Show how Dickens has created atmosphere and tension through his descriptions of setting and characters in the extracts Chapter 1 " Great Expectations(TM) and Chapter 47 " Oliver Twist(TM)

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Show how Dickens has created atmosphere and tension through his descriptions of setting and characters in the extracts ‘Chapter 1 – Great Expectations’ and ‘Chapter 47 – Oliver Twist’

This essay will address how Charles Dickens builds up tension and atmosphere in the two extracts, from Great Expectations (Chapter 1 – Pip in the Churchyard) and Oliver Twist (Chapter 47 – Fatal Consequences), by analysing the main characters in each, the setting, language and dialogue and lastly the structures, and notify how Dickens keeps the reader engaged through the usage of these techniques.

         

         The extract being observed from Great Expectations is the opening chapter and set in a graveyard, immediately introducing the reader to a dismal and sinister atmosphere, which is contributed to by harsh vocabulary, such as ‘raw afternoon’ and ‘distant savage lair’. These phrases give the reader a sense of the scene Dickens is trying to create, by making it come across as brutal through the intense language. He is trying to make the setting appear overwhelming against someone small, and so he contrasts Pip, an innocent orphan boy, against such a bleak and unwelcoming environment, and by doing so adds to the simplicity of this character. This builds up tension, and portrays the conception that the setting and environment are being made to reflect the emotions of the character, in this case Pip. Additionally, the author is writing in the first-person, which can be seen where Pip refers to himself as ‘I’, and uses words like ‘my’ and ‘ours’, and so these emotions are able to be emphasized to the reader for they are able to empathise and put themselves in Pip’s position, and so comprehend with how he is feeling in this daunting setting. The depiction of the marshland, the third paragraph, is a very vivid description, with continuous usage of connectives and much repetition of the phrase ‘and that’, for example ‘…and that the dark flat wilderness’, ‘…and that the low leaden line’, ‘…and that the small bundle of shivers.’ This repetition and usage of connectives lengthens the sentence, and a sense of rhythm is created with each repetition of the above phrase. This creates a build up of tension as the sentence proceeds, as if prolonging the delay, leading up to the climax of the sentence where Pip is formally introduced to the scene.

         

         Dickens then introduces Magwitch to the scene, and his noticeable abruptness startles the reader for it is the first direct speech of the chapter, and before the character is even formally introduced he opens with the words ‘Hold your noise!’, and then goes on to say ‘Keep still… or I’ll cut your throat!’, confirming to the reader that he is dangerous. This contrast in characters makes the reader, who is already sympathising with Pip, fear for his safety, and in doing so begin a build-up of tension in wanting to know what will happen to him. Dickens then gives a description of Magwitch, in which he repeats the word ‘man’ each time a new sentence is started, for example, ‘A fearful man’, ‘…a man with no hat’, ‘…a man who had been soaked in water.’ It is as if with each repetition of the word, Pip is assuring himself, and the reader, that the person he is describing and in company with outsizes him greatly, and that in comparison to him, Pip is himself a mere boy of great vulnerability.

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         However, there is a similarity between the two characters, for even though Pip’s fear is made much more obvious than that of Magwitch, he too is in a vulnerable position for his life is dependant on Pip and his decision on whether to provide him with a file to remove the iron on his leg, or condemn him to prison. This sense of anxiety is portrayed through the language used towards the end of the chapter, where we are told that as Pip watched him retreat ‘he looked… as if he were eluding the hands ...

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