to be as bad as Magwitch because since Pip has such a vivid imagination he imagines that the cows and animals are talking to him, "A boy with somebody else's pork pie! Stop him". This shows that Pip has a vivid imagination and is guilty of theft.
When Pip meets Magwitch Dickens creates sympathy towards Magwitch, … " the right hand man hugging him-self and limping". Magwitch seemed to be very weak and cold, … " drop down before my face and die of deadly cold. His eyes looked awfully hungry". The author creates this mood of empathy so that the audience begins to think that Magwitch can be weak and pathetic and therefore we are interested to see whether he will survive or not.
When Pip gave Magwitch the food, he saw Magwitch eat the food “ravenously” but there was a bit of a bond between Magwitch and Pip. This bond is that they are both lonely and scared. But all of a sudden Magwitch started to act nicely to Pip, "I am glad you enjoyed it' did you speak; I said did you enjoy it, thankee my boy. I do." The audience now think that Magwitch is not much of a villain. The other reason why Dickens did this was because he did not like the penal system in those days, he also wanted to show society that prisoner's were human too.
Near the end of the chapter we discover that Pip tells Magwitch about the other escaped convict, but when Magwitch hears this, he goes back into his normal form (mad). He grabs Pip from the neck and says to him, "not here? Exclaimed the man, striking his left cheek mysteriously". What he was trying to say to Pip was, is there another convict on the marshes who has a scar on his left cheek and Pip answered, "yes, there!" After Magwitch heard this he quickly grabbed the file and sawed the chains of his leg. This shows that Magwitch is scared of the other convict. But we learned in chapter one that Magwitch told Pip that there was another escaped convict on the loose, But he only did this to bribe Pip to come back to meet him. So this comes as a shock to both Magwitch and the reader.
Finally at the end of chapter 3 we discover that yet again Dickens leaves the chapter at a cliffhanger. He leaves it by saying, "the last I heard of him, I stopped in the mist to listen, and the file was still going". What this means is that Pip was just standing in front of Magwitch and watching him saw his chains off. The reason why Dickens has to leave every chapter at a cliffhanger is because it was serialised, therefore he had to encourage readers to buy the next instalment.
During chapter 5 we discover that the soldiers who are trying to capture Magwitch and the other convict portrayed. This explains that Dickens wanted the people at that time to think that the law and penal system was wrong and did this by writing bad things
about the penal system.
In the first paragraph of chapter 5 we set towards finding out about the soldiers in which are trying to find the two convicts. There was a knock on Mrs Joe Gargerys door that was the sergeant of the soldiers. When the sergeant walks in starts to talk in an officious way, "in the name of the king". Dickens includes this phrase to make the audience think that the sergeant is showing off. After this conversation the sergeant starts to talk in a flirtatious manner, " pleasure of the fine wives acquaintance". This phrase suggesting to the reader that the soldiers aren't very respectful. While the guards set out to find Magwitch and the other convict they decided to have a rest as there duties started at six in the morning, to pass time by they just had a party and drank alcohol, … "he was so free of the vine" … "enjoying themselves so much". Yet again Dickens has just described to us about the Disrespect is not
of the soldiers, which explains that Dickens found the penal system. Finally the soldiers captured Magwitch and the other convict fighting with each other. But when two of the soldiers are about to separate them and hand cuff them, Magwitch seemed to have meant to have got caught so that the other convict got caught as well, "I took him! I gave him to you". The reason Dickens might have wrote this is because that same person could have been the one who actually put or framed Magwitch into jail. So yet again Dickens has created this tension through the narrative twist. Magwitch also acts as if he has not done anything and is not a villain, he does this by saying, "he tried to murder me". The reason why Dickens does this is because he wants the audience to think that Magwitch is innocent and the penal system is wrong.
In the final paragraph of chapter 5 Magwitch was about to be sent into the prison ship (hulk) but before he did he said to the black smith, "I took some whittles" … "and the dram of liquor and a pie". The reason why Magwitch said this was to cover up for Pip. There was one thing in which the sergeant said aswell; "you can say what you like" … "standing coolly looking at him with his arms folded!" This explains that the author wanted to say that the soldiers were not treating the prisoners like people but like animals. When Magwitch got into the hulk he had to straight away row, "which was rowed by a crew of convicts like himself". This suggests that the convicts were used to do their dirty work and slavery. When the soldiers saw Magwitch they were not surprised to see him, "no-one seemed surprised to see him, or interested to see him, or glad to see him, or sorry to see him, or spoke a word, except that somebody in the boat growled as if to dogs".
