How does Charles dickens portray characters through

their settings in his novel Great Expectations?

This essay will analyse how Charles Dickens portrays characters through their settings in chapters one and eight in the world famous novel Great Expectations. Firstly I will give a brief background of Charles Dickens and how his life experiences have had an effect on this novel. Secondly I will describe the social and historical background which influenced Dickens when writing this story. Next I will describe how Dickens portrayed characters though their settings and finally provide an impartial conclusion.

Charles Dickens was born on the 7th of February 1812 in Portsmouth and died at the age of 58. Much of his earlier years were spent outdoors in the country and reading until his father was imprisoned and at the age of 12, Dickens was sent to work in a boot blacking factory, near where they then lived in Camden Town, London. A lot of connections between Dickens poor early life and his desire to separate from them are portrayed in Pips story. Dickens was a fierce critic of poverty wishing to improve their conditions although he felt himself to be superior to them. He showed this in many of his novels.

At the time when Great Expectations was written Queen Victoria was on the throne. It was also the time of the industrial revolution in the large cities and agriculture areas. In the 1800-1900 Britain owned one third of the world this meant that Britain was one of the wealthiest countries in the world leading to huge expansion. Cities such as London grew rapidly and became centres of wealth. The invention of the steam engine and machines led to factories mass production and power.

The society in the Victorian era was divided into the rich and the poor. In great expectations it clearly showed the difference in lifestyles between the classes, with Miss Havisham being the rich upper class and Magwitch and Pip being the poor lower class. Wealth and power concentrated into few hands at the time and most people stayed poor despite the industrial revolution. It was a time of extreme poverty and child labour. Many people were not aware of the poverty in London and this shocked them when Charles Dickens wrote about it in his novels.

Poverty led to desperation which led to crime, mainly stealing. Dickens showed this early in the film when Magwitch got Pip to steal food for him. This brought the start of the police force to deal with the increasing number of crimes and an explosion in the prison population. As prisons became overcrowded drastic measures were taken to deal with it including execution and transportation. This also was showed in the novel.

Great expectations is a bildungsroman story which means the tale is told from the point of view of one character, in this instance by a young ...

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Great expectations is a bildungsroman story which means the tale is told from the point of view of one character, in this instance by a young orphaned boy called Pip, who has good luck and great expectations, but then looses both. The story set in 1812 through to 1840 traces his life from early years to adulthood.

The first gripping chapter set in a gloomy graveyard surrounded by marshes introduces a seven year old orphaned Philip Pirrip known as Pip. The opening scene shows a vulnerable desperate child visiting his dead family; cold as “the wind was rushing” and alone standing in front of the seven graves of his mum, dad and five brothers. Magwitch an escaped convict makes a dramatic entrance at this point threatening Pip with his life, claiming that he would “cut his throat”. Pip promises to steal “whittles”, now known as food, and a file for his irons. The settings of this scene, the damp, misty marsh land inclosing a bleak overgrown churchyard creates a suspenseful enthralling start to the novel.

Charles Dickens instantly creates empathy in the opening scenes of the first chapter by allowing Pips childish imagination to run wild. He visualizes how his deceased family might have looked using only the inscription on the tombstones. Even at pips young age hints are given that he yearns to become a gentleman by the way some formal words are used like saying Mrs Joe Gargery. This is the formal way of saying the wife’s name.

As soon as the fearful Magwitch makes his entrance we know that he is not a gentleman because of the clothes he is wearing. Instead of wearing a hat he has an “old rag tied round his head”, his entire outfit is of a “coarse grey” fabric which suggests cheap prison clothing, his shoes are “broken” and he walks with a limp probably due to the hard cold metal of his leg iron rubbing his skin. This is the turning point of Pips life as later on in the novel Magwitch helps Pip. Magwitch and the marshes are very similar as he is “wet”, “smothered in mud”, “lamed by stones”, and “cut by flints”, “stung by nettles and torn by briars”. The word choice suggests Magwitch is part of the marshes. The verbs used like “limped”, “shivered” and his “teeth chattered” show the marshes transforming Magwitch into a different person.

Whilst Magwitch is threatening to cut Pips throat, Pip still has respect for his elders by saying “Sir”. Throughout the chapter I saw that Dickens spelt many of Magwitchs words wrong for example point which he spells “pint”. This demonstrates he has a working class dialect and is uneducated. Dickens uses references from fairy tales like red riding hood when Magwitch “licks his lips”. The language changes often between younger Pip and older more educated Pip.

