We can tell immediately from his clothing that Magwitch is a scoundrel. Dickens intensifies this with Magwitch’s brutal behaviour, his threats of death if Pip does not do his bidding. Pip in contrast is defenceless for in the inverted position Magwitch held him. Pip can be likened to a newborn baby in whom Pip is innocent (certainly naked) and ignorant of the world.
The tone Dickens chooses to emphasize Magwitch has a great affect on Pip and the readers. It is not hard to imagine the tone and pitch of Magwitch’s voice if we were put in Pip’s position.
The first chapter of the novel was set in a churchyard, which was very neglected and depressing. It is extremely frightening for Pip because being an imaginative child, he imagines all sorts of terrible things happening to him while he was there. The churchyard displayed a gothic setting, which makes Pip even more afraid of being there. The gothic setting symbolically suggests a sense of evilness and death. We can imagine the feeling Pip is going through, maybe he is getting flashes and hallucinations of death, presented by the monster statue protecting the church. Pip later goes on to describe the churchyard’s surroundings, the landscape and himself and his background. He portrays himself as a 'small bundle of shivers' which emphasises how cold, scared and insignificant he is. The marshes are bleak, dreary, immensely cold, neglected and depressing and seem to stretch on forever but this is because this was seen through the eyes of a seven years old child who is very young. Pip draws childish conclusions about everything. He is beginning to get very afraid but then something happens which he never forgets and makes him even more scared. This frightful event is the introduction of Abel Magwitch, an escaped convict. He 'comes up from the graves' and Pip is terrified. He threatens Pip that he will cut his throat unless Pip stops crying and this frightens Pip so much that he does. Dickens uses very violent language when describing Magwitch, for example' cut by flints', 'stung by nettles', 'torn by briars'. Magwitch forced Pip to steal food from his own house. At one point in Great Expectations, Pip refers to Magwitch as "my friend". This shows that Pip likes Magwitch, which is very strange as he is an apparently dangerous convict who threatened Pip. But this also shows that Pip has been so isolated he wants to make new friends, even with Magwitch.
In chapter eight, Pip was taken to Satis House (Miss Havisham's house) by Uncle Pumblechook. This visit is very important to Mrs. Joe because she believes that she could possibly get some of Miss Havisham's wealth if Pip impresses her. It is also a very important visit for Pip and this was his first experience of the upper class. Dickens' description of Miss Havisham's house is very carefully thought out because it is full of symbolism. On first appearances of the mansion, he writes about the size of the house, which represents the differences between the upper and lower class. Pip had probably never seen a house this big. When Estella takes Pip into the house, Pip sees that everything is very dusty, dark and untouched. This represents the upper class as being "stuffy" and lazy. Dickens emphasises the significance of the sense of time having frozen within Sati House, using repetition of the clocks 'having stopped at twenty minutes to nine', to intensify the gloomy and lifeless atmosphere. Dickens uses Pip's opinion to portray the room as having 'once been handsome'.
Pip describes everything in the room as being 'covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces', to shows that lack of care of the room. The room was clearly untouched for quite a long time. Dickens amplifies this frightening mood by using the same tone that he described Magwitch, to describe Miss Havisham. He again criticizes the droopy widow from the perspective of Pip. He uses simile to shows that Miss Havisham is 'looking like the Witch of the place'. By using the word “witch” and “ghastly”, shows Pip’s opinion of Miss Havisham’ appearance to be evil and this terrified Pip. The “half packed trunks” suggest the half packed life of Miss Havisham. She is referred to as being half a person. As well as living in the dark, she acts like an animal trapped in a cage. “A draped table with a gilded looking glass” displayed the dismal and misty story of Miss Havisham’s life. Like a wine glass unclean, it becomes misty and cloudy. This represent Miss Havisham’s past, present and future. The misty atmosphere trapped all the light from neither escaping nor entering, acting as a barrier, locking its victim away from civilisation.
Pip described Magwitch as having “great iron leg” emphasizing the bondage between Magwitch and his chains. The landscape is bondage and tied up by the “gates”, “dykes” and “marshes”. The word “savage lair” described Magwitch as an animal, a hungry beast coming back from hibernation. At the end of the opening extract, Magwitch is mirrored by the landscape that he emerged from, they are both equally wild, dangerous lawless and no doubt violent.
In this novel, Dickens uses various types pf writing to represent his characters to Pip and his readers. This is a dramatic novel. The way he described the personality of Miss Gargery and Mr Joe Gargery are illuminating. They are in definite dissimilarity. A variety of dialogues allows the reader to develop voices which show characters in an entertainment way. Some of the dialogues also show wretchedness and cruelty. For instant when Miss Havisham said “ Do you know what I have touched here?” and “broken” indicate Miss Havisham wounded from her past experiences of men and she can still feel the shattered heart that has no purpose but shattering her hopes. Miss Havisham is said to have a diseased mind because she has not left the house for many years and its atmosphere has greatly affected her.
On extract two, we learnt more about Miss Havisham’s pain and suffering. When Miss Havisham meet Pip for the first time it became clear that he is not there to play, but he has become prey for Miss Havisham’s entertainments. She whispered to Estella, “Well you can break his heart.” This quote is revealing as it suggest Miss Havisham being a cruel and manipulated women who has peculiar relationship with her daughter. Miss Havisham is vengeful towards men because she had her 'heart-broken' by one when she was left at wedding ceremony. Her adopted daughter, Estella who she gets to break Pip's heart, carries out her revenge. She encourages Estella to make men’s life a misery. The emptiness of Miss Havisham’s house symbolists the emptiness of the character Estella, a cold blooded person.
Dickens chose to dwell on details that create a more revolting image based on the extract “I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it. I think Dickens chose to describe about spiders as many people find them scary and this also create a more disgusting picture. Dickens uses simile to create the festering atmosphere. Later on in the novel, Miss Havisham describes how the deteriorating of her states of mind and the decaying condition of Satis House 'have worn away together'. Dickens means the damage of the house symbolises the heartbreak that Miss Havisham has suffered. Dickens uses repetition of the theme 'yellow and withered' to emphasise the decaying and deteriorating state of Miss Havisham's possessions around her.
Charles Dickens’ life and his experiences are expressed in the perspective of Pip and his surrounding. Dickens’ early childhood was spent in Portsmouth and them Chalham that was near the Thames marshes in which this novel is set. Dickens’ “abandonment” reflects the experiences Pip was put through. While worked in Warren’s blacking warehouse near the themes, he was humiliated, and an experience he could never forget.
