In the novel Charles Dickens describes the convict in great detail to try and convince us that he looks and sounds very menacing. I personally like the way Dickens describes Magwitch and what way each incident has happened to him. He says:
“A man who had been soaked in water,
and smothered in mud,
and lamed by stones,
and cut by flints,
and stung by nettles,
and torn by briars;
who limped and shivered and glared and growled;
and whose teeth chattered in his head...”
He asks Pip his name and then where he lives in both the film and the novel, grabs Pip by one foot and turns him upside down with remarkable strength. He shook him vigorously but all that fell out of Pip’s pockets was a small morsel of bread. Magwitch ate it ravenously. He then asks Pip were his mother is. Pip points by the grave and says, “Over there Sir, Also Georgiana. ”
When Pip says this the convict runs thinking Pip’s mother is really there, when she is really dead. There is a mistake here in the film because how could Magwitch really run with a ball and chain on his leg? Anyhow when he realises his mistake he comes back and says, “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
Pip tells him the story of his parents is and when the convict asks Pip who he lives with Pip says, “My sister, sir - Mrs Joe Gargery-wife of Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, sir.”
“Blacksmith eh?” said the convict. He asked Pip to bring some food or “wittles” as he said, and a file (to get the shackles off him). He was tilting Pip backwards over a gravestone in an effort to scare him into bringing what he wanted. He had his face right up against Pip’s shouting at him to bring them. I don't like the part where Pip says, “If you would kindly please to let me keep upright, sir, perhaps I shouldn’t be sick, and perhaps I could attend more. It sounds too high-class considering he is being threatened with death. Magwitch tells Pip to make sure he never tells anyone and that he will kill him and roast his heart and liver if he does or doesn’t bring the file and food. “You do it and you never dare to say a word or dare to make a sign concerning you have ever seen such a person as me, or any person sum-ever, and you shall be let to live.” He then goes onto talking about eating his heart and liver. “You fail, or you go from my words in any partickler, no matter how small it is, and your heart and liver shall be torn out, roasted and ate.”
To strike fear into Pip the convict also tells Pip that another man is hiding with him. He says, “There is a young man hid with me, in comparison with which young man I am an angel.” He doesn’t know this, but there really is another young man in the graveyard who in fact is after Magwitch. You see this man in the film. He has a huge scar down the side of his face. Magwitch goes on incessantly to Pip about how frightening this man is and what he is capable of. Don’t forget Pip is only a very young boy. Imagine how terrifying it would have been for him. “A boy may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may tuck himself up, may draw the clothes over his head, may think himself comfortable and safe, but that young man will softly creep and creep his way to him and tear him open.”
When it says, “I said I would get him the file and the broken bits of food...” It isn’t said in first person narrative like the rest because maybe Mr. Pirrip was too afraid or ashamed too say how scared he was, or maybe he could have simply forgotten.
When Pip says goodnight to the convict I think the convict tries to make Pip feel sorry for him by saying, “Much of that! I wish I was a frog. Or an eel!” (So he couldn’t feel cold). He wrapped himself in his own arms too keep himself warm. As he hobbled off Pip imagined him to be dodging the hands of zombies trying to pull him down to hell. “.... as if he was eluding the dead people, stretching up cautiously out of the graves, to get a twist upon his ankle and pull him in.” This is where I think Pip starts to feel empathy and puts himself in the convicts place. He sympathises with him and this is the point where I think Pip decides to help Magwitch. I think the threats also would have had something to do with Pip wanting to help him though, obviously.
The paragraph that starts from, “When he came to the low church wall...” to “... or the tide was in.” I think was all about creating sympathy for Magwitch. For instance, “... still hugging himself in both arms, and picking his way with his sore feet....” In the film you see him limping off into the distance, with his back hunched, dragging his feet.
The final paragraph in the chapter tells us about the marshes and the red and black sky. Once again adding to the atmosphere. In the novel it says, “... one of these was a beacon by which the sailors steered - like an unhooped cask upon a pole-an ugly thing when you were near it; the other a gibbet, with some chains hanging to it which once held a pirate.” Once again imagine the image that was being painted in Pip’s young mind. Then it says, “I looked around for the horrible young man, I could see no signs of him.” This proves that Pip was scared and to back it up it says, “But now I was frightened again, and ran home without stopping.”
So I think the film has a greater affect on the viewer than the novel because you can see the stormy weather and the expressions on the characters’ faces. It gives you a clearer image.
Although I think the film has a greater effect us than the novel not everyone would share my opinion. People may argue against this point by giving good points of the novel such as it goes into much more detail.
Another good thing about the novel is that you can paint your own image of the surroundings in your head.
