The way Dickens uses striking and memorable characters in “Great Expectations” is the way he published the story. He wrote an extract at a time and then published it in some magazines so the reader would have to read the next issue to find out what happened. The way he made the audience want to decide to read the next issue was by making the characters striking because he needed the money so this way was effective in selling his story and magazines. Dickens uses a social statement to the audience and telling us what the world was really like and what was happening around when we don’t notice.
In the story, Pip’s social background was that he was an orphan because his mother and father were dead. He also lived with his sister and her husband Mr and Mrs Joe Gargery. Pip and his sister had a big difference in age. Pip’s sister was horrible to both Pip and Mr Joe Gargery in the way she use to shout at the both of them, order them around and she use to beat Pip. Pip was educated a little because he use to be able to read and write. Pip also use to have a lonely life because he use to live in an isolated house which was located on farmland in the middle of nowhere.
The people he knew were horrible to him and use to bully him around except for Mr Joe Gargery. When he is at the graveyard visiting his family’s graves, a big man called Magwitch jumps out on him and terrorises Pip and Dickens uses exclamation marks after everything which Magwitch says. “Hold your noise! ” And “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat! ” Dickens uses exclamations to show that he is being quick and serious and won’t be slowed down.
Also the language that Magwitch uses towards Pip tells us that he is trying to manipulate Pip. “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat! Dickens uses this language for Magwitch to make him look big and scary towards and compared to Pip. Magwitch bullied Pip into getting food and tools because Mr Joe Gargery is a blacksmith, and Magwitch is a convict so he needs tools to get the chain of his leg and he needs food because he must be starving, because he has run away from prison. Another way Pip is manipulated by Magwitch is the way Magwitch says that he knows where Pip lives and will not be able to his from him.
“That young man has a secret way pecoolier to himself, of getting a boy, and his heart, and at his liver. Dickens language here says that Magwitch is not lonesome and that Pip will not be able to hide so there is nothing that Pip could do except get the food and tools. Pip then gets caught because Mrs Joe Gargery’s pie was taken and she noticed and Pip got the blame so she started beating him. Pip had no choice whichever he chose was a bad one because he got beaten by his sister and if he didn’t get the food he would have had his heart ripped out. Dickens uses a lot of descriptive language on Pip but there is not a lot of expressive language on what he looks like.
Undersized for my years, and not strong. ” This shows the size disparity between Magwitch and Pip showing that Magwitch has the power to control. “The small bundle of shivers,” shows that again he is small and that he is shaking because he is scared of Magwitch. The story was narrated by Adult Pip looking back on his childhood. It was a 1st person dialogue using language such as “I” and “Me. ” The start of the story his identity was exposed by telling us his name and his nickname. Using language such as “memorable raw afternoon towards evening” sets the atmosphere.
This sentence means that it was a memorable but eerie time of day and also sad but it was late afternoon going into evening. This just says that the place where Pip lived is a very boring place but he can remember everything including the scenery around his house. Pip’s relationships with other people was very good and he was full of manners even when people were being horrible to him and ordering him around, such as “Tell us your name! “, “yes sir. ” This shows that Pip was bought up in a respective manor and he respected his elders and everyone else but also he had some sort of education.
The word sir shows that even though Magwitch is horrible to him, he still has respect for everyone. Magwitch is a convict who has escaped from prison. He escaped because he was about to get transported to Australia, where they send convicts to hang them. The way he was described said everything about him. There was a list just describing what he looked like had happened to him. “A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed in stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars.
This just tells the audience that he had been roughly treated and had it on the run for some time, and that it looks like he has got it in for Pip and he is going to take his anger out on Pip. He was obviously hungry because he ordered Pip to go and get his some food and that he was threatening to eat Pip like a monster. Once again the quote like a monster tells us the size difference between Pip and Magwitch. In addition he must be desperate by scaring a little powerless boy and making Pip get the food and tools that Magwitch needed.
The punishment’s for Magwitch’s actions are very severe and Pip couldn’t imagine what Magwitch has to go through, including a “Gibbet” which is where people get hung there and also left to rot to warn people about breaking the law. That is what Pip was imagining that would happen to Magwitch is Pip didn’t get the food and tools he needed. The relationship’s that Magwitch had with Pip was very cruel but he was being very intelligent in the way that he was manipulating him to think that he could do nothing else.
“A boy may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may tuck himself up, may draw the clothes over his head. This just says that if Pip did not get the food it would mean that he couldn’t hide from Magwitch. He is very cunning in the way that Magwitch says that he will never be able to hide from him. When Dickens writes about Magwitch he describes him by saying what he looks like has happened to him. For example it says he looks like he has been hurt and looks tired and a whole list on him on line 35 of extract 1. In addition this indicates that he looks like he has had it bad and everything has been thrown at him.
The dialogue used for Magwitch tells us that he is controlling, working class and not very well educated. Partickler”, Dickens uses phonetic spelling to tell us that Magwitch isn’t well educated and he is working class. “Hold your noise! ” Dickens uses exclamations to show that he is overpowering and a hard talker. It shows he is impatient because it is after everything he says. Magwitch’s setting is very dull and very boring but suggests that he is dangerous. The marshes tell us that he lives rough and has a dull life. “Long, angry, red lines and dense black lines. ” This proposes that he is a dangerous man by the colours and their associations. It creates an ominous atmosphere.
Miss Havisham’s background hints that she is a lonely old woman. “White”. The repetition of white used in the extract tells us that she is very old and there is nothing much to describe about her. “Dressed in rich materials”. This is advising us again that she is rich because the way Dickens tells us about what expensive things she has and how many times he tells us. Her actions are making a picture for us that she is depressed. Also, she tries to get self-pity from Pip because her fianci?? e is away. “What do I touch? ” “Your heart” “Broken”. This is trying to get Pip’s sympathy for herself so she is acting in a selfish way as well.
The voice that you can imagine is very questioning. “Anything else? ” The repetition shows that she is always pressuring Pip into answering her, almost like bullying him. The way it looks like it has affected her sanity makes us think that the love that she lost was the most important to her. It is as if time hasn’t moved since it has happened. The clothes she is wearing as she is half-ready and she is living in Darkness. Cobwebs everywhere and looking skinny and rotten. She is very selfish in the way she orders Pip around and the way she thinks that she is better than he is. Disdain” and “Contempt”.
This sort of language that Dickens uses for Miss Havisham makes Pip feel contempt about himself and she has changed the way he thinks about himself since he has been at her house. Miss Havisham’s language towards Pip makes him feel different about the one person that is nice to Pip. Altogether I think that the most effective way Dickens creates the memorable characters is the way he writers about everyone treating each other. He makes it like real life to tell everyone, such as the audience, that it is happening around us but we don’t realise it.
