their mind, it effectively sets the tone and style of the story and most importantly, creates atmosphere. Dickens sets the initial scene of Great Expectations in great detail as this is essential to hook the reader so that they read beyond the first chapter. Dickens doesn’t set the scene until the third paragraph, in order to leave room for the introduction of the main character, Pip. It is more effective, I think, to introduce characters first, rather than potentially boring readers with a long scene setting paragraph and then bringing characters in after that.
The chapter opens in a graveyard on “a memorable raw afternoon towards evening” with raw emphasizing how painfully cold the graveyard is. This briefly describes both the time of day and the weather. Suitably, the story then goes on to describe the “bleak, overgrown churchyard” and also “the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard”. Both ‘bleak’ and ‘wilderness’ give the impression that churchyard and the surrounding landscape are barren, unused and remote. This powerful description of the landscape, coupled with the time setting and the weather, should help the reader to create a vivid image in their mind of a bleak and remote landscape surrounding a churchyard in the late afternoon. Adding to this description is more detail of the landscape: “intersected with dykes and mounds and gates with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes” and “the low leaden line beyond was the river”. Words such as ‘beyond’ give the landscape a distant feel and as Pip is so far away from civilisation, he is also distant. Finally, even the sea twenty miles away “as the river wound” is described as “the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing” with ‘savage’ giving the sea an evil and aggressive presence. This also gives an impression of how strong and blustery the wind is. One other thing that the wind adds to is the mood, which is very baron, desolate and hostile at this stage.
In creating an effective and interesting opening to Great Expectations, Dickens has created two extremely different characters. Pip and Magwitch contrast in many ways, with the first one being name. Whereas ‘Pip’ is very short and sweet, giving the impression that he is friendly, honest and simple, ‘Magwitch is quite sharp and evil sounding, with the two syllables in the name maybe hinting at two sides to him. Both of these names effectively reflect the personalities of the characters that they belong to. The character of Pip, as the name suggests, is described as a “small bundle of shivers”, as “undersized” and as “not strong”. This puts him into comparison with the large, bleak landscape that surrounds him and gives the impression that Pip is lonely, scared and vulnerable. By comparison, Magwitch is described as “a fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg”. Unlike Pip, this creates the impression that Magwitch blends into the landscape and does not seem out of place in the bleak, dull surroundings. Magwitch is then thoroughly described as “broken shoes, old rag around his head, soaked, smothered, lamed, cut, stung, torn, limped, shivered, glared, growled and teeth chattered”. This long sentence, typical of Victorian literary style, gives a detailed insight into Magwitch’s appearance and will allow the readers to create an image in their mind. Also, due to the sentence being fast paced and long, it acts as a build up to the point when Magwitch seizes Pip’s throat. The reader senses that, as Dickens has gone to the trouble of writing such a detailed and powerful description, this should tell the reader that Magwitch is an important and significant character. However, we also need to consider a further impact of this sentence: readers should start feeling sorry for Magwitch after reading this as, even though he is a criminal, he has also suffered a great deal. Wearing a hat was considered respectful in Victorian times and Magwitch does not wear a hat. This says a lot about his background and implies that he is working-class, disrespectful and indecent, especially to a Victorian reader. There are huge contrasts and differences between Pip and Magwitch in personality, appearance, mental attitude, physical attitude and strength, going towards creating an interesting and engaging story.
During the opening scene of Great Expectations, Dickens gives a number of ideas to the relationship between Pip and Magwitch. When Magwitch first meets Pip, he speaks to him in a very aggressive way, using phrases such as “Hold your noise!” and “Keep still you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!” These show that he is disrespectful and he generally comes across as a nasty person. When compared to the way in which Pip speaks, they could not be any more different. Where Magwitch speaks loudly and with aggression, Pip speaks quietly, with respect and seems genuinely scared of Magwitch. There is often a sense that Magwitch does not mean what he says and rather that he is just trying to come across as threatening and intimidating. An example of this is when he says: “Who d’ye live with – supposin’ you’re kindly let to live”. The dash gives the impression that Magwitch just quickly slipped the phrase in to make himself sound threatening but that he does not really mean it. It also tells the reader that he found himself to be coming across too friendly, using phrases such as: “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
The phrases that Magwitch uses while talking to Pip tell us a lot about his social status. Phrases such as “Give it mouth” and “Pint out the place” are not very widely used in either the present time or by upper-class people in Victorian times. In Victorian times, Magwitch’s dialect would have been seen as ‘common’ by most people. Today, people speak in dialect in most places, but more modern language is used. However, some richer people may still look down on it. Pip speaks to Magwitch very politely and respectfully, but, given his situation, it was probably wise to do this. Despite this, Magwitch still does not give Pip any respect, either verbally or physically. Another huge contrast is that Pip does not use an accent or dialect. This seems strange as Pip is not posh of upper-class but rather working-class and normal. However, the reason for this is to make the reader feel sorry for him, rather than the aggressive man who is threatening him. Also, Pip’s fear comes out in the way he speaks and again shows off the huge differences between the two characters.
During the churchyard scene, Pip speaks very differently to Magwitch, compared with the way Magwitch speaks to Pip. Pip speaks to him very politely, respectfully and does not use an accent, slang or dialect. This is very misleading of Pip’s social background however, as he is working-class, in no way posh and lives with a blacksmith. What Dickens is doing here is making Pip speak like a gentleman so that the Victorian readers trust him. Phrases such as “pray don’t do it, Sir” give an idea of the way Pip is feeling. In this case, very afraid and scared. Pip also has to repeat himself to be heard. This is because Pip has a small, quiet and feeble voice compared to Magwitch’s bellowing aggressive voice. An example of this is “Tell us your name, quick!” “Pip, sir.” “Once more, give it mouth!” “Pip. Pip, sir.” Dickens emphasises this fact by putting exclamation marks after Magwitch speaks.
Another technique that Dickens uses to emphasise the physical contrast between Magwitch and Pip: Dickens writes “His eyes looked most powerfully down into mine…and mine looked most helplessly up into his.” These adverbs could not be any more contrasting and really stress Magwitch’s physical dominance. Magwitch is bullying in how he handles Pip. “He turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets.” and “He took me by both arms, and tilted me back as far as he could hold me.” are both prime examples of this. Despite this, Pip still treats Magwitch respectfully and calls him ‘Sir’. At this stage is the story, it is unclear whether Pip speaks with respect to all adults he meets or if it was just because he didn’t want to annoy Magwitch and put himself in danger. Amazingly, Pip also manages to stay quite calm and level headed during his ordeal and at no point does he begin to cry. It is only when Pip is first grabbed by Magwitch, he “pleaded in terror”, but after this he appears very cool and collected.
Overall, Charles Dickens has succeeded in creating an effective opening to Great Expectations. The immense detail used in the scene setting makes the story very interesting and helps the reader to create a vivid picture in their mind. It also helps to hook the readers by preparing them for the rest of the story. Significantly, the main reason that the readers will probably read on is because a lot of unanswered questions, such as where might Magwitch come back into the story, are left and will inevitably have their answers revealed later on. Dickens has also succeeded because of his widely contrasting characters of Pip and Magwitch. Themes are also hinted at during the opening chapter. One of these is social class, in that Pip dreams of becoming a gentleman and reveals a path that the story may take later on. Additionally, due to the significance and interesting complexity of Magwitch in the first chapter, you would think that he will also be significant later on in the story. This should give the readers yet another reason to read past the first chapter because most will probably find Magwitch a fascinating character to read about. When all of these techniques come together, it is easy to see that Charles Dickens has created magnificent opening foundations for Great Expectations.
