Dickens uses secrets as a way of heightening suspense throughout the novel. Someone is always hiding something from someone else. Sometimes these secrets are clear to the reader and make the reader a partner in crime with the characters, as we are with Pip last as he sneaks around his house, terrified of being caught, stealing food. Other times the reader is left out of the secret but we are given the impression that it is an important thing that we need to find out, as in the case of the two convicts. We know that there is some connection between the two that is important to the story but we are given very few clues to help us.
Also in chapter seven Dickens presents a relationship between Joe and Pip, which is growing in love and respect. Joe is at the bottom of the social hierarchy and particularly, at the bottom of his household’s hierarchy but Pip finds new respect for his position. “I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart.” The image is almost ideal: the young Pip and Joe sitting next to the fire, Pip admiring him and teaching him the alphabet.
Many factors suggest that Charles Dickens is trying to bring emphasis to a different concept of what being a hero is.
Throughout Great Expectations Charles Dickens is able to inspire a strong feeling of empathy in his readers, towards Pip, demonstrates that Pip is a hero because of his ordinary character traits. The reader is able to relate to Pip’s mistreatment and innocence in the beginning,
Dickens contrasts this humble setting with the opportunity presented at the end of the chapter by the noisy entrance and rather insolent announcement by Mrs. Joe. She introduces the first of Pip's "great expectations" in the form of the job given to Pip "to play" for Miss Havisham: “...this boy's fortune may be made by his going to Miss Havisham's.”
Miss Havisham is a strange, wrinkled up woman who never sees the sunlight and never gets out of her bridal gown “I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress.” She is actually a very cold hearted, yet wealthy, woman who lives just outside the village in the Satis House.
Dickens uses strong imagery to describe Miss Havisham's house ("The Manor House" or the "Satis House") as barren of feelings or even life, even before we meet the bitter Miss Havisham and the rude Estella: "The cold wind seemed to blow colder there, than outside the gate..." Again, we have a strange mystery: Why is this woman always in the dark, and dressed in a wedding gown? Who are the young and pretty Estella and what is she doing in such a morbid place?
Miss Havisham was jilted by her fiancé, at twenty minutes to nine many years before. Although Miss Havisham was mad but she also seemed to be tricky and wise, she wanted Pip to reveal himself to her by repeating the same question repeatedly “anything else?” she was referring to Estella and Pip’s opinion of her.
Miss Havisham used Estella (her adopted daughter) as a tool to get revenge for her self. Estella is as beautiful and cultured as she is cold and very proud, and Pip immediately falls in love with her. She was taken in by Miss Havisham since she was a child and taught to hate men of all kinds, Pip among them. This show how cruel and moody is Miss Havisham breaking young boy’s heart and teaching Estella to all men.
Dickens presents Pip's first taste of "higher society" is a bitter one, and it leaves him ashamed and embarrassed rather than justifiably angry. Pip is, in fact, just a toy for both Miss Havisham, who wants him to "play," and Estella, who treats him roughly while at the same time flirts.
Abel Magwitch is the convict that Pip helps at the beginning of the novel. The narrator Pip presents an interesting character (Magwitch) “A fearful man…” and “A man who had been soaked in water….” Here we are thrown into the point of view of a terrified young child being mauled by an escaped convict. Dickens shows the readers that Magwitch is not a nice man, which is because of his appearance and the way he speaks to Pip and his treatment to the young boy. Also in chapter one, Dickens describes the relationship between Pip and the convict, “the man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets.” This appears to be based on fear and power. The man yells at the boy only to get what he wants, a file and some food, and the boy only responds for fear of his life. Yet, after they part, the young Pip keeps looking back at the man as he walks alone into the marshes. The image of the man holding his arms around him, alone on the horizon save a pole associated with the death of criminals, is strikingly familiar to the initial image of young Pip, holding himself in the cold, alone in the churchyard with the stones of his dead parents. For a moment, then, the relationship seems to warm. They share a common loneliness and a common marginalization from society, the orphan and the escaped convict. Even while he is afraid, Pip instinctively displays a sympathetic reaction.
This is another character who I am exploring Mrs. Joe a bitter, angry woman who brings up Pip “by hand” that is, she whips him whenever she can and complains about what a burden he is while she does it. Pip described her as a horrible ugly woman “she was not good-looking,” she has made a general impression to marry Joe Gargrey “by hand”, who was the complete opposite of her. Mr. Joe was a kind; if browbeaten, blacksmith. However, he is theoretically Pip’s adoptive father. “He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy going….” Pip sees him as an equal and a friend. Joe is uneducated and perhaps a little slow but he understands the important things in life.
The reader's sympathy once again is directed at Pip who not only lost his parents but also is being raised by a raging, bitter woman. A common criticism inherent in many of Dicken’s novels is the abuse of children in society. Although he paints Mrs. Joe in a rather humorous light at times, the reader is still keenly aware of the fear in which this poor child grew up.
CONCLUSION:
The novel ‘Great Expectations’ is one of Charles Dickens warmest novels. The novel is highly descriptive and it could be for several reasons. Dickens is great at describing settings and characters, so as some might see that as boring, I see that he was giving more depth to the novel and the characters. I believe that he makes it seem that the reader is actually in the 19th century in London and meeting those interesting characters in the novel.
I think that Dickens describes the characters a lot to show the readers their real personality and their characteristics, for example Pip is passionate and romantic and that what make the novel interesting. Also maybe because many people were illiterate and had the vivid novels read to them. There was no T.V and very few sources of entertainment, this might had an impact on his characterization.
From page one, Dickens allows the characters and their inner working and feelings to present historical views and classic affecting story and that what makes Dickens very successful in describing the characters and creating a memorable and striking characters in Great Expectations.
