In Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" how does setting aid the dramatic effect of the novel?
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Introduction
In Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" how does setting aid the dramatic effect of the novel? Introduction In this fantastic novel Dickens uses imagery and linguistic techniques to raise levels of tension. I am going to explore and discuss three settings from the novel these are the graveyard, Miss Havisham and her house and London. All of the settings have a effect on the novel as they reflect to the characters for example in chapter 1 when we meet Pip in the dull, dark graveyard we see Pip as a small fragile child like the graveyard. A even better example of this technique that Dickens uses is during chapter 8 when we meet Miss Havisham the setting we meet her in, which is her house, is a exact replica of Miss Havisham herself. The dirty yellow wedding dress she wears is like the dusty, antique furniture and paintwork of the house. When we go to London it is a disgusting ruined old place, which also reflects on the character we meet during this chapter. The settings help the audience get impressions of who the characters are. The setting matches the character we meet there giving us some idea of who the character is. ...read more.
Middle
During this paragraph we meet the fascinating, but weird Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham and the setting we meet her in, which is her house, are both described as old, outdated, antique and uncared for. These adjectives give us a clear image of Miss Havisham and her surrounding, we see her as dirty old women in a dilapidated house. "the rank garden was the garden of the house, and that it was overgrown with tangled weeds" this quotation is taken from chapter 8 describing the outside of Miss Havishams house these powerful words tell us that the garden is also uncared for and left to rot and overgrow. Another quotation states " everything within my which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre and was now faded and yellow." This is describing the inside of the house, this effects us by telling us of this appalling house that has been dirty and dusty for so long that the dust and dirt had just melted into all the furniture, the walls and the house itself. The descriptions in this chapter are similar to the ones in the first chapter as they both describe the settings with negative views, but very effective. ...read more.
Conclusion
He uses linguistic techniques and figurative devices such as similes, personification and pathetic fallacy. The moods for each chapter I have explore are very similar they create negative images on the settings and make us feel pity for the characters for example Miss Havisham and her house her house is gloomy and uncared for so is she stops the clocks at the time she was abandoned at the altar, which makes us feel sorry for her but her and her house are still dirty, just like the streets of London in chapter 20 which links to the prison and Mr Jaggers office. All chapters have the same gloomy pitiful mood. This mirrors the contemporaries harshness of life, the people in his time had things very hard like most of the characters, they had to work very hard for very little in return. The settings of each chapter also mirror the characters we meet in a chapter, such as when we me Miss Havisham. We see her house first which is uncared for old, broken down and worn out basically then we see miss Havisham who is exactly the same. I feel that the most effective setting is Miss Havishams house as it mirrors her exactly and is a perfect example of the question asked for this essay. Despite Dickens unusual style he still creates very complex settings which are sharp and focused. ...read more.
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