In this opening chapter Dickens describes the marshes as a ‘bleak place over grown with nettles’. This sets the tone of the novel and gives an idea of what the action to come will be like. Dickens also uses the device of Pathetic Fallacy to set the scene of the whole novel, giving the idea that Pip is in for a bleak hard time ahead. The marshes are set up to reflect the kind of people who live there. By describing them as ‘long’ and ‘black’ it gives the impression of dark dismal lives which are long and never ending. The feeling of never ending not only reflects the sheer amount of hard work associated with this class but also how the people cannot escape by moving into a higher society. The marshes are also described as a ‘savage lair’. This suggests the danger of living there which is proven in the first chapter when Pip is threatened by a criminal. The whole scene is set up to show the readers what a dangerous place the marshes are to live in and the hard bleak lives the people who live there lead.
In chapter 8 Pip goes to visit Miss Havisham’s home, Satis House. Satis literally means enough. This shows that Dickens was using it to symbolise the class of people who had every material possession but no happiness. Pip’s first impressions of Satis House are not good as we can see when he describes it; ‘We came to Miss Havisham’s house which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred.’ There is an oppressive, dark atmosphere surrounding the house which we get from the use of the word ‘dismal’. The note that the windows are ‘rustily barred’ tells us that the house has been neglected. The barred windows also suggest a prison like image. This is symbolic for the difficulty of lower class people hoping to move to the upper class and how Pip is ‘barred’ from upper class society. The cold atmosphere is continually noted when Pip thinks ‘The cold wind seemed to blow colder there, than outside the gate; and it made a shrill noise in howling in and out at the open sides of the brewery, like the noise of wind in the rigging of a ship at sea.’ Dickens uses pathetic fallacy to communicate this point. He uses personification when he says the wind is ‘howling’. The wind is brought to life which shows a contrast to the general dying decaying nature of Satis House. Pip says that ‘the first thing I noticed was that the passages were all dark, and that she had left a candle burning there.’ This indicates the ideas of darkness and gloom which are also present at the marshes. This suggests that darkness and difficulties follow Pip wherever he goes. Dickens uses the device of darkness to symbolise the struggle and uncertainty that makes up human existence. This is also a common feature of a traditional gothic horror setting. Pip also says about the house, ‘this standing still of all the pale decayed object…’, which gives a stagnant image. This mysterious standing still of time feels very surreal and it is hard to imagine there ever being a place like it. It transports Pip and the reader into a fairytale world as it does not seem real or possible. Describing the objects as ‘decayed’ emphasises the dying image of the house. It gives the feeling of rotting which leads you to believe that the objects which were once beautiful, have been left so long that they are now ‘pale’ and disgusting. Dickens is communicating the idea that belonging to a higher class does not mean you will have a happier life.
Pip’s first meeting with Miss Havisham is an important milestone in the novel. His description of her clothes is, ‘She was dressed in raw materials – satins, and lace, and silks – all of white.’ This description of her clothes shows that she was very expensively dressed as these kinds of fabrics would have to be imported from the British Empire and this would have been very expensive. However, there is something not quite right about Miss Havisham. She is expensively dressed but everything is old and decaying. She is also wearing a wedding dress which is not the kind of thing people wear everyday. Her dress is incongruous and coupled with the cobwebs and general state of her drawing room Dickens shows that there is something very wrong. Her dress symbolises her wealth and that she is part of the upper classes but the decaying state of it symbolises that there is something wrong with upper class life.
Pip in contrast comes across as an innocent and polite young boy who is desperate to please her. When she asks him to play and he cannot as he is so overwhelmed by the situation he says, ‘no ma’am, I’m very sorry for you and very sorry I can’t play just now. If you complain of me I shall get into trouble with my sister so I would do it if I could; but it’s so new here and so strange, and so fine – and melancholy…’ He is so naïve that he cannot hide his reaction to Miss Havisham and her surroundings and honestly tells her that he finds her house sad. The fact that he hesitates, which Dickens illustrates with a pause, shows that he is unsure whether it is polite to tell her that her house is ‘melancholy’. He displays a refreshing honesty which Miss Havisham is unused to. Even fear of his sister is not enough to stop Pip blurting out the truth as he sees it. He talks about everything being so ‘new’ when in reality everything is very old and as if time has stopped. His subsequent meeting with Estella is the first point in the novel where Pip’s expectations of himself start to change. He begins to be unhappy with the way he is and wants to be different, which initiates the change in Pip’s character. ‘I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before… Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.’ The fact that Pip had never thought of being ‘ashamed’ of his hands again shows the difference between classes. While people of a higher social standing may look down on people with ‘coarse’ hands, people of a lower social standing do not even think about coarse hands being a problem. By saying that her contempt was an ‘infection’, it gives the idea of disease. Just like a disease Estella’s words are infecting Pip’s mind, giving him new ideas about the way he should be. This is proven when he says, ‘I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, then I should have been so too.’ In chapter two Pip describes Joe as ‘a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow – a sort of Hercules in strength.’ This shows a startling contrast to how he regards him now and it is surprising how quickly Pips feelings of affection toward Joe turn to blame. This is a foreshadow of how easily and quickly Pip will forget his roots.
