The setting of the graveyard adds a sense of danger to the extracts and the description Dickens gives on the graveyard, “overgrown with nettles”, also adds tension. The use of pathetic fallacy to describe the windy weather again adds tension to the scene. Dickens use of gothic imagery adds to the bleakness of the scene and creates a dark and sinister mood. An example of gothic imagery is “the marshes were just a long, black horizontal line”. He also uses personification to bring the location alive, “the church jumped”; this makes the setting scarier and gives us a greater sense of Pips fear.
The next two extracts focuses on Miss Havisham and her ward Estella. The first of the two extracts is about Pips first visit to Satis house. He has been invited there by Miss Havisham as a playmate for Estella. From the description that Pip gives of room in Satis House, the reader might assume Pip has just walked in to a Wedding Reception. An example of Dickens’ deceptive writing is “well lighted room” and “ draped table where the gilded looking glass”. The description of Miss Havisham is even more deceptive, “she was dressed in rich materials-satin, lace and silk”. This description of Miss Havisham makes her instantly striking as it is very odd to be wearing a wedding dress as if it was everyday wear. As the extract goes on the reader can get a better understanding of Miss Havisham’s age. Dickens does this by using powerful adjectives such as “faded”, “withered” and “sunken”. The reader then learns everything has stood still since her wedding day. To empathise this Dickens uses repetition. An example of repetition being used in this way is when Pip notices every timepiece has stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Miss Havisham's background makes her very memorable as it is odd for a person to make time stand still for themselves. Later in the extract, Miss Havisham makes Pip and Estella lay together. Estella dislikes Pip because of his upbringing, an example her snobbery is, “he is a common, labouring boy”, and this quote says a lot about Estella and how Miss Havisham has brought her up. Estella has been taught to hate men just as Miss Havisham does and that is reflected by Pip’s opinion of her, “I think she is very insulting”. Estella’s cruel behaviour towards Pip lead him to be ashamed of his upbringing, “ I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them an indifferent pair”, he feels this way about himself because he wants Estella to like him and maybe even love him.
The second extract focusing around Estella and Miss Havisham is set years later and the relationship between the pair has deteriorated dramatically. The first sign of uneasiness between the two is when they have an argument and Estella resents her cold upbringing, an example of her resentment is, “I am what you have made me…take all the blame”. This is the first time Pip has ever seen them at odds, “it was the first time I had ever seen them opposed”, this shows Estella feels comfortable in Pips presence .In this extract it also reveals what Miss Havisham’s plans are for Estella, “Estella was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on men”. The room inside Satis House is also still frozen in time, “needless to add there was no change to Satis House”. Dickens uses personification to describe Satis House; he describes it as being an “unhealthy house”. Dickens also creates a sense of darkness within the room, examples of him doing this are, “steady dullness”, “pale gloom”, “withered articles” and “ghostly reflection”. Miss Havisham has also decayed over time and that is reflected by Dickens powerful words such as “weird”, “mortally hurt” and “diseased”. These powerful words add character to Miss Havisham and make her all the more memorable. This extract is stooped in irony because Miss Havisham claims all she wants from Estella is love, “love…I have it not”. This is ironic because Miss Havisham has brought Estella up to be cold-hearted and not be able to love. The names of things within these extracts were extremely important. Examples of this are Estella meaning star, Miss Havisham being broken down into having is a sham and Satis House meaning more than enough.
The fourth extract is about Wemmick at work and at home and how different they are. Its almost as though he has two completely different personalities. At work Wemmick is “dull and boring”. When he’s at work Wemmick seems unhappy and disinterested, “ he had a mechanical appearance of smiling”. Wemmick is also very sarcastic and rude at work, “ there was an air of toleration or depreciation about his utterance of these words” .At home Wemmick is in his element, he lives in a cottage turned castle complete with a moat, flagpole and cannon. It seem Wemmick has committed his life to caring for “ The Aged”, whom stays with him in the castle .The difference between work and home is amazing, “Smiling…. with a relish and not merely mechanical”. Wemmick seems to be proud of his little paradise he’s created; this becomes clear when he raises his flag, “very pleasant to see the pride with which he hoisted it up”. Wemmick himself admits he is different at home compared to work, “When I go to the office, I leave the castle behind me, and when I come into the castle, I leave the office behind me”. Dickens makes Wemmick a likeable character because he’s looking after his old Father and Wemmick is also endearing. He’s also likeable because he’s a genuinely good person, which makes a pleasant change form other characters such as Magwich and Miss Havisham. Wemmick is used as a comical character to make him memorable to the reader, as everyone likes comedy in a story, especially as this story is at times slow.
Dickens creates characters that are both memorable and striking by giving them a unique personality and a mysterious background. Miss Havisham because she is still trying to get over being jilted on her wedding day and Estella because she has become the puppet of Miss Havisham and therefore unable to love another person due to her cold upbringing. Magwich is memorable because he adds tension to the novel and has a mysterious past. Finally, Wemmick is memorable and striking because of his comedic personality and his work/home transformation, his contrast from other character also makes him stand out.