There is an atmosphere also created, "by the light of the torches". This creates a mood of tension and darkness. After this Dickens is yet again offended by the penal system so he writes, "we saw the black hulk laying out a little way from the mud of the shore, like a Noah’s ark". What this quotation means is that "The black hulk" is a representation of evil, and it also means that the Noah's Ark contained animals in the biblical story - so here Dickens suggests the prisoners are animals. Here Dickens is trying to emphasise the fact that the soldiers are mis treating the convicts and they are treated like animals. At the close of the chapter Dickens writes, "Then the ends of the torches were flung hissing into the water, and went out, as if it was al over with him". The reason Dickens does this is because he wants to leave the chapter at a cliffhanger and leave the reader wondering is it really all over for Magwitch?
After Pips visit to Satis house he went to a pub called the ‘Jolly Bargmen’. At this pub he saw strange looking man, “he was a secret looking man whom I had never seen before”. This explains that this ‘secret-looking man’ might want something from Pip, but the audience already knows this.
When Pip looks at this man, the man nods at him and taps on the seat in which he wants him to sit on, but the stranger nods at him in a particular way (as if he knows him). The man was also staring at Pip as if he was pointing a gun at him …”One of his eyes was shut up, as if he was taking aim at something with an invisible gun”…”and looking hard at me all the time, nodded”. This reveals to the audience that he might know him or want to tell him something. After this event the strange looking man started to rub his leg, “and then rubbed his leg-in a very odd way, as it struck me. This signifies that to the audience that the stranger might also be an escaped convict, so Dickens is trying to create tension here. The man also has a handkerchief tied on his head so no one can see his hair (if any), … “and under it a handkerchief tied over his head in the manner of a cap: so that he showed no hair”. This explains to the reader that the man might be in disguise because he might not want anyone to recognize him in the sense of him been captured as an escaped convict like Magwitch.
As a audience
we think that Magwitch might be behind all this because the stranger does show a lot of interest in Pip and his background… “ ‘Son of yours?’ ‘Well said Joe Meditatively – not, of course, that it could be in any wise necessary to consider about it”… “Well no, no, he an’t”. This suggests to the audience that the stranger might have some significance to Magwitch.
It seems to me that the stranger is trying to give Pip hints and clues. The stranger had ordered drinks of Rum for everyone and when his came to him he something rather strange, instead of stirring his Rum with a spoon he stirred it with a file! “And he stirred and tasted it: not with a spoon that was bought to him, but with a FILE!” This explains to the audience that it might be a message of some sort sent by Magwitch. When the strange looking man was about to go he gave Pip one Shilling wrapped up in paper, but what the reader already knows is that it is really wrapped up in two one pound notes.
On their way home Pip felt stupefied because he thought that the stranger would have something to do with him. Pip also feels that he should never have Magwitch in the first place because he feels a sign of guilt… “My old misdeed and old acquaintance”. This shows that helping Magwitch was a mistake in which Pip made. Near the end of chapter 10 we discover that Pip was showing many other signs of guilt,” There they remained, a nightmare to many, many and me a night and day”. Charles Dickens ends the chapter at a cliffhanger,” without seeing who held it, and I screamed my self awake”. This is telling the audience that Pip has just waken up from a dream of a guilty conscious. It also suggests that we may not have seen the last of Magwitch!
In the ironic chapter 39 we discover that Magwitch and Pip are reunited. In the first paragraph of chapter 39 there is a build up of tension and atmosphere, “It was wretched weather stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the words”. This explains that Dickens is setting the scene for Magwitch’s reappearance. To explain this further there was also a ghostly atmosphere created. Outside Pip’s house the lamps had gone off by the howling wind; which suggests that Magwitch’s
Arrival is close. All of a sudden Pip hears footsteps coming up leading to his room and he thinks that it is his dead sister coming to haunt him but in actual fact it is Magwitch, which intrigues the audience to think whether it is either Magwitch or the ghost of Pip’s dead sister. Pip was petrified so decided to take his reading lamp and check whom was outside, and when he shouted out if anyone was there. A man shouted, “yes”!
