The second character I am going to write about is “Miss. Havisham” from Great Expectations. She is first introduced when Pip is invited to go round her house to play with her daughter, Estella. She is an old women, half dressed in a very old wedding dress that had looked as if it had worn away on her very shoulders, it says: “I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress……I saw that the dress had been put open the rounded figure of a young women, and the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone”. It also describes how the dress had grown old too: “But, I saw everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow”. This might mean that she has not taken the dress off since she had put it on years ago for her wedding. It may be she had a disappointing marriage as she does say how her heart is broken: “‘What do I touch?’ ‘Your heart.’ ‘Broken!’”. It may also be that she finds it hard letting go. One point that suggests this is that the time on her watch and clock had stopped working long ago and had not been wound back up, it says: “her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine…..It was then I began to understand that everything in the room had stopped, like the watch and clock, a long ago. I noticed that Miss Havisham put down the jewel exactly on the spot from which she had taken it up” there it says that she had put the jewel in exactly the same spot from which she had picked it up, this proves it even further that she does not want to let go so keeps every little thing as it was long ago. To do all this she must be really depressed with what happened. Another thing she does in her depression is keeps herself in the darkness, with only the light from a few wax candles, it says: “I entered, therefore, and found myself in a pretty large room, well lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it”, she also admits that she had not seen the sun since Pip had been born: “Your not afraid of a women who has never seen the sun since you were born”. It goes on to says how she is so depressed that she could not even smile: “I should have felt almost sure that Miss Havisham’s face could not smile…..and it looked as if nothing could lift it up again”. And finally it explains how this has effected her to that present moment: “Her chest had dropped, so that she stooped; and her voice had dropped, so that she spoke low, and with a dead lull upon her; altogether, she had the appearance of having dropped, body and soul, within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow.” This shows how all the depression that she has suffered through has affected her life making her voice low and her appearance, soulless.
The last character I am going to write about is “Magwitch” also from Great Expectations although has no relation to Miss Havisham. This time around Pip has gone to the church to visit his Mom’s grave when he comes across Magwitch hiding behind a gravestone. It begins to describe what the man is wearing, it says that he is wearing grey clothes with iron around his leg, this is what convicts use to wear in the olden days with a Iron ball clamped to the ankle to prevent them escaping, it says: “A fearful man, all in a course grey, with a great iron on his leg” this suggests that he is an escaped convict. In addition he says that he does not want anyone knowing about his whereabouts, he says: “you dare to say or a word or dare to make a sign concerning you r having seen such a person as me, or any person sumever, and you shall be let to live”, this proves that he is on the run as he does not want anyone to find him again and put him in prison. To enforce this threat he describes what he will do to him in such circumstances, he says: “You fail, or you go from my words in any partickler, no matter how small it is, and you heart and liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate”. He also scares him into doing it by telling him that he will not be able to escape it: “A boy may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may tuck himself up, may draw the clothes over his head, may think himself comfortable and safe, but that young man will softly creep and creep his way to him and tear him open”. It also explains his condition describing how he is poor, hungry and has travelled quite a distance to escape. It says: “A man who has been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered”, this suggests he has struggled through some hard terrain to escape the law, possibly in a rush without being cautious. It also explains how he is poor and hungry as he steals food from Pip, it says: “The man after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets” after getting the bread it explains how he eats it: “I was seated on a high tombstone, trembling, whiles he ate the bread ravenously” this suggests that he was extremely hungry and had not eaten in days. Then he tells him to bring him more food and a file, obviously to cut himself free from the iron weight: “You bring to me, to-morrow morning early, that file and them wittles”, he knows he is capable of getting them because earlier on he explains that he lives with his mothers sister and a blacksmith.
This concludes my essay on three Charles Dickens characters and how they comply with the statement. In conclusion, I do agree with this statement as you can find out an outstanding amount of information concerning the characters past from simple things such as clothing, the way they talk and their actions. Although, this may not be the case with all characters as they may not have much of a past to talk about or they may be starting a fresh.