How Does Dickens Create Characters That Are Both Memorable And Striking?
“Great Expectations” was written by Charles Dickens, Ostensibly it is a story of an adult reminiscing about his childhood and his journey through life, however the connotations are evident. Dickens was in essence a child brought up in poverty and he wanted to convey the message that regardless of wealth and social stature you can know the price of everything and yet be ignorant of the true value of things.
“Great Expectations” is written in first person retrospective narration; this makes the text feel more personal and allows the reader to gain a greater understanding of the feeling and emotions that the characters are enduring, it also gives that ground level feel that can only be achieved using first person narration. It is told through the eyes of Phillip Pirrip, Pip, as he is called, is an orphan and lives with his sister and the metaphorical hero of the story Joe. Pip’s name is symbolic as it portrays Pip as a fragile small individual who is easily destroyed and to prosper needs to be brought in the correct environment. Dickens often uses subtle hints of a characters persona in his use of names. Miss Havisham name is indicative of her persona.
Dickens frequent use of complex and sophisticated language allows the reader to gain a greater knowledge of key characters. The meeting of Miss Havisham is replete with gothic imagery “the brightness of her sunken eyes”. This use of vivid imagery lets the reader realise that Miss Havisham intentions are far from pleasant. She sounds more like a vampire than a person and this augmented by the fact that she lives in darkness. Miss Havishams exterior appearance gives us an idea of her motives she also lives her life vicariously through Estella. Dickens use of antithesis creates a huge contrast and his first impression of Miss Havisham soon seems to be false. The vampirical imagery used is to add weight to the fact that Miss Havisham is evil and malicious who takes sick pleasure is the suffering of others in the hope that everyone will feel the pain she felt at being jilted at the alter . She is not only intent of destroying her happiness but also the happiness of those around her. The syntax and sophisticated language used indicates to us that Pip is telling the story from when he is much older “I was not afraid of telling the enormous lie comprehended in the answer”.
