Pip would be nervous going to see a stranger and yet Dickens makes Pip’s surroundings gloomy and tense. The phrase, ‘no glimpse of daylight’, indicates the room is darker; the shadows of the candles make the room tenser. Dickens description is realistic and effective. Pip is a child, which we link to innocence, and being placed in large gloomy room is frightening. We sympathise with Pip, it’s as if he is being tested.
Another technique Dickens uses to gain sympathy for Pip is language, which I believe motivates the characters. Language can also portray a characters personality; in this extract Pips innocence is portrayed. Dickens wants to gain sympathy for Pip, and therefore make the other characters harsh towards him. When Pip enters the dressing room, he is not addressed immediately.
When Havisham first speaks to Pip, she does not greet him but questions him. She asks, ‘who is it?’ The bravest child would startle at that. Dickens doesn’t relieve the nervousness but increases it with Havisham’s cold voice. Dickens’ emphasis on class difference is shown when Pip speaks to Havisham. He speaks in a respectful manner. For example he answer, ‘Pip, ma’am’. We pity Pip, as he fears not just Havisham but the consequences from his sister if he were to disrespect Havisham.
Havisham speaks to Pip as if he were an object, as if he has no identity. When Pip answers Havisham she asks, ‘Pip?’ We pity Pip, not only is he nervous but feels he has no identity. She calls Pip, ‘come nearer…come close’ as if he were an object to examine. We as readers are heart broken that an orphaned angelic child would be put under so much pressure.
Pip’s fear is brought out in narration as well as in dialogue. He mentions, ‘avoiding her eyes’- this shows Pip’s fear. Dickens makes us sympathise for Pip through language, he uses words dialogue and pace to gain sympathy for him. Dickens writes Pip’s dialogue with several pauses, as if he were stuttering. This shows nervousness. When someone stutters they are generally nervous and fearful. We see this when he is speaking to Havisham, ‘Mr Pumblechook’s boy, ma’am. Come- to play’. Through the punctuation we can see how nervous and anxious Pip is.
Havisham is a frightening character; she speaks of her heart to an infant. She frightens him, ‘broken!’ she describes her heart to an infant would barely know what love is. ‘I want a diversion….play’- she says to Pip, like he were an object or toy. We know Havisham is arrogant, but the way she treats Pip makes us even bitterer towards her. Pip describes himself ‘unequal’. Pip then describes to her the surroundings, ‘strange, and so fine- and melancholy’. At this point we afraid of what Havisham may do, or if Pip has ruined his chances- although we cannot blame him for his innocence.
In life children are sometimes mistreated by adults, human nature. Dickens defies this by placing another, harsher character in the story.
Estella is a young girl- prouder than Havisham. Estella’s language affects Pip greatly. When Estella is asked to play with Pip, she replies- ‘with this boy! Why, he is a common labouring- boy!’ Dickens makes Estella’s dialogue very effective, eh emphasises on the word ‘boy’ through out the extract- making Pip feel low.
Estella criticizes Pip, making us empathise with him. She destroys Pip’s self- esteem. She criticizes his language and his clothes. Sore example she says, ‘he calls the knaves, jacks, this boy’. During the Victorian era cards were mainly played by the rich and the poor who did play would have their own slang words. We find Estella is picking on Pip, and Pip is hurt by these comments. The fact that Pip is hurt by these comments motivates Estella as a character.
She comments on his clothes, ‘coarse hands…thick boots’. Pips emotions begin to reveal, we feel sorry for him. He ‘began to consider them a very indifferent pair’- Estella’s contempt for Pip is so strong he caught it. We, as the reader, know that Pips self- esteem is shattered and yet Estella denounces him for a ‘clumsy labouring- boy’. Note the emphasis on social status, she wants Pip to cry.
Havisham continues to order Pip about; as if he were a slave- she has not even the slightest respect for him. Pip is not asked when he would like to come he is told, ‘again after six days. You hear’ Havisham’s tone is sharp and stern. Although it is not only Havisham who orders Pip about, Estella does too. ‘Wait her, you boy,’ only a few years older than Pip and yet she treats him badly.
Pip bursts out at the end of the extract; he says she treated him ‘as if he were a dog in disgrace’. He felt ‘humiliated, hurt, spurned, and offended’. Tears began to treacle down Pips eyes and on those slightly emotional readers too. Pip begins to hate himself by the end of his visit, ‘took a hard twist at my hair’. He has an emotional breakdown, this is very affective. It gains our sympathy.
Dickens had use language successfully. The description of surroundings does not only give us an idea of Pip’s feelings but also sets the mood. Language also motivates the other characters in the story to speak and behave that way. We mostly sympathise near the end where we loose all hope for Pip and he breaks into tears. He feels so ashamed of himself, so depressed.
In this extract Pip is greatly affected by characters. Dickens gains our sympathy by placing these characters in his story, which motivate Pips emotions and feelings. In this extract there are two characters, other than Pip, who motivate his feelings and emotions- Miss Havisham and her ward Estella.
Miss Havisham is an unusual character, although similar in another way to Pip. I find there is a similarity between Miss Havisham and Pip; both of them have lost their loved ones, in different ways. They are both lonely characters, who crave to be loved. There is no evidence that Havisham wants this but I, as a reader, believe that she longs to be loved again.
