Memorable and Striking Essay

How Charles Dickens Creates Characters That Are Both Memorable and Striking  One of Charles Dickens’ greatest strengths is his ability to create characters that are both believable and memorable. Dickens appealed to all classes of society: to intellectuals and simple folk alike. In ‘Great Expectations’, which was published as a weekly serial, examples of his strengths fill the novel, and this is perhaps why ‘Great Expectations’ has remained as popular now as it was when it was first written. It was not until 1823 that Charles and his family moved to London from Portsmouth. Up until this time he had a happy family life and was doing well at school, already he was a great reader. However life in London was very different, the family had no money, Dickens could not go to school and his father was imprisoned for debt. At the age of eleven he had to work in a shoe-blacking factory and this left a long lasting impression. This experience was relatively short-lived, the family situation improved and he was able to return back to school from there to working in a lawyers office, teaching himself shorthand. By the age of twenty he had become an established newspaper reporter and started to write short stories in his spare time as well as directing and acting in amateur dramatics. Even by his mid twenty’s Dickens’ ability to absorb and portray information was remarkable. Partly due to his tremendous literacy knowledge (for example he read Defoe, Fielding when he was very young) and also as a result of his employment (he frequently reported on Parliament for example) he was able to use his detailed knowledge of London life and people in his writing.  In this essay I intend to discuss the characters of Pip, Joe Gargery, Miss Havisham and Abel Magwitch, because I think these four between them demonstrate Dickens’s expertise at blending character, plot and setting within the novel. One of the techniques that Dickens uses is first person narrative. The book is written from the point of view of Pip who narrates using personal pronouns such as ‘me’ and ‘I’. This technique is effective because it shows the viewpoint of a character (namely Pip) who is able to use personal details and clearly describes surroundings.  Pip is the person on whom the whole novel revolves; the novel starts and ends with Pip. The dictionary’s definition of a pip is ‘ a small hard seed of an apple, pear or orange’. This is relevant to Pip in a way because he is a person who should develop or grow from a ‘small bundle of shivers.’ However, his circumstances at the beginning of the novel give us the impression that this will not allow him to develop. During Pip’s early childhood, he is unjustly suppressed and bullied by his sister, and to a lesser degree, by Pumblechook at the Christmas dinner and the rest of the village.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You would have been disposed of for many shillings†¦and Dunstable the butcher would have come up to you as you lay in your straw,†Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You come along and be dosed.†Ã‚  Pip is regularly fed tar water for any simple wrongdoing by his sister who also chastises him regularly with the ironically named ‘Tickler’. Although Pip has the friendship of his brother-in law Joe, this is not enough to stop him developing into a timid, undernourished yet sensitive child. Pip next has pressure put upon him when he goes to Satis House and has his first encounter with Estella and Miss Havisham. Pip’s overwhelming love for Estella and his change in attitude and behaviour towards others hide the real values of life. He becomes ungrateful to Joe and from time to time, his conscience tells him he has behaved badly but finds it difficult to change. It is quite easy to criticise Pip for his change of feeling towards his life long friend Joe, but we must understand that he has been deeply affected by the bullying which he had suffered in his early years at the hands of his dominating sister, as well as his need to improve his life-style. Pip is also rather gullible, we can see this in his encounter with the convict – he really believes that the convict namely Magwitch will tear his liver out; this is because of the atmosphere of death in the graveyard. Also the way that Magwitch speaks in his rough and raspy voice.  When Pip meets Estella, he is taken in by her charms. For the first time he becomes aware of the social differences and background between them. This makes him feel dissatisfied with his life, he feels ashamed of his home, of his ‘coarse hands’ and ‘thick boots’ and the first realisation that life could be better enters his mind. Unfortunately Pip becomes rather distant from his peers and when he finds out he is to come into fortune (his ‘Great Expectations’), he is quick to drop his childhood friends and family in case they embarrass him. Although sometimes he feels guilty about this, he still acts this way. Moving to London and meeting Herbert Pocket again inspires Pip to be more like him, a young gentleman.  However, Pip leaves behind one of the only true gentlemen in the novel Joe Gargery is a blacksmith who is married to Pip’s sister.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A giant of a man, with fair hair curly hair and mild blue eyes.†Ã‚  Joe is an honest, kind and simple man who becomes a father figure to Pip. Throughout the novel he is one of, the few characters who does not really change. Joe shows the dignity and strength of a gentleman as he is still loyal to Pip, despite Pip’s neglect of Joe. He is able to accept his wife’s harsh personality without showing his true feelings and he finds it difficult to stand up to her strong will. Although partly educated, he is always willing to learn, and is very proud at Pip’s good fortune, and is happy to stay in the background whilst Pip is in London receiving his training to ‘become a gentleman’. Miss Havisham is a bitter old woman whose heart and mind are as decaying as the house in which she lives. When Pip first meets Miss Havisham ‘†¦the strangest lady I have ever seen†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ she is wearing ancient yellowed bridal clothes and he notices that everything in the room is gloomy, faded and old. All the clocks and her watch have stopped at eight forty am. ‘I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