Great Expectations : How does Charles Dickens create memorable and striking characters? - page 1
Keywords: GCSE, great expectations, charles dickens, very well written piece, Miss havisham, class differences, magwitch, convict,
By cpfc08 on 25/05/2009
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 3 pages: 1 2 3
Great Expectations Coursework
In ‘Great Expectations,’ Charles Dickens has managed to create several strong characters including Magwitch, Pip, Estella and Miss Havisham that are all memorable and striking and which definitely grab the readers’ attention. He uses a variety of techniques to make the characters seem so real. At first he uses language to great effect to create imagery in the readers mind. He uses the dialogue and blends it with the setting and social background using words such as ‘fearful’ and ‘coarse grey’ to illustrate that there is a dead, bleak and grey setting. Dickens also makes out that there is a cold and ghostly feeling around the graveyard. He uses short, but descriptive sentences to achieve an edgy atmosphere, also the use of repetition, such as ‘and’ and ‘tilted, makes the scene more dramatic and intimidating. As the story progresses he introduces the theme of class differences and self-improvement which is well used by Pip.
Dickens cleverly wrote the story using the main character Pip telling the story in first person narrative text. This is a very clever way of writing and it lets the reader interpret the story through the eyes of a young boy and later on in the story, a man.
Dickens uses the setting of the graveyard and the Satis House to express imagery. In the graveyard the attention is around Pip and Magwitch. Dickens uses the graveyard setting to tie in with Magwitch’s appeal and appearance. The dead graveyard setting and Magwitch complement each other. Dickens uses the graveyard and marshes to indicate that trouble is usually brewing. When Pip goes alone into the mist-shrouded marsh, danger and ambiguity usually await him.
In the Satis House, Dickens creates a magnificent Gothic setting whose various elements symbolize Pip’s romantic perception of the upper class and many other themes of the book. On her decaying body, Miss Havisham’s wedding dress becomes an ironic symbol of death and degeneration. The wedding dress and the wedding feast symbolize Miss Havisham’s past, and the stopped clocks throughout the house symbolize her determined attempt to freeze time by refusing to change anything from the way it was when she was jilted on her wedding day. From then onwards all Miss Havisham wanted was revenge and to break men’s hearts.
Strong descriptive words are used by Dickens to make the characters fit in such as ‘withered’ which sums up Miss Havisham and her dated her
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