Who do you think is the most important character in Dickens 'Great Expectations': Miss Havisham or Magwitch?

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Who do you think is the most important character in Dickens ‘Great Expectations’: Miss Havisham or Magwitch?

Great Expectations was written through 1860-1861 by Charles Dickens. It was originally published in monthly instalments in ‘Household Words’, a popular magazine at the time. It is the story of a coarse, common boy of the name Pip, who journeys through life with great expectations brought about by two characters; Miss Havisham, a reclusive gentle-lady and the convict, Magwitch.

Dickens uses hints in his characters names as to their lifestyle or personality. Miss Havisham lives a ‘sham’ life, living in neither the present nor future; she insists upon living her life in the past, at exactly ‘twenty minutes to nine’. The Pocket family also has a clue in its name, the family lives out of its pocket, they are not wealthy but they manage to scrape a living. Magwitch was the ‘magical witch’ who was both a blessing and a curse over a young boy. However the most important metaphor of all would be in the main characters name; Pip is a metaphor for a seed, during the book we witness him growing up.

Another method used by Dickens for his characters is the use of caricatures. They are used to make the characters appear more memorable; this is necessary as the story is written monthly, meaning that readers may forget certain character unless they are easy to remember. Both Magwitch and Havisham are caricatures; Magwitch is a textbook caricature of the average convict. He is first described as ‘A fearful man, all in coarse gray, with a great iron on his leg’, this is what most people would believe to be a convict, rough clothing, and a leg bound by a great iron. As for Havisham she is depicted as a gentle-lady gone mad, this makes it easier for us to remember her.

It is important not to forget that the story was written through the eyes of Pip, he is the narrator.  The story uses omniscient narration, this means we watch over the shoulder of Pip as he journeys, meaning we experience his emotions and physical prowess far surpassing other methods of narration. Because of this we can feel the raw power of Dickens work and Pip’s emotions, such as when Magwitch was captured in chapter 5;’ My convict looked round him for the first time, and saw me… I looked at him eagerly when he looked at me, and slightly moved my hands and shook my head. I had been waiting for him to see me, that I might try to assure him of my innocence. It was not at all expressed to me that he even comprehended my intention, for he gave me a look that I did not understand, and it all passed in a moment. But if he had looked at me for an hour or for a day, I could not have remembered his face ever afterwards as having been more attentive.’ Because of this style we can pick up more of the true meaning of these words, Pip is anxious of Magwitch’s impression of his behaviour and tries to communicate to Magwitch that he did not alert the police, that he is innocent. But when Magwitch looks at Pip he experiences feelings which have nothing to do with Pip’s innocence, he feels loyalty and trust towards the boy who showed kindness towards him, a convict. This is the look that Pip ‘did not understand’; this is the moment that Magwitch decides to create Great Expectations for Pip.

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The role of the gentleman is a key theme in ‘Great Expectations; which plays a large part in the  Pip starts out in life in the lowest possible class bar only convicts and beggars. This quote shows just how uneducated Pip is portrayed: ‘My fathers family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Phillip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.  So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip’. This shows how simple Pip was before his expectations began. His first experience of the upper classes was Estella ...

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