Dickens creates sympathy Essay

This Essay aims to examine the sympathy that Dickens created for his characters. I will be concentrating on two extracts from the novel â€Å"Great Expectations†. Extract one is when Pip and Magwitch meet initially; extract two is Pip’s first encounter with Miss Havisham. The three main characters I will be focusing on are Pip, Magwitch and Miss Havisham.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Great Expectations† was written in the 1800’s, a time which suffered from grave poverty due to the government who offer no relief to the poor. Poverty and squallier was all around. Pickpockets, prostitutes, beggers and drunks were everywhere, desperate for money. Dickens was particularly effected by this because o his own childhood trauma. He was born into the middle class which allowed him to obtain an education. This was until his father was imprisoned for multiple debts, which forced Dickens and his family into a diminished standard of life. This meant that Dickens and was forced to work from an early age. Whilst being poor himself he saw extreme poverty far greater than his own. He wrote about real life in his books, which showed the upper and middle classes, who read them, how awful the lifestyle of a poor person was.  Dickens creates sympathy for Pip through the use of setting. In the first extract Pip is in a cold, dark graveyard. This is and unpleasant place for a child to be because it is intimidating and a very lonely place for a child to be.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"And that small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry was Pip.† This illustrates that Pip’s environment is bringing him down. The fact that he is shivering shows how cold he really is. He is clearly upset about where he is otherwise he would not cry. The description of the graveyard in comparison to Pip makes him sounds extremely small. Pip is too overwhelmed by his surrounding which could be why he is so upset. Also, his feelings of loneliness are portrayed by his depression about his family situation. â€Å"I never saw my father or mother.† This gives the impression that he misses them greatly. Furthermore, it tells us that he never met his parents, possibly that they died when he was very young. This makes him upset because he never knew them or what they were like. So other than the quote which states he was crying he has yet another reason to be in a sad and depressed state. The graveyard is a lonely place for Pip, especially as he is surrounded by his dead family. However, in extract two, Pip’s environment changes. He is now in the huge house of Miss Havisham. The house is enormous yet it has lost its luster. A lot inside it looks unused, but old. Objects have lost their colours now with a hint of yellow.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it.†Ã‚  The quote helps to give the feeling of a dark and dreary place. This creates sympathy for Pip because he is in a huge house, that has long not been taken care of or used and he is scared and nervous. As well as this the scene creates sympathy for Pip by putting his in a place which is morbid and lifeless, a place which has no happiness which automatically would bring Pip down. The state of her house and the way Pip feels creates feelings of sympathy for Pip. â€Å"†¦everything with my view which ought to be white had been white long, long ago.† Again, this provides an old, lonely aroma which could potentially scare Pip. As well as being in a new place, the outlook of everything is a lot for a young boy to take in, for example; Pip says he feels â€Å"half afraid†. This setting would possibly make Pip feel uncomfortable. Also, Pip would be confused and nervous about what happened in the beginning for this once magnificent house to look the way it does. â€Å"†¦her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine.†Ã‚  Pip was insecure and unsure of anything, and will want to know more yet hold back with fear.  In extract one, when Pip first encounters Magwitch, he is terrified. The interaction between these two characters is negative. Pip is intimidated by Magwitch. He is a lot taller, older and stronger than Pip. â€Å"†¦tilted me back †¦ his eyes looked most powerfully down into mine.†Ã‚  Magwitch is leaning over Pip, making him feel anxious and becoming very scared. Pip is very frightened as he is being threatened by Magwitch. â€Å"†O! Don’t cut my throat sir† I pleaded in terror†Ã‚  This creates sympathy for Pip because he is begging Magwitch not to cut his throat, pleading for his life. This is an intimidating situation for Pip and shows him to be desperate, which is understandable for a young boy in his position.  Dickens wants the reader to feel sympathy for Magwitch as well as Pip. We know that Magwitch is a convict by the way he is described, which does help create feelings for him. â€Å"A fearful man, all coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg.†Ã‚  This tells us that he is a convict because of the information given to us about the iron at the end of the quote. Additionally, it describes him as â€Å"all coarse grey† meaning he was from a prison, probably saying he was prison garbage. He is delineated in a way which makes him sound scared but determined. The fact he is a â€Å"fearful man† probably means he frightens others, just like he is doing to Pip. Along with this, Dickens includes a lot of detail about Magwitch’s state of health. This really creates sympathy because to be in that awful mess something horrible must have happened to him. â€Å"A man who had been soaked in water and smothered in mud< and lamed by stones and cut by flints†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This gives the image of Magwitch in the wild; he is wet through, covered in mud and cut quite badly all over. He is in a terrible state here and this creates mixed emotions about Magwitch as he threatens Pip. It raises questions in the reader’s mind as to what actually happened to him, to him act in the manner which he is doing. â€Å"While he ate the bread ravenously!†Ã‚  This concocts the idea that Magwitch is desperate for food, so much so that he threatens a child. Dickens is making the reader understand why Magwitch is threatening Pip. Dickens describes Magwitch to make him intimidating yet helpless. The sympathy for Magwitch builds up as the interaction between him and Pip grows. When he exits he is described as cold and injured.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"He hugged his shuddering body in both arms as if to hold himself together, and limped toward the church†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  He lives in hope that the boy (Pip) will bring the file he wants and food. At this point Magwitch is very weak, sad. In addition to this he is insecure and vulnerable which makes you feel sorry for him.