Pip replied, “What floor do you want”! The man shouted back, “The top Mr. Pip. The man then entered the room and was wearing sailor type of clothing, which suggests to the audience that the man had come from a ship or boat. Suddenly the man held out his arms to Pip but Pip did not recognize the strange man who was Magwitch so he rejected him and said, “Pray what is your business?” At this time Magwitch felt rejected which made he audience feel empathy towards him. Later on in this scene Magwitch reveals something very important to Pip, which leaves him feeling shattered. After Pip had found out that the strange man was in fact Magwitch, Pip felt and treated him in a bad and rude maner. Which reveals that Pip is now the distorted and disrespectful man because he is trying to act like a gentleman. We also learn that Magwitch talks and treats Pip as if he was his own son and calls Pip “Master”. There is also irony created, which is that Pip thinks that Miss Havisham is his benefactor of his wealth but in fact we learn that it is Magwitch. When Pip is confronted with the truth about Magwitch as the benefactor, he is so shocked that he is speechless. He says, “All the truth of my position came flashing on me, and its disappointments, dangers, disgracement, consciousness’ of all kinds, rushed in such a multitude that I was borne down by them and had to struggle for early breathe I drew”. These couple of lines basically sum up Pip’s ‘Great Expectations’, which are now ruined by the thought of dirty Magwitch’s money and the dangers of been caught with a convict, which meant that all his reputation as a gentlemen would have been shattered! At the end of chapter 39, the last paragraph we discover that Dickens has yet again left the chapter at a cliffhanger, “and the wind and rain intensified the thick black darkness”.
At the beginning of the first paragraph of chapter 56, it is written on the first line, “He lay in prison very ill”, which means that Magwitch is in prison and extremely ill. This chapter mainly concentrates on the penal system and the destiny of Magwitch. It is written in the second sentence, “He had broken two ribs, they had wounded one of is lungs, and he breathed in great pain and difficulty, which increased daily. It was consequence of his hurt that he spoke so low as to be searcely audible,” here we learn that Magwitch’s condition attracts empathy towards him from the audience.
We also learn that there is a great change in Pip towards Magwitch. When Magwitch was compared to Pip in chapter 39, Pip spoke and acted in a bad and disrespectful maner, but now in chapter56 Magwitch and Pip are inseparable, “But he was even ready to listen to me and it became my duty of my life to say to him, and read to him, what I knew he ought to here”. The reason for this is that Pip wants to repay Magwitch for all the wealth in which he had provided and also we discovered that Magwitch was Estella’s father. Dickens tries to create sympathy and empathy towards Magwitch because he disagrees with the penal system in the 19th Century’ he does this by portraying the justice system as barbaric. Here is an example, “wretched creatures”. He creates empathy in such an
Effective way. He writes, “And but for his illness he would have been put in irons, for he was regarded as a determined prison breaker, and I know not else”. This shows us that the prison is killing him. There is also a metaphor explaining that Magwitch’s life is closing to a halt, “when the prison door closed upon him”. This metaphor also suggests that he is getting weaker and weaker day by day. We learn that Magwitch is a honest, loyal and determined man as we previously read throughout the chapters, Magwitch also shows this in a simple but Effective way, the guards at the prison are talking about his false reputation, but in return he just smiles back at the guards and looked at Pip, “A smile crossed his face”…
When Magwitch’s court trial started, Dickens’ descriptions are very vivid and realistic. “No objection was made to my getting close to the dock”. This explains that the law of the 19th Century thought that the convicts (whether guilty or not guilty) were inhumane and unequal, which creates empathy towards Magwitch because he is dying and the court do not care or want to care about his disabilities. Ultimately there are no objections to he juries decisions, “it was impossible to try him for that, and do otherwise than find him guilty”. This explains that the jury and law do not listen or treat prisoners as human beings but as barbaric animals, which means that the audience might have their own opinions, towards the penal system, which is what Dickens wants.
In chapter 56 when Magwitch was on his court trial with all the other convicts next to him, but Magwitch despite his disabilities, he had to sit in the front, which signifies to the audience that he is definitely going to face a death sentence. When Dickens is writing this chapter in particular he writes it with some experience because he used to be a court reporter, so he put his knowledge and experience in action, also he had to create the right atmosphere. There is also an ironic twist, when Magwitch has to sit in the front of the court hall. When the jury had found Magwitch guilty, instead of over-reacting he just said, “To the greater Judgment that knoweth all things and can-not err.” What Magwitch is trying to get in to the audiences mind is a visual image of Judgment day and that every one is equal, he is also trying to say that only God Knows the truth and you shall find out on Judgment day.
Near the end of the chapter we discover that Magwitch is on his deathbed dying in front of Pip. This creates a scene and atmosphere of emotion and empathy towards Magwitch, “His head dropped quietly on his breast”. The last couple of words, which is recited by Pip, is, “O Lord be merciful to him a sinner!” As modern readers we do not think that Magwitch is actually a sinner because we know the whole story, Magwitch died an honest, determined and loyal Man.