Mr Jaggers’ function in the novel is to link between the two plots of Magwitch and Miss Havisham. Jaggers was Pip’s guardian whilst he was in London. Pip thought that Miss Havisham was his benefactor as Jaggers represented Miss Havisham as her lawyer. However, as we learn later in the book Jaggers also represents the convict, Abel Magwitch and the convict turns out to become Pip’s mysterious benefactor. Jaggers’ role in the novel is to mislead Pip and the reader into thinking that he will be receiving Miss Havisham’s money when she dies. Jaggers knows everyone’s secrets.
He knows that Estella’s farther is the convict and helped Estella’s mother stay out of prison. This presents him as a very influential man who knows everything. He knows who is who and what is what. He is the person who helps people stay alive. Mr Jaggers is a very cold but powerful person. The walls in Jaggers’ office shows this. One wall is full of casts and the wall opposite Jaggers’ is very greasy. He is so cold and powerful that when he talks people are terrified. When Pip entered the room he said, “The wall, especially opposite to Mr Jaggers’ chair, being greasy with shoulders.
” This means when he talks to someone he is so commanding that the person stands as far away as possible and sweats as if he was standing a metre away from the sun. This shows that Jaggers nearly bullies his clients. He even keeps reminders of the people that made him what he is, “Two dreadful casts on a shelf. ” These casts are people from his famous cases. Also, he makes sure that he is paid before he starts helping people. He says “Have you paid Wemmick? ” many times in the book. Jaggers is detached from human emotion. He sees that if he shows his emotions that he is unprofessional.
When Pip went to Jaggers office for the first time, he said that Jaggers never laughed and that his eyebrows were always joined together, awaiting an answer. Pip asked Jaggers’ clerk Wemmick about the lawyer’s odd manner and Wemmick replied, “It’s not personal, it’s professional; only professional. ” Pip goes to London and meets Jaggers in chapter twenty. Pip has high expectations of London but he is disappointed when he finds out that London is a miserable place full of odd characters. Pip’s first impressions of Jaggers’ office were not good either.
It was a dark place lit by only one skylight and there were plenty of ‘odd objects’ – “Such as a rusty old pistol, a sword in a scabbard, several strange-looking boxes and packages and two dreadful casts on a shelf. ” Pip became fascinated by the dismal atmosphere. This makes the reader think that Jaggers will also be dismal. “Mr Jaggers’ own high-backed chair was of deadly black horse-hair, with rows of brass nails round it, like a coffin. ” This description makes the reader believe that Jaggers must be a deadly character and not a person to mess with.
The area around Jaggers’ office is even gloomier. The Smithfield part of London is seen as a dirty, dreadful place. It is crowded with people and buildings. Jaggers’ office is near Newgate prison and the law courts. The world of Little Britain (Smithfield) is a world of violence in which the law is seen as entertainment only. Smithfield has a market, “I came into Smithfield being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam. ” The blood is from the market meat but the blood links the market with the executions that also take place in the area.
Pip left the market and onto the outskirts of Newgate prison, “People standing about, smelling strongly of spirits and beers, I inferred that the trials were on. ” This shows the reader that the trials are seen as entertainment. The word ‘spirit’ has two connotations it could mean a drink or it could mean the spirit of a dead person. Pip was invited to go into the courthouse to see the trial. “A partially drunk minister of justice asked me if I would like to step in and hear a trial or so informing me that he could give me a front place for half a crown. ” This shows that people make money out of people being sent to prison and being hung.
People are prepared to pay money to see the trials it would be as entertaining as watching television nowadays. The minister then took Pip to see the gallows and where people were whipped. The minister must have thought that Pip was interested and wanted to see where people were humiliated and murdered. Pip was horrified to see what the minister was wearing. “(From his hat down to his boots and up again to his pocket handkerchief inclusive) mildewed clothes, which evidently not belonged to him originally. ” Pip thought that the minister’s clothes were bought from the executioner.
This should have horrified the reader as they would not have liked to wear a dead person’s clothes. Mr Jaggers is presented as a powerful man. He seems more powerful than the law. When the coachman took Pip to Jaggers’ office he asked for more than a shilling, Pip said no, so the coachman said, “Then it must be a shilling, I don’t want to get into any trouble. I know him” (Jaggers). This shows that Jaggers must be very powerful if the coachman thought he would get into trouble. Jaggers says, “Have you paid Wemmick? ” many times. He will not help anyone until he is paid. This shows that he is always in control.