Havisham is unusual, she doesn’t want to let go of the past. Normally when bad incidents occur, people are willing to forget about it. Although Havisham hangs on to her past and does not want to change anything, ‘I noticed Miss Havisham had put down a jewel exactly on the spot from which she had taken it up’. This sentence proves my point, a child would feel insecure around such a character and I’m sure Pip is no different.
Havisham’s character is rich we know this because of the way Pip describes her, ‘satins and lace and silks- all of white’. Such material could only be afforded by the rich at the time. Havisham had everything Pip wanted, but she is wasteful. She is after revenge, because she was jilted at the alter. She wants Estella to break Pip heart and in one part Pip mentions Havisham saying it, ‘well! You can break his hear’. Pip mentions that it is unlikely she said that, which shows his innocence.
She is a spiteful, sly character. At one point she tempts Pip, ‘though she is so pretty’. We know that somewhere inside Pip there was a part of him that wanted to be loved by Havisham- a sort of grandmother. Although she is the opposite, she desires for Pip to get hurt. She does not protect Pip from Estella’s harsh comments. She treats Pip like an object- something to play with then throw away.
Havisham’s character is motivated by her surroundings, of the past. It reminds her of her past and inspires her to be revengeful. Havisham gains our sympathy for Pip as she is bitter and spiteful, she does not protect him. She does not appreciate what she has, as many don’t have.
Estella is a young girl; we know she is young as it mentions her ‘young bosom’. Dickens chose to make Estella young as it would have a greater impact on Pip. The fact that Pip is attracted to her- we sympathise with him even more. Estella is a snobby and proud character.
Estella is very proud, which leads her to be harsh towards Pip- because he is of working class. She believes Pip is not even worthy enough to be called by his name and so she refers to him as ‘boy’. Estella has been brought up by Miss Havisham, a revengeful character, so too no surprise her spiteful character has rubbed off on her.
Estella’s character affects Pip more than Havisham’s as she is younger and he finds her attractive. She is very contempt towards Pip. She is very insulting towards Pip and because he finds her attractive, her comments begin to affect him. She insults Pip several times in the extract, criticizing him on his clothes and the way he talks. Her hatred for him is so strong that by the end of the extract Pip, begins to hate himself.
Estella gives emphasis to the social different, by referring to him as ‘boy’. At the end of the extract Pip’s emotion begin to show through. This motivates her to be bitter. Estella knows Pip’s feelings and gets pleasure out of seeing him upset. She senses when Pip emotions are at the peak, and yet treats him like an animal- she placed the mug ‘on the stones of the yard’. Pip then begins to cry, which motivates Estella.
Pip is an innocent, orphaned and lonely child- who wants nothing more than to be loved. Being a child, Pip is nervous when he enters Havisham’s house. Pip is polite and doesn’t disrespect neither Havisham nor Estella no matter what. Pip is emotionally strong; he holds back his emotions- as he knows Estella will be delighted to see tears treacle down his face.
This is Pip’s motivation, Estella; he cannot show his feelings as he knows Estella will be pleased at the sight of him. He is very shy and does not say much. His innocence is portrayed when he believes its unlikely Havisham whispered ‘well! You can break his heart’. At this point we know how innocent he is and begin to hate Havisham.
Pip may be strong, but we as the readers sympathise even though he may not be affected by it. The fact that Pip is a child and not an adult we sympathise more. Dickens has given Pip a terrible past, so even before this extract we have sympathy for him because he is an orphan.
The opening and closing of the extract are very different, but very effective. At the beginning of the extract Dickens sets the mood, which is nervous and the atmosphere which is gloomy. At the beginning he describes the setting, with its expensive and lavish items such as the ‘gilded looking- glass’- a mirror covered with gold. He describes the rich materials that are there, the ‘satins and lace’.
At the beginning he describes Havisham in depth, from the clothes she is wearing till the structure of her body. He describes her body, ‘shrunk to skin and bone’. Dickens describes in depth as it keeps us interested and helps us imagine. Havisham is also noticed as a rich character as she has jewels lying about, ‘some bright jewels sparkled on her neck’. Everything is described as withered, which indicates something very odd.
We also notice Havisham is unwelcoming and cold. Although we still have hope that she will like Pip.
The ending of the extract is very different to the beginning; the mood is very sad and depressing. By the end of the extract Pip is hurt and has begun to hate himself and his image. Estella’s comments so strong he begins to believe them.
Pip is fuming at the end, he feels so hurt and humiliated. We empathise with him greatly and hate Havisham, that she did not protect Pip. We loose all hope for Pip, and hope he doesn’t have to live with Havisham. It ends in Pip crying against a wall, so Estella cannot see him.
Dickens was successful in gain sympathy for Pip, eh used various effective techniques. I think that Pip gained the most sympathy at the end where he began to cry. Estella’s words which were very harsh effect Pip. The characters Dickens chose motivated Pip’s emotions. Dickens chose the right mixture of techniques to make Pip more loveable. Dickens gains a lot of sympathy for Pip by basing the story around his misfortunes.
