The shadowy darkness of the house is constantly felt by Pip; the vision of this becomes more recognizable when Miss Havisham tells Pip she has never seen daylight. Dickens seems to create an image of a funeral and death by relating it to Miss Havisham and Satis House. One example of this is when Miss Havisham is described as 'corpse' like. Pip sees Miss Havisham as 'the strangest lady he has ever seen' which adds to the mysterious and scary environment of the house.
Everything that is said by Miss Havisham and the presentation of herself and her house, adds to the effective description, which is related to death and darkness. When Pip describes her and says, 'Everything within my view which ought to be white, and had been white long ago, and now had lost its lustre and was faded and yellow' this brings out the dullness and darkness, and especially the old age of the character as well as surroundings. Dickens makes Miss Havisham seem dead, by relating his description of her to death, for example 'skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress that had been dug out of a vault under the church pavement'. Pip also compares Miss Havisham to the 'ghastly waxworks' which adds to her motionless and lifelessness.
To conclude this Dickens creates a sense of pain, death, decay and darkness through out the chapter. We presume that Miss Havisham experiences emotional pain and she is trying to relieve her old memories by wearing her wedding dress and stopping the clocks. Satis house adds to the pain, death, decay and darkness by talking about its peculiar and strange surroundings. Overall, a dark and dead atmosphere is created by the description of Satis House and Miss Havisham.
In chapter twenty, Pip's image of the perfect London is destroyed when he arrives in Little Britain. The first thing Pip sees after his arrival in London is the terrible gallows of Newgate prison, which gives Pip a sickening idea of London. His expectations were for it to be sophisticated and amazing, however he stated that he had, 'some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly'. Instead, his description of London is 'crooked, narrow, and dirty'. This was a big shock to Pip; it was the first time he had ever been exposed to such unhygienic conditions, because Mrs Joe was so clean.
Pip's move is a drastic shift of setting, away from the desolated marshes of Kent and into the teeming crowds of the city. Dickens with his great knowledge of the London era evokes the city masterfully, describing the stink, the run down buildings, and the low life's roaming the streets through Pip's stunned perceptions. Pip was surprised because none of it was what he expected, he describes Smithfield as a 'shameful place being smeared with filth, fat, and blood and foam' and the alliteration used adds to the disgust. The country boy is amazed and displeased by the stench and the thronging crowds in such an area as Smithfield.
The image conjured up in Pip's mind is 'dismal', as he used the word continuously throughout the beginning of the chapter. He describes London being the 'most dismal place' and he became 'fascinated by the dismal atmosphere'. In addition, the idea of a 'dismal atmosphere' is used during Pip's description of Satis house. This implies the misery and implications of depression that surround London like Satis house.
Furthermore, Dickens's used St Paul's Cathedral to emphasise the filth of London, because usually it is described as magnificent not a 'black dome bulging'. All these things add to the atmosphere of dirt and filth, and it shows that in Victorian times it was very sooty and grimy.
At the beginning of chapter twenty we experience Pip sensing fear as he describes 'the distorted adjoining houses looking as if they had twisted themselves to peep down' at him. Dickens's personifies the houses and it gives the reader a feeling as if everything is out to get Pip. However, it does make Pip seem pompous because once again everything is about him.
In this chapter, we meet Jaggers for the second time and much more can be told about his character and his way of life. Jagger is a hard, cold, and powerful but beneath the surface; he seems disgusted by his own work. In chapter twenty, he does not allow his clients to talk to him and he scrubs his hands ferociously at the end of each workday, symbolically attempting to remove the moral taint of his work. It is a psychological mechanism to keep the criminal taint from corrupting him and this is why he smells strongly of soap.
Mr Jagger’s character is highlighted by the description of his room. Jaggers had made his office unwelcoming because he wants to make feel on edge, and he cannot be nice because it will affect his reputation. Even socially, Jaggers acts as if he is at work. Pip has even experienced this whilst he was in Kent one evening in the pub, when Jaggers had a dispute with Wopsle.
Jagger in a way is God like, because he has the ability to control the lives of all his clients and opponents. Whatever side he is fighting for, he will always win and is the best Lawyer in London. All the criminals respect him and none of them would even think of stealing or cheating Jaggers. When he wins a case, he will hold this against them and black mail them, even when the case is over, because of this, they bribe Jaggers by providing him with good quality products or service once they have regained there lives.
Whilst Pip waits for Mr Jaggers, he notices an 'old rusty pistol', 'a sword in a scabbard' and 'two dreadful casts' which all provoke the image of murder. 'Mr Jagger’s room was lighted by a skylight only' which tells us there was only one source of light. Once again, it holds similar properties to Satis House. Pip thought the skylight was like a 'broken head', this personification of the sky light creates a powerful evocation of a violent death and so many other things in Jaggers room can be related to death as well.
Images of death are portrayed when Pip describes the chair, saying it was made from 'deadly black horse hair' and was coffin like because of the 'rows of brass nails round it'. We also get a feeling that Jaggers intimidates his clients, because Pip notices that the clients 'seemed to have a habit of backing up against the wall' and' the wall, especially opposite to Mr Jaggers' chair being greasy with shoulder'. This again portrays the filth and low life's who go to Mr Jaggers. Jagger in addition, treats his clients like dirt and is always asking for money. It shows how heartless he is because his priority is money, even if the client is not guilty, it all depends whether they have money or not.
A further thing that disturbs Pip is how Mr Jaggers can stare at the cast on his shelf everyday. After being there for a few minutes, Pip has to leave the room, because the surroundings are to daunting for him. This tells us that Jaggers has no remorse for those that have died and once again is heartless, but also brave for being able to live in such peculiar and unnatural atmospheres.
To conclude everything, Dickens creates a sense of dirt and filth through out London; He does this by describing the surroundings in immense detail using effective language. However, the main reason why the image is portrayed very effectively is the change of setting, from the quiet countryside to the busy city streets. A lot is emphasised on the relationship between character and setting, so it should be no surprise when Pip encounters objects of punishment and Justice everywhere he looks at Jaggers' work. Overall, the images of death are conjured up to indicate Mr Jaggers has power over life and death.
