Charles Dickens also includes forms of social context in ‘Great Expectations’ as “five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long” indicates the high infant mortality of the time and the size of families. This additionally creates sympathy for Pip as he had lost five younger brothers even though he is still young himself. Dickens is trying to show the infant mortality that was going on at the time ‘Great Expectations’ was set in, the 18th century.
During Magwitch’s introduction, sympathy is constructed for Pip through dialogue. The first words that come out of Magwitch’s mouth are “keep still you little devil or ill cut your throat” showing anxiety for Pip because a character who is described as a “fearful man” has just threatened a young, lonely boy in a daunting way which must have frightened Pip as he “pleads in terror”. The descriptive terms of Magwitch illustrates sympathy for Pip, as Magwitch is described negatively at first as terrible and fearful. He is also portrayed from an evil view as “a man started up from among the graves” gives an intimidating impression of a scary object approaching rapidly from the graves. The plot was cleverly constructed in this manner because if Magwitch was not described as terrible and fearful whilst threatening a young boy first, the readers would have sympathised with Magwitch originally. As you read on, Magwitch’s character evokes just as much sympathy as Pip’s does.
The use of dialogue in ‘Great Expectations’ includes a vast amount of understanding and description of the characters. An example of this is at the point where Magwitch threatens Pip; Pip’s reply is “Oh! Don’t cut my throat, sir” as he pleaded in terror. This shows several points about the way Dickens has constructed Pip’s character, even though Pip is being threatened, he still shows the general respect for an elder as he has been brought up like this. This also shows social context for the time the novel was set (the 18th century) as most children were brought up to treat all elders with respect.
Dickens evokes sympathy for Magwitch after he confronts Pip. He tells the reader in long and descriptive sentences which was a unique feature in19th century writing, that the convict (Magwitch) is “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; that limped, and shivered, and glared and growled”. This description of Magwitch illustrates how much he has been through and that he is in pain by the nature of a habitat which causes the readers to sympathise. Also the repetition of the word ‘and’ makes the words described about Magwitch into a list of various objects, which gives the reader how much Magwitch has been through and the amount of times that things have been attacking him.
The way Magwitch speaks throughout the novel is phonetically spelt so that it is easy to tell that he is not very well educated as the way he talks is incorrect. “Partickler” and “pecoolier” are two words that Magwitch does not know how to speak correctly. Which could be due to the lack of education available in the 18th century and because he is a convict and not wealthy he would have had a lack of education as a child so he would have committed crimes just to survive. This would have created sympathy as Magwitch was uneducated for no particular reason and had to resort to criminal offences.
Dickens creates more sympathetic views for Magwitch as he constructs him to be as if he was not living in the correct habitat, which is true. “I wish I was a frog. Or a eel” implies that he is not made to live in the conditions he is living , it brings sympathy because a human has no choice but to live in wet , damp marshes and on top of that he is injured. In fact it is so hard for Magwitch to cope in the critical conditions that he wishes that he was a slimy animal that could actually cope with the hard conditions he is living in.
The names of the characters in ‘Great Expectations’ also create sympathy. The real definition of the word ‘Pip’ is that it is a small seed that blossoms and finally grows until it is self sufficient. This could relate to the character of Pip in the novel, as Pip starts off as lonely and small, until later on he develops and changes, growing like a plant from a seed . This shows that Pip as a young child in ‘Great Expectation’ has yet to grow and become self sufficient.
Moreover, sympathy is also felt for Miss Havisham as she is described as “the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall ever see”, by Pip. Which hints that even after Pip has grown up to that day he has never seen a lady more strange than Miss Havisham.
Sympathy is felt for Pip as imperative verbs are used to order him by Miss Havisham, who has a vain and pressurising personality, repeating “play, play, play!” Sympathy is felt for Pip as he is being treated like he is an animal of some kind .Pip is not being treated like a human due to the time of the novel being set (Victorian times), also he has no choice, but to play as this is hinted by the imperative verbs Miss Havisham has used. To add to this, before Pip leaves Miss Havisham’s house, she says to Estella “Let him have something to eat, and let him roam and look about whilst he eats. Go, Pip”. This brings sympathy to the reader upon Pip as he is being treated like an animal and not like a guest at Miss Havishams house as he is put into the text on how someone would speak towards an animal. This also takes effect on Pip as he thinks twice about himself by the comments Miss Havisham and Estella make on him.
Carrying on, adding more neglect and sympathy towards Pip he is forced to call Miss Havisham’s daughter Estella who is asked to play with Pip and responds “With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!” showing that this girl has been brought up to disrespect people who are not as good as her, and emphasises that Pip is a labouring-boy by the added exclamation mark. Estella further insults and humiliates Pip causing sympathy for him by telling Pip he has “Coarse hands” and “Thick boots”. This brings himself to question about “being ashamed of his hands”and to consider he has a “very indifferent pair”.
To conclude, Charles Dickens uses a variety of techniques to create sympathy for his characters in ‘Great Expectations’. The techniques he uses takes a great effect on the novel. The techniques Dickens uses to create sympathy range from descriptive text to repetition to imperative verbs.
