Theresa Dolan
'Look closely at chapters one and eight from
'Great Expectations'. How does Dickens make
these interesting and dramatic for the reader?'
In chapters one and eight Charles Dickens creates interesting scenes for the reader by incorporating two very interesting characters, both of whom are older than Pip. Magwitch, who is a very scary convict, he has escaped from jail and so his clothes are tattered. Next is Mrs Havisham, who is an old lady. She was 'stood up' on her wedding day and so dresses in her wedding gown that has faded. Also Dickens' used two different settings one outside and one in doors. There is a similarity between them as they are both sombre places, one churchyard the other a dark dilapidated room. He uses interesting vocabulary, which creates character and atmosphere.
In both of the chapters the settings create intense drama as negative imagery is used. Chapter one is set on the marshes 'intersected with dykes and mounds'. In the churchyard which was 'overgrown with nettles' and with 'graves'. This creates drama because we associate churchyards with death. Things that are old can be scary so saying that it is overgrown also creates drama. Whereas in chapter eight Dickens creates drama by describing a different setting. He describes a house of 'old brick...dismal' with 'a great many iron bars to it' this creates drama as it sounds almost like a prison. Then inside the house the 'passages were all dark' using the word passages instead of corridors, again this makes the house sound like a prison. He writes that the room was lit with 'candles' and that 'no glimpse of daylight' was to be seen this to creating drama, as it is unusual. I think it is described like a tomb as it talks of Miss Havisham as being surrounded by her valuable possessions, which is what they used to put in the tombs. It was also unusual that 'everything in the room had stopped' including the woman's life.
'Look closely at chapters one and eight from
'Great Expectations'. How does Dickens make
these interesting and dramatic for the reader?'
In chapters one and eight Charles Dickens creates interesting scenes for the reader by incorporating two very interesting characters, both of whom are older than Pip. Magwitch, who is a very scary convict, he has escaped from jail and so his clothes are tattered. Next is Mrs Havisham, who is an old lady. She was 'stood up' on her wedding day and so dresses in her wedding gown that has faded. Also Dickens' used two different settings one outside and one in doors. There is a similarity between them as they are both sombre places, one churchyard the other a dark dilapidated room. He uses interesting vocabulary, which creates character and atmosphere.
In both of the chapters the settings create intense drama as negative imagery is used. Chapter one is set on the marshes 'intersected with dykes and mounds'. In the churchyard which was 'overgrown with nettles' and with 'graves'. This creates drama because we associate churchyards with death. Things that are old can be scary so saying that it is overgrown also creates drama. Whereas in chapter eight Dickens creates drama by describing a different setting. He describes a house of 'old brick...dismal' with 'a great many iron bars to it' this creates drama as it sounds almost like a prison. Then inside the house the 'passages were all dark' using the word passages instead of corridors, again this makes the house sound like a prison. He writes that the room was lit with 'candles' and that 'no glimpse of daylight' was to be seen this to creating drama, as it is unusual. I think it is described like a tomb as it talks of Miss Havisham as being surrounded by her valuable possessions, which is what they used to put in the tombs. It was also unusual that 'everything in the room had stopped' including the woman's life.
