he a cannibal and animal like.
When Magwitch empties Pip’s pockets “there was nothing in there but a piece of
bread”. This shows Pip’s innocence; he didn’t have a pocketknife, or a useless toy but just a little bit of food.
The church being there and Pip’s family graves make the situation more barbaric and
horrific.
The reader feels sorry for Magwitch when he is described.
“Man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and
cuts by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped. and shivered, and
glared and growled…”Dickens did not say a single good thing about Magwitch even though there must have been one.
The very long sentence makes it seem a lot more than it is. It’s as though Magwitch has been through everything. The use of the word “man” reminds us that he’s not a monster but is like us a human so the reader is full of pity for him.
We realise that Magwitch is quite timid when he walks away from Pip . “ [Magwitch walked] As if he were eluding the hands of the dead people, stretching up cautiously out of
their graves, to get a twist upon his ankle and pull him in” It suggests Magwitch is
scared of being pulled in by a zombie. Thus the reader suspects he not as tough and
dangerous as they first thought.
The reader feels sorry for Magwitch when he says, “ I wish I was a frog”. He sounds like a young, innocent child. Its as though Magwitch is so sad that he would rather live in a pond all his life than carry on living the way he is.
Miss Havisham’s house, Satis , is described, as though it’s a prison “ windows were rustily barred” “great many iron bars” “courtyard in front ….barred” “old brick”. This makes Miss Havisham seem more like a prisoner. And it indicates that Pip isn’t going to have a good time here. The inactive “pretty large brewery” and the beautiful, large house symbolize how Miss.Havisham also has a lot of potential. But has also just been abandoned.
Dickens starts to describe Miss Havisham positively for an example“ she had bridal
flowers in her hair” “ bright jewels sparkled in her neck” “ was dressed in rich
materials” so later the reader is shocked when they realize the truth that she is more
corpse like” bride within the bridal dress had withered” “no brightness of her sunken
eyes: “figure….shrunk to skin and bone” “long veil so like a shroud”
The darkness in Miss.Havisham’s room - “ No glimpse of daylight was seen”connotes impenetrability, depression, and death.
The stopped clocks, Miss.Havisham being half dressed, feast on the table etc. These
things symbolize her determination to freeze time and not move on.
Pip calls cards knaves .The word knave also means a deceitful and unreliable
scoundrel, just like Miss.Havisham and Estella. This is a clue that they will betray Pip in the future.
The description of the stocking :“The silver stocking…once white, now yellow, had been trodden ragged” symbolizes how Miss. Havisham was once a strong, devoted woman. But has now been “trodden” on by her husband and is “ragged”.
Pip says, “I shrank under her touch”. This metaphor makes Miss.Havisham
seem cruel, evil and frightening. Also like a witch . When she and Pip are walking around the table, it’s as though they are chanting something. The witch metaphor is extended.
“You come to feast upon me” This is gothic metaphor suggests that Miss.Havisham isn’t mentally stable. It echoes Magwitch’s cannibalistic threats.
The man Pip meets on the stairs with Estella is describes as “ a burly man of an
exceedingly large head ands a corresponding large hand” “ he had ….black strong
dots where his beard should have been” “black eyebrows” “ exceedingly dark
complexion” Black here connotes fear, anonymity and sadness. With his large
features he is portrayed as an important figure, has a “strong, burly” personality.
“Estella was lighting [the guests] down”. The word stellar means resembling or emanating from stars. Therefore, Estella here is like a star guiding the guests.
The descriptions of the room where Miss Havisham and Pip walk around the table can be used in a way to describe Miss.Havisham. “Covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces”. Miss.Havisham is breaking down; losing the bit of sanity she has.
“ Heavily overhung with cobwebs” “hung with reluctant smoke ”. She is “overhung” with sadness and reluctance to let go over the past.
Just after Estella makes Pip cry, Dickens uses a metaphor to describe what happened.
“It was a deserted place, down to the pigeon-house in the brewery yard, which had
been blown crooked on its pole by some high wind, and would have made the pigeons
think themselves at sea”.
Here the pigeons are representing Pip. The high wind represents Estella. Estella has “blown” Pip “crooked” by telling him he is common and has bad hands. Estella has damaged Pip’s feelings about himself. Just like the high wind which has damaged the birdhouse. Pip is now lead astray into thinking he is not good enough, like the pigeons who falsely think they’re at sea.
So Dicken’s use of symbols and imagery is quite effective. . For an example the imagery in the first chapter of the story immediately made the reader feel tense i.e. the weather. And Satis symbolising Miss.Havisham was also impressive. It is intriguing to see different interpretations of symbols from people in Dicken’s books. The symbols and images are the language of our unconscious mind.
