Essay about Settings in Great Expectations Great Expectations Analysis Great Expectations Sparknotes Essay on Great Expectations

1. Essay about Settings in Great Expectations
Show how Dickens uses settings in Great Expectations to enhance our understanding of character
and the symbolic elements of the plot –
Great expectations
Show how Dickens uses settings in Great Expectations to enhance our understanding of character
and the symbolic elements of the plot.
As we notice in the novel 'Great Expectations', Charles Dickens uses many different narrative
techniques other than the usual description.
One of these techniques is that of describing character through a specific setting. There are a few of
these very detailed descriptions in chapter eight (Satis House), chapter twenty (Mr. Jaggers' office),
chapter twenty–one
(Barnard's Inn), chapter twenty–five (Wemmick's castle) and chapter twenty–six...show more
content...
On the whole there is an atmosphere of death and decay, also thanks to the very grotesque
description of Mr. Jaggers' own "high–backed chair of deadly black horse–hair, with rows of brass
nails round it, like a coffin;" (chapter 20 page 160). We deduce that
Mr. Jaggers is quite an odd individual, not very human, and closer to death than to life. Barnard's
Inn is the place Pip is to be established in during his stay in London. He has some expectations to
what it is to be like, but on his arrival there finds it the "dingiest collection of shabby buildings ever
squeezed together" (chapter 21 page 168). It is a "dismal" place (Dickens repeats this word four
times in one sentence), "melancholic", "rotten",
"dilapidated", "crippled", "cracked", "collapsing", "miserable" and "empty"
(chapter 21 page 168). In this setting, other than the element of ruin there is an element of death
present, especially in the following two sentences:
"A frouzy mourning of soot and smoke" (mourning is usually meant by the remembrance of the
deceased) and "I opened the staircase window and nearly beheaded myself it came down like the
guillotine" (chapter 21 page 169).
Wemmick's castle is one of the most 'normal' households in 'Great Expectations'.
It is situated in the district of Walworth, which already tells us something about it and its inhabitants:
that they are worth something. It is "a little wooden cottage in the midst of plots of
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2. Great Expectations Analysis
Every character was written has a backstory that contributes to the plot. In Charles Dickens',
Great Expectations, every character from Pip to Molly has a secret that adds to the storyline.
Great Expectations sets in the early nineteenth century, therefore social class is everything. Passed
down from generation to generation, family businesses have kept the family from moving up in
society. For Pip, the protagonist, that's all he truly wants; Pip wants to become a gentleman and
become worthy of his love, Estella, despite being a poor orphan and an apprentice of a blacksmith.
Similar to Dickens' rough childhood, Pip didn't want this family or their struggle to define him.
However, even the rich have their problems. For example, Miss Havisham lets her past affects how
she lives on a day–to–day basis. One unfortunate event has led her to live her life in sorrow and
depression and it affects everyone around her, especially her adopted daughter, Estella. Even, the
convict, Abel Magwitch, lets his past encounters command his future actions. Under the
consequences, Charles Dickens', characters from Great Expectations, like Pip, Miss Havisham,
Estella, and Magwitch, have all let their past affect their future, as a result, the plot.
It all started with Dickens himself, he had a rough childhood that was somewhat similar to the main
character, Pip. Both were raised in England and put to work at a very young age. However, Dickens
had parents, but his father was in prison and his
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3. Great Expectations Sparknotes
Great Expectations was published in 1860. Dickens in Great Expectations, narrated the story of a
small boy Philip Pirrip, known as Pip. He is brought up by his sister and her husband. Pip meets
Magwitch, a prisoner, who demands food and a file. And the boy, who is afraid of him, agrees
and Magwitch escapes, but later he is recaptured. Pip is introduced to Miss Havisham, an elderly
eccentric woman, to play in her house. there he meets a young girl, Estella, and falls in love with
her. The girl is brought up by Miss Havisham to behave mercilessly to men in revenge for her
broken heart. (2008, p. 57) Pip does not want to be a blacksmith but he wants to become a
gentleman to be at the same level as Estella. A Possibility of becoming a gentleman came to Pip
by an offer presents by Jaggers, the only condition Pip has to fulfill is not to search for his
benefactor. Pip agrees, leaves home and goes to London. He thinks that Miss Havishamis his
benefactor. In London provided with sufficient money from Jaggers. When Pip reaches the maturity
Jaggers informs him that he will receive 500 pounds per year from his unknown benefactor. When
he is 23 Pip recognizes his benefactor is the...show more content...
Perceiving the contrast between how the poor and the rich were treated in the novel will give a
clearer understanding of social status. The period when the novel was written was a time of
change. England was expanding throughout the world and becoming a wealthy colonial power.
There was a transition from feudalism to capitalism and it increased the social problems. Children
were being forced to work twelve and thirteen hours a day at a poor wage. People lived in terrible
conditions in the overcrowded London. (1991, p.
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4. Essay on Great Expectations
In Charles Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, the main character named Pip suffers through a
conflict of confusing good and bad people. He repeatedly disregards the people that love and care
for him and instead chooses to care for people who do not care for him. When making these
choices, Pip senses that he is making the wrong decisions and therefore confuses good and bad and
also confuses himself. After Pip first meets Estella, he begins to dislike everything he has ever
known. He is uncomfortable feeling common in front of Estella and takes out his frustration on Joe,
the one who brought him up to be common. "I determined to ask Joe why he had ever taught me to
call those picture–cards, Jacks, which ought to be called knaves. I wished...show more content...
"I wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common, that he might be worthier of my society and
less open to Estella's reproach" (111). This quote shows how Pip's need for Estella's approval and
affection outweighs his love for the man that raised him. The reader begins to understand from
Pip's statements that Pip has a skewed perception of which people are good to him and which are
bad to him. Joe never hurts Pip in any way and Estella thrives on Pip's pain. Yet, Pip chooses Estella
over Joe. He does the same concerning Biddy. "Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy
to–day and somebody else to–morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from
giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine" (130). Even though
Pip knows this about Biddy, he still yells at her, saying how envious she is of his fortune and rise
in status (148). Biddy allows Pip to yell at her and even tells him that she will not let his hurtful
words affect her view of him. Biddy really cares for Pip. Being away from Joe and Biddy just
helped Pip forget about them more easily. The only time that the two of them even crossed his
mind is when they would contact him. When Biddy writes a letter to Pip saying that Joe will be in
town, she even reinforces how much she is sure that the gentleman Pip is not too prestigious for an
old friend. Pip's reaction says something else though. "Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him
by so many
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