Explore Dickens use of language to create setting and character in the Great Expectations. - page 2
Keywords: Dickens Great Expectations language setting character
By Jenny on 02/07/2009
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 2 of 3 pages: 1 2 3
the sea…” uses language very effectively to create a powerful metaphor with the sea as a wild beast in its lair its fearsome breath the wind, so strong that it is still affecting Pip some distance away.
The quote, “…and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead…” tells us that Pips family was a typical Victorian one, large with a high infant mortality rate. This reflects Dickens own family. Dickens like Pip was brought up near the coast; in fact his life had many similarities to Pips, so much so that people have suggested that Great Expectations is close to being an autobiography.
Dickens also had a menial job he had when he was younger, which he did not care for, and thought that he was too good for his station. Pip is also of this opinion later in the novel. Dickens’ father was at one point imprisoned due to debt and the young Dickens and his family were imprisoned with him. Owing to this he would have met convicts, just as Pip meets one in the churchyard.
Dickens uses language to give us our first impression of the convict’s character before we have even seen him. The first thing we get is his voice, “…‘Hold your noise’ cried a terrible voice…”
Dickens use of the word terrible sets the scene, implying that it is terrifying and repulsive, petrifying Pip.
Next the convict himself appears, “…a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch…”
“Started up” suggests that he came from nowhere and the fact the it was from “among the graves” makes him seem a bit eerie as though he has just risen from one of them!
The convicts next words are, “keep still you little devil or I’ll cut your throat!” they are a sudden threat to Pip and probably would have terrified him.
Dickens describes the prisoner as, “a fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg.” The man’s clothing reflects Dickens themes earlier, being rough and drab and the iron represents the fact that he is a prisoner. The man has “no hat” and “broken shoes” and “an old rag tied around his head”.
To Pip it would have been very shocking to see a man without a hat, and this is possibly a new experience for him, outside of his house,
Last 5 comments…
There have been no comments posted for this article, but you need to register if you want to be the first!