Later in the courtyard Pip goes on to say, ‘I took the opportunity of being alone in the courtyard, to look at my coarse hands and my common boots… they troubled me now as vulgar appendages.’ Pip is ‘alone’ which shows that he is isolated, like he is isolated from the upper class. Pip also becomes very self-critical, ‘my coarse hands and my common boots’, which tells us that he now sees what is wrong with himself, whereas he didn’t before and now he knows he wants to change them. When Pip says ‘they troubled me now’ it is putting stress on the fact that they did not bother him before. He is having new thoughts which show the real turning point for Pip. The adjective ‘vulgar’ not only describes himself but also where he lives, the marshes and his family. This point is reinforced when Pip goes on to say ‘I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night… I was in a low-lived bad way.’ Realising that he is ignorant, Pip is displaying his own personal enlightenment as he can now see clearly what he is and can set about changing it. He also says ‘was’ instead of ‘am’ signalling that he used to be like that and now he will be different.
Throughout this whole chapter Estella is rude and bullies Pip. When they first meet and are talking about Satis House she says, ‘One of its names, boy.’ It is short and blunt. The comma before the word 'boy' puts emphasis on it. It shows that Estella is showing him no respect as she does not even address him by his name. This is ironic as she is talking of names yet still not using Pip’s. ‘…she called me ‘boy’ so often, and with a carelessness that was far from complementary…’ Continually referring to Pip as ‘boy’, she is widening the gap between her class and his. She shows him how she feels that she is far more important than he is. When Miss Havisham asks Estella and Pip to play cards together, Estella is disgusted and says, ‘With this boy! Why he is a common labouring boy!’ The use of repeated exclamation marks exaggerates Estella’s disapproval and distaste for Pip. She feels that he is not good enough for her to play with. When Estella does play with Pip she makes fun of him, ‘He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!’ The different terms used again show the difference between the different classes. This is humiliating for Pip as Estella is openly mocking him. Despite Estella’s cruelty, Pip returns the Satis House again and again and, with Miss Havisham’s encouragement falls in love with Estella. Pip now feels ashamed and disgusted with who he is and where he comes from and desperately wants to become a gentleman so that he can be worthy of Estella.
In chapter 20 Pip receives some money from a secret benefactor and moves to London. At this time during the industrial revolution many thousands of people left rural areas to seek their fortunes in the great Victorian cities of London, Manchester and Liverpool. Like them, Pip sees this as his opportunity to finally become a gentleman and believes that Miss Havisham is the benefactor, her will being to make him worthy of marrying Estella. Pip prepares the reader for the grim experience that London will be when he says, ‘Otherwise, while I was scared by the immensity of London, I think that I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty.’ Pip’s first encounter with a Londoner is not what he expected as he describes him as some one, ‘who seemed to have as many capes to his greasy great-coat as he was years old…’ He is dressed unimpressively and Pip is shocked that he does not look how he expected. The carriage is described as, ‘how like a straw-yard it was, and yet how like a rag shop…’ It would be expected that as the carriage is coming from London it should be grand just like the idea Pip has of London. However, it is not at all grand but has fallen into a state of disrepair. This mirrors the image of Satis House, something you expect to be brilliant but that turns out to be nowhere near as good as you expected. The coachman is not the only person who surprises Pip with his manner. Whilst Pip is waiting for Jaggers he sees what little respect and few manners London people have for others. ‘The clerk shoved this gentleman out with as little ceremony as I ever saw used.’ This shows the brutal nature of London and its competitive, cut throat attitude. London itself is presented to us as a dismal, unhappy place. Pip says, ‘Mr Jagger’s room was lighted by a skylight only and was the most dismal place.’ Such was the over crowding that buildings were grouped closely together and natural light was scarce. Pip, like many people in Victorian England, believes the unrealistic myth that the streets of London are ‘paved with gold’. This only sets him up for bigger disappointment when he finds out how oppressive London is. ‘Of course I had no experience of a London summer day, and my spirits may have been oppressed by the hot exhausted air, and by the dust and grit that lay thick on everything.’ The industrial revolution brought a great deal of pollution to London and it became known for its terrible smogs known as ‘pea soupers’. London appears to have no redeeming features unlike the marshes and Satis House, which despite their faults still have an air of mystery. This is proven when Pip says, ‘This was horrible, and gave me a sickening idea of London.’ When Pip goes for a walk in Smithfield meat market he realises how bad London is. ‘The shameful place, being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam seemed to stick to me.’ Dickens uses violent imagery to show us the reality of London. It is also symbolic of all the crime, corruption and violence which took place in London at that time. Pip then goes on to see the drunk Minister of Justice and says, ‘the Lord Chief Justice’s proprietor wore mildewed clothes… which he had bought cheap of the executioner.’ The fact that the Minister of Justice is drunk symbolises the unfair nature of the criminal justice system. One would have to question the justice one would receive from a drunk, Minister of Justice. Also he seems to have few scruples as he is willing to buy dead peoples clothes from the executioner. Jaggers is another representative of the justice system who is clearly corrupt. He says, ‘once more and for the last time, what the man you have brought here is prepared to swear.’ Not only is he willing to pervert the cause of justice he is also suggesting and encouraging it. Jaggers also comes across as a powerful yet brutish man, ‘Now, I have nothing to say to you… I want to know no more than I know.’ He is rude and cruel to his clients, treating them with little respect.
