Setting in Great Expectations and how they relate to the characters.

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                                            25th November 2003

Setting in Great Expectations and how they relate to the characters

The settings of Great Expectations have an important bearing on the storyline; the settings also echo the characters in personality and circumstance. The theme of the book seems to run parallel with the settings in some respects, such as the plain but wholesome life-style of Rochester and the beckoning but ultimately shallow habitat of London. Throughout the book comparisons and relationships between story and setting are made, many subtle and not evident unless reflected upon.

The setting from the start of the book is very important, from the bleak and stereotypical graveyard that give the book a starting tense and exiting mood, and the humble blacksmiths that acts as a platform for Pip's expectations and the opposite setting to much of the grander scenery in London. The graveyard at the start of the book is typical example of how the setting contributes so well to the story and the atmosphere, this is just one of the more obvious examples. Starting the book in a graveyard quickly informs the reader of a lot of information about Pips history that under different circumstances would have taken a lot longer to explain; things like Pips parents and family were quickly and briefly explained to the readers via the gravestones and Magwitches asking "Where's your mother?" and Pip's response being "There sir" as he points to his Mother, Father and five sibling's gravestones.

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Throughout the book the settings reflect Pips moods and hopes; such places as the blacksmiths and Satis house affect Pip's state of thought profoundly. Pip's experiences of suffering and torture, both mental and physical, at the hands of his sister were reflective of the surroundings being both rough and uncultured were amplified by his later experiences at Satis house with Estella and his craving for knowledge that neither the blacksmiths nor his apprentership could for fill. Pip begins to realise that the dull Rochester is not able to accommodate his hunger for wisdom. At this point Pip sees that to ...

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