Dickens makes Magwitch intimidate Pip by using several techniques like using high angle shots making Magwitch appear even bigger compared to the helpless Pip. Magwitch picks Pip up and shakes him and makes stories up about an evil man who wants to kill Pip, this makes Pip even more terrified than before. Magwitch does this because he is desperate for the food and the file so he can survive.

Chapter eight introduces an old, lonely and tired of life Miss Havisham in her run down decrepit mansion called Satis which means satisfied. This is ironic as Miss Havisham was happy with her life until she fell in love with a man named Compeyson who was only out to get her money. At twenty minutes to nine on their wedding day while she was getting ready, Miss Havisham received a letter from Compeyson informing her that he could not go through with the marriage. Humiliated and heartbroken, Miss Havisham had all the clocks stopped at the exact point in which she knew that she had been left. From that day on she left everything within the house untouched.

Dickens potrays Miss Havisham’s character as an ageing, frail and weary old lady although abviously rich she has lost the will to live because of pass events. Her personal apperance mirrors that of her house which were both once “splendid” but are now run down. Her wealth is desrcibed by the “rich materials” of her now “faded and yellow” wedding dress made from “satins, lace and silks”, also by the “jewels” that adorned her neck and “lay sparkeling on the table”. Dickens uses comparisions linking the Miss Havisham to her possesions, an instance of this is when Dickens writes “I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress”.

Satis house built out of “old bricks” was a “dismal” building; some of the windows were “walled up” while most of the remaining ones were encased in “iron bars”. The “barred” courtyard at the front of the house along with the unkempt overgrown grounds all represents symbols of a prison but in this case the prisoner is Miss Havisham who chooses to remain imprisoned. The abandoned old brewery located at the side of the house is a symbol of enjoyment which is ironic as Miss Havisham is incapable of experiencing pleasure.

When Pip first walks into the room where Miss Havisham is sat at her old dressing table he noticed her “yellow wedding dress” faded with age but made from luxurious materials like “satins, lace and silks” which portray that she was once a rich glamorous lady. He observed she was wearing sparkly jewels around her neck and hands, this also indicates her wealth. A veil and “bridals flowers” adorned her white hair. The room was dark, faded and full of cobwebs similar to her dress which she has been wearing since the day of her wedding.

The dressing room where Pip was introduced to Miss Havisham and her daughter Estella was only lit by wax candles, no daylight entered everything lay “decayed” and “withered”, possession laid exactly where they had years before like a shrine to her old life. The whole setting is reminiscent of a burial tomb. The frailty of Miss Havisham and her clothes reminds Pip of “bodies buried in ancient time”. This creates a sense of pathetic despair.

Dickens uses many dull negative words to describe Miss Havisham’s house. The language used to describe the house like “faded”, “skeleton” and “rustily” emphasize that the house is decaying just like the owner. Miss Havisham’s life is frozen, defeated, crushed and broken just like her house.

Dickens yet again uses a reference from a fairy tale. This time Miss Havisham only has one wedding shoe on which is similar to that of Cinderella.

Miss Havisham has created a separate world for herself where time and daylight have no meaning so when Pip leaves the house he feels confused and disorientated.

Pip is made to feel uneducated and “coarse” by Estella, her insulting manner makes him feel a mixture of emotions including “angry”, “offended” and “humiliated”. He released his anger by kicking the deserted wall of the abandoned brewery. The “rank garden” of the house, the “gloom” of the brewery and the emptiness adds a ghostly spookiness.

To conclude I feel that Charles Dickens succeeds in portraying characters through their settings in his novel Great Expectations.

I came to this conclusion because the two characters I have studied Magwitch and Miss Havisham both compare with their settings. Magwitch a lower class uneducated prisoner resembles the marshes by the use of descriptive words chosen. For example “soaked in water”,” smothered by mud”, “lamed by stones”, “cut by flints”, “stung by nettles” and “torn by briars” all could equally describe the marsh landscape.

Miss Havisham’s connection with her house is portrayed by the use of descriptive words like “old”, “dismal” and “run down”, the language used emphasizes decay, rotting and ageing all these descriptive words are happening to both her house and to Miss Havisham, for example her “faded” clothes and “sunken eyes”.

Dickens also makes sure that the settings tie in with the characters social class.