Chapter 21 is when Dickens presents Pip’s first residence in London, Barnard’s Inn. It is a miserable, makeshift abode. ‘In every stage of dilapidated blind and curtain, crippled flower-pot, cracked glass, dusty decay and miserable makeshift.’ As a place to stay it is extremely disappointing and has no redeeming features. It is run-down and smells of decay, rot and rats. Pip then goes on to describe, ‘A frouzy mourning of soot and smoke attired this forlorn creation of Barnard.’ It has been completely neglected and is not a very inviting place to stay. It is riddled with, ‘dry rot and wet rot and all the silent rots that rot in the neglected roof and cellar.’ This symbolises all that’s wrong with London. Repeatedly using the word ‘rot’ Pip emphasises just how disappointed he is and ‘so imperfect was this realisation of the first of my great expectations that I looked in dismay at Mr Wemmick.’ This is not how he expects to live in London and he cannot believe how wrong his expectations were. Mr Wemmick is the first person to warn Pip about the dangers of London, ‘you may get cheated, robbed, and murdered in London.’ He warns Pip that London is a dangerous place where people will attack for money. Pip comes to the conclusion that London is very overrated, ‘I was content to take a foggy view of the Inn through the window’s incrusting dirt, and to stand dolefully looking out, saying to myself that London was decidedly overrated.’ Pip has idealised the thought of a good life in London and is shocked and disappointed to find how far from reality his expectations were.
After living in London for a while Pip receives a letter from Estella telling him that she is coming to London. He is very excited and cannot eat or sleep. On the day of her arrival he meets Wemmick who invites him to visit Newgate Prison. He goes and spends several hours in the forbidding and depressing place. The visit and being surrounded by crime reminds him of the first time he met a criminal, on the marshes in Kent. ‘While my mind was thus engaged I thought of the beautiful young Estella, proud and refined, coming toward me and I thought with absolute abhorrence of the contrast between the jail and her.’ For Pip Estella symbolises a purity which contrasts with the corruption of the prison. Dickens very cleverly has Pip describe Estella and the prison in the same sentence. It is ironic that Pip thinks so highly of her when her father is the criminal who he met on the marshes. Dickens is showing us that things are never what they seem.
Life at this time was very precarious for a number of reasons. The criminal justice system was corrupt and people could find themselves accused of crimes they had not committed. The law was harsh and punishment severe with prisons being cruel and overcrowded. When Pip walks past Newgate Prison he meets the Minister of Justice who takes him into the yard where the gallows are kept and where people are publicly whipped. Pip says, ‘this was horrible and gave me a sickening idea of London.’ Also, the class system was very rigid and working class people lived in terrible, unsanitary conditions, especially in large cities such as London. Violent crime was common and the streets were dangerous places to be. The industrial revolution brought with it lots of pollution and the cities were blanketed with smog, which caused respiratory difficulties. The unsanitary drainage, rats and overcrowding also led to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
The overall effect of the novel is a comment on the human condition. Life brings its problems and trials no matter how much money or what social class you belong to. This is as true today as it was in Dickens’ time. Each level of society has its own problems in the novel. Life on the marshes is dirty, hard and cold but the characters of Joe Gargery and Biddy are basically content with their lives. Miss Havisham as a symbol of the upper classes is a victim of her class and time as women are not valued unless they marred well. They are expected to conform to being nothing more than possessions of their husbands. Society is not fair and people are trapped in the social class they are born into. Dickens holds a mirror up to the society of his time and depicts all the problems inherent in a rigid class system the time of the industrial revolution. Cities were overcrowded, dirty and disease ridden. Dickens uses the story very effectively to show people how the problems in society impacted on his characters. By establishing a connection between the reader and the character he’s able to show the true awfulness of their lives and how they are powerless to change them.
