Characters in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Dickens has many ways of making his characters both striking andmemorable, he uses the dialogue and blends it with the setting andsocial background as illustrated by ‘torn by briars; who limped’.Dickens is very descriptive; this also helps making the characterreal.
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Dickens creates a creepy mood when we are told about the graveyard inwhich we meet Magwitch as shown by ‘as if he were eluding the hands ofdead people’. He uses the graveyard and the gibbet in the distance tohelp create this mood which adds to the edgy atmosphere. The tone ofthis extract is dramatic and intimidating; Dickens achieves this byusing short, but descriptive sentences. Dickens makes us feel sorryfor Magwitch because of the way he speaks, ‘wittles’ and ‘pecoolier’are examples of this. As Magwitch talks to Pip, we, as the readernotice that Magwitch talks to Pip as a child and uses language thatwould only scare a child : ‘you little devil, or I’ll cut yourthroat!’.
When pip meets Miss Havisham, Dickens makes it seem like it is a nice,rich room, however we soon find out it is a dull, lifeless room thathasn’t seen light in years : ‘. Dickens uses long, descriptivesentences here to introduce the setting and mood of the room. Dickensslowly gives us information bit by bit so we build a picture of whatis going on. He slowly reveals that Miss Havisham has been jilted atthe alter.
Wemmick’s home reflects his personality in the way that he likes to besecure and safe. Wemmick is one of the most memorable of Dickens’scharacters, as he is slightly out of the ordinary and has his own wayof doing things. Wemmick keeps his work and his home life veryseparate, this is…
…rrible places to be; theycarried lots of diseases and were extremely unhygienic. Miss Havishamis from an upper class background. She is very wealthy, howeverremains unmarried. Marriage for women in those days was more importantthan it is today because it used to be the men making all the moneywhile the women looked after the house; however Miss Havisham hasplenty of money so her problem is that she is lonely. Wemmick is inthe working class and works in the prison as a clerk, the conditionsof prisons in those days was very bad, which may be the reason why hekeeps his home life and work life completely separate.
Dickens achieves making his characters both striking and memorable bydescribing them in heavy detail, but not making it boring by havingtoo much. In my opinion Wemmick is the most memorable character as Icould imagine him being real.
