Charles Dickens chose the names of each character every carefully. Estella means star, this gives a clear impression of what Estella is really like. Stars can be considered cold but beautiful to see. The same happens with Estella as she has a cold personality but is very pretty. She was also given to Miss Havisham at night which is when stars appear. Stella without the first ‘e’ is the name of Sydney’s beloved. He gave this name because she was married in the real life and so, he could not reach her. Stars are far and they cannot be reached by us. In Great Expectations Estella is presented as an impossible dream for Pip.
Miss Havisham is Estella’s mother and has taught her to hate men and to hurt them as she once hurt once herself. When describing what Miss Havisham looks like from Pip’s view he uses items to be evidence of Pip’s point of view. Pip is halted by the appearance of “the strangest lady ever seen or shall ever see.” He notices that “everything within view which ought to be white had lost its luster and was faded and yellow.” And as, he looks around him, pip notices that Miss Havisham’s watch has stopped at twenty minutes to nine; in fact a clock in the room was also stopped at the same time. It is then that pip comprehends that everything has stopped at this time. Miss Havisham has one shoe off and there is a jewel resting upon her dressing-table. She still remains in a wedding dress that has yellowed now. This tells us that it is an arrest of time that causes pip to conclude that Miss Havisham appears dead and the room seems lifeless. He sees Miss Havisham as she sits “corpse-like” and like “earthy paper”, this gives us the impression that Satis house and Miss Havisham gives the setting a melancholy setting. We also can tell that Miss Havisham has stopped time at the point at which her heart has been broken, the point at which she stopped living as a passionate, alive young woman.
When using speech Charles Dickens uses lot of imperatives for Miss Havisham as she says “come nearer; let me look at you, come close.” As she is a higher class than most people she relates with, she uses imperatives to make them do what she wants them to do for her. Miss Havisham talks polite but with a posh accent we can view this when she says “so new to him” she muttered “so old to me, so strange to him, so familiar to me; so melancholy to both of us! Call Estella!” Charles dickens repeated the word “so” to create more emphasis to the words following the “so”. Dickens conveys the way Miss Havisham talks by using posh language and by having a backbone to tell the truth. In chapter 8 Charles dickens introduces Miss Havisham. She is a polite old woman who is lonely and has become heartbroken. The tone of voice used and the accent of the voice gave us the impression she has alot of money and is another social class than Pip. Miss Havisham comes across as bossy character as she uses many imperatives towards Pip and Estella.
Charles Dickens again uses a strange name for Miss Havisham as it has a both “Miss” and “Havisham” have different meanings. There is always a focus on the “Miss”, this tells us she is old and never married after again as her heart was broken and probably could not handle another relationship again. If you say Havisham like this Have-a-sham and keep focus on the word “sham” it tells us something is false or empty that is made to look genuine or fake. Also everything she says to pip and everything she teaches Estella is also a sham as she teaches them wrong things such as teaching Estella to hurt and break men’s hearts.
Charles Dickens introduces Magwitch to us when pip is grieving for his Parents and siblings in the graveyard, which was chapter one. When Magwitch speaks to anyone he uses a lot exclamations as he says “tell us your name!” and “give it mouth.” Towards Pip this could seem frightening and uses alot of expression to get things out of people. Magwitch use a quite threatening but also slightly amusing as he says, “You bring em both to me” he tilted his head again “or I’ll have your heart and liver out.” He tilted me again. The use of using amusement and a threatening tone makes us feel a little bit sorry for Pip when he says this. Dickens conveys the way Magwitch talks by using colloquial language and also for this character in particular leaving letters off between and at the end of words. For example he says “Who d’ye live with-supposin’ you’re kindly let to live, which I han’t made up my mind about?” This gives us the impression Magwitch is from a low social class. In chapter 1 the reader is given the impression the Magwitch is quite a quirky character. He is frightening because we see him through Pip’s eyes that at the time is only seven and is very scared of this convict in a graveyard. However Dickens cleverly uses language and sentence structure to show us that Magwitch does not mean to frighten Pip, he is just desperate and poor and that, in fact he is quiet funny. Social class can also be seen in this colloquial language.
The setting of Chapter one is in a graveyard so it is creepy and as Magwitch frightens Pip this gives us the feeling that Magwitch is a horrible convict that will do anything to stay out of prison. Although Magwitch is a convict and a fearful man, he is decent enough to take the blame for Pip’s theft which in those days was a hanging offence. This reflects the novel’s theme that a real gentleman is not someone who has money and manners, but someone who does good deeds. In the churchyard where Pip begins his memories, Magwitch is first made aware of himself when stealing food. It is suggested to us that his poor start in life has made him to have a life as a criminal.
Charles Dickens might have chosen Magwitch’s name because ‘Mag’ is a slang name for magpie which is a bird associated with theft. Also the idea of ‘Magic’ in both ‘Mag’ and ‘witch’ perhaps hints at amazing powers to escape out of prison to make money, however the idea of a ‘witch’ suggest a person unfairly condemned by society and the laws. Also Magwitch’s first name is Abel. In the Holy Bible, Able is a sheep breeder. Magwitch makes all his money in Australia as a sheep-breeder.
Overall I think that Dickens created characters by choosing the name carefully. Also to keep them memorable he showed how they act towards different people and how social class can be seen by the way people act, dress or by the way they speak.
