Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The aim of this piece of coursework is to examine different characters

of the Charles Dickens book 'Great Expectations' and how Dickens

manages to create sympathy for the particular characters I have

chosen. The characters that I have chosen to write about are Pip and

Miss Havisham. I will be analysing extracts one and two and using

these to prove certain points that I will be making.

'Great Expectations' is the story of Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, an

orphan raised by his brutal sister and her gentle-natured husband, Joe

Gargery. It follows the ups and downs of Pip's love life from when he

is a young, poor boy living near the Thames estuary to when he moves

to London, where he hopes to become a successful 'gentleman'. The

story takes place in the early nineteenth century England and begins

in a semi-rural setting. We first meet Pip as a very young,

impressionable boy, and in the first chapter, he is visiting the

graves of his family which he never knew. The film story starts off

with a dull grey background where Pip runs to the graveyard in order

to visit the graves of his family. This gives us a sense that Pip is

alone and scared. When he arrives at the scene of the grave-yard we

hear much creaking and blowing of wind, giving us a feeling that Pip

may not be alone. Pip talks of his parents as he reads the worn

gravestones. He draws up images of his family by looking at the

handwriting styles on each of his family's gravestones. This gives us

a feeling of guilt and sorrow as Pip is an orphan, which is also

related to other books by Dickens such as 'Oliver Twist'. Pip is

obviously very alone, apart from the fact that he is very close with

Joe Gargery. When an escaped prisoner threatens Pip into stealing food

from his home and giving it to him the next day, you feel sorry for

Pip as you can see that he is not very confident, and that he is