We see the advancement of Pip’s life when he meets with an escaped convict, who escaped from hulks (prison ships that transport criminals to Australia), who is later to be revealed as Abel Magwitch. Pip seems to treat the runaway convict with kindness through fear of the convict. ‘After each question he tilted me over a little more, so as to give me a greater sense of helplessness and danger.’ This quote of Pip’s narration, made me feel sorry for him because he is being threatened through fear and you cannot help but feel as if Pip is in grave danger now that he has associated with such a threatening convict. ‘I was dreadfully frightened, and so giddy that I clung to him with both hands.’ Pip is being bullied by Abel Magwitch, it makes us feel compassion for Pip, it also makes us think Pip is so helpless.
His violent sister, who always reminds him how grateful he should be for her bringing him up, and her husband, the ever so friendly blacksmith Joe, who is like a brother to Pip, both look after Pip. “…I supposed that both Joe Gargery and I were brought up by hand.” this quote means both Pip and Joe were beaten by Pip’s sister. Dickens makes us feel sorry for Pip in this quote due to Pip’s treatment from his sister’s fierce temperament as no one would like to be beaten. Irony is used when the stick used to beat Pip is referred to as the ‘Tickler’. Tickler is the cane with which Mrs. Gargery hits Pip. The mannerism in which Mrs. Gargery butters the bread for Pip and Joe is ‘…trenchant…’, she has a forceful and vigorous way of buttering. Her apron is coarse, full of needles and is tough. She wears this apron as a reminder to Joe and Pip meaning that she is looking after them. ‘“I tell you what, young fellow,” said she, “I didn’t bring you up by hand to badger people’s lives out. It would be blame to me, and not praise, if I had. People are put in the Hulks because they murder, and because they rob, and forge, and do all sorts of bad; and they always begin by asking questions. Now you get along to bed!” ’ To keep Pip well behaved, silent and grateful, Mrs. Gargery threatens, punishes and accuses Pip of ingratitude. Pip himself feels an enormous amount of guilt for his innocent actions, like asking some questions, which have been unfairly warped to seem as if Pip was doing a bad thing. The guilt Pip feels is unprincipled. Although, Pip is not only treated this way by Mrs. Gargery, he is also treated unethically by Mr. Pumblechook, Mr. Wopsle and the Hubbles.
In chapter three, struggling with the guilt of stealing the food, drink, whittles and file, and the good for keeping his promise and caring for a suffering human being, Pip sets off to deliver these things to convict, Pip runs towards the marshes. ‘“A boy with Somebody-else's pork pie! Stop him!" The cattle came upon me with like suddenness, staring out of their eyes, and steaming out of their nostrils, "Holloa, young thief!" One black ox, with a white cravat on - who even had to my awakened conscience something of a clerical air - fixed me so obstinately with his eyes, and moved his blunt head round in such an accusatory manner as I moved round, that I blubbered out to him, "I couldn't help it, sir! It wasn't for myself I took it!"….’ Personification is used when Pip is passing the cattle. The cattle begin to speak to Pip calling him a ‘young thief’ for stealing ‘somebody-else’s pork pie’. ‘Imbruing his hands in me’ Pip is worried the ‘young man’ will stain his hands with Pip’s blood; Pip is obviously frightened at the thought of it. Sympathy is created here because he is very young and he is worrying so much. The serialised format allows for more tension, suspense and drama, this quote makes us think that Pip may actually be in danger with the ‘young man’.
Later, Mr. Pumblechook, Mr. Wopsle, Mr. and Mrs. Hubble horribly terrorise Pip in perpetuity during the Christmas dinner. The anxiety grows within Pip in chapter five as he awaits Mrs. Joe’s discovery of the missing food. The fear Pip has is lifted by the conversation everyone is having about Pip being such a nuisance to raise and that people should feel sympathetic towards Mrs. Joe, which is something Dickens clearly does not want us to feel. ‘“They seemed to think the opportunity lost if they failed to point the conversation at me, every now and then, and stick the point into me. I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads.” ’ In this chapter, Mr. Pumblechook and Mr. Wopsle notice similarities between the pig on the table. They are trying to say that Pip should be grateful for what he has and who he is; otherwise, if he were a pig, then he would be served to an ungrateful person, such as himself. Mr. Pumblechook appears as a self centred fool, Dickens purposely chose a silly name for a silly person.
The sympathetic person here is Joe. Joe is too humble and shy to express his sympathy, so he gives Pip extra gravy as encouragement. Dickens has made it clear that Joe is more graceful and charitable than the wealthy Mr. Wopsle and Mr. Pumblechook who claim they themselves are charitable and graceful, while in actuality they hardly are. These moments in Pip’s childhood seem to be fresh in his memory, pointing out that he is distressed from the guilt he had enforced by Mrs. Joe, Mr. Pumblechook and Mr. Wopsle. Dickens has made us feel sympathetic towards Pip because Pip is very young and at that age he is too innocent to realise that he should not feel guilty and that his accusers should really be feeling guilty. Pip thinks he deserves to be treated in such a manner by his sister, Mr. Wopsle and Mr. Pumblechook, although Pip knows as an adult that he is treated dreadfully by them, he accepts it because of his guilt. Toward the end of chapter four, Mr. Pumblechook has a bit of the brandy Pip has stolen and filled the remainder of the bottle with tar water. Mr. Pumblechook starts to cough and Pip is frightened since he is sure that Mr. Pumblechook will notice. The pork pie that Pip had also stolen was on the menu for dessert, a symbol representing Pip’s guilt, shame and also misery. Having such a splendid meal is no comfort for having such a miserable day, especially Christmas day.
Since the beginning of the novel, Pip also feels a different kind of guilt, a criminal guilt. The first type of guilt is the guilt that Mrs. Joe and others make him feel while this guilt is more pardonable because Pip knows that he should not be doing these things. Pip is constantly bound to being connected with criminals. We do not reprehend Pip because his conscience makes him pay for his crime as he constantly is in guilt throughout the novel. Through Pip’s agony and guilt, Charles Dickens indicates that Pip is the object of sympathy in the novel. The reader also feels sorry for him because of Pip’s anguish. The suffering Pip feels is mainly caused by the guilt he feels. He feels guilt from associating with criminals and even by thinking that he was a burden for his sister. He is continuously tormented by Mrs. Joe when he is young. Her views have inclined Pip’s self imagery, which has caused him to assume that his life causes nothing but despair and disturbance to those around him.
Humour and irony are powerful devices in these chapters as most of the narrative is driven by guilt. The guilt has a depressing tone, so to lighten things up a bit of irony and humour is added. An example of humour is in the first chapter, where Pip calls his deceased parents by the only names he knows them as: ‘Phillip Pirrip, late of this parish’ and ‘also Georgiana, wife of the above.’ His deceased brothers are described as ‘the five little stone lozenges’. Another example of humour is when Pip politely requests that he be held the right way up when he first meets Magwitch and also when Pip expresses his delight when Magwitch enjoys the stolen food. The innocent way pip describes his sister’s outbursts that are targeted towards either him or Mr. Joe are comical too.
Throughout the first five chapters of Great Expectations, Pip’s narration stresses his negative characters and attributes, namely his guilt and dishonesty. The fundamental meeting betwixt Magwitch, the runaway convict who made sure that the ‘young man’ was captured even for the price of his own freedom, and Pip, the young innocent boy who is guilt ridden by his very existence, will turn out to be an unlikely but major relationship in Great Expectations. The cardinal relationship that will be the rousing of Pip’s Great Expectations. We will also experience his ups and downs through is extraordinarily clear yet intimate narration.
