How Dickens Engages the Reader in Great Expectations
The text is created in an intelligent way so that it interests the
reader from the beginning.
The title itself stimulates the inquisitiveness of the reader. We are
led to think that the novel promises a certain amount of drama or
action. The text from the novel 'Great Expectations' is structured in
a deliberate fashion to encourage the reader to read on.
Great Expectations is a gothic novel. It explores various gothic
genres which are mysterious and gloomy. The settings are dim and
dismal and the gothic genre is created so that it would be familiar to
a Victorian audience. The outlook of the genre would engage the reader
from the beginning.
The setting contains imagery so that the audience can have a clear
picture of the scene.
Chapter one begins in the graveyard 'from the tombstones' which gives
the reader a gothic and intense feeling as they imagine 'a bleak place
overgrown with nettles'. The reader's curiosity is aroused because we
are wondering why Pip is there. The surrounding landscape in the
beginning is described as a 'distant savage lair from which the wind
was rushing'. This makes the reader feel apprehensive about what is
going to take place in this setting. Pip is described as an orphan; he
has never seen his parents and he lives with his sister (Mrs. Joe
Gargery) and her husband. The description of the deprived looking boy
alone in the graveyard adds to the sense of inquisitive drama. The
expectation that we have anticipated comes to our attention when a
menacing looking house is shown in chapter eight. This is shown when
Pip describes the outside of the house 'which was of old brick and
dismal'. The inside of the house is quite creepy 'and still it was all
dark' which makes the reader wonder of who might own and live in that
house.
The novel begins with Pip as a narrator. Due to this it makes the
reader involved in the action immediately.
Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
The Range of Devices Charles Dickens Uses to Engage the Reader in the Opening Chapter of Great Expectations
notices that he is "a man with no hat", the sign of a lower class
Every detail of the setting, devices, language and characterisation and some further aspect of narrative voice are necessary for the full apprehension of the reader. At the start of chapter one, we meet the narrator Pip in a churchyard. Dickens creates a sinister and menacing atmosphere in his description of setting. He starts the novel off in a churchyard which describes as a ‘bleak place overgrown with nettles’ with a young child, Pip, staring at the graves of his parents and brothers. Pip is about seven years old when the novel opens (Dickens mentions his age on page 409).
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens uses diction and imagery to illustrate how if one bases their dreams and aspirations on the values of a society that prizes materialism over character, they will face a life of devoid unhappiness through the character of Pip. In the novel, Pip finds it impossible to change social classes when Joe declares, “That ain't the way to get out of being common. . . as to being common . . . You are uncommon in some things. You're uncommon small . . .
The first couple of lines from the chapter read: "I was three and twenty years of age. Not another word I had heard to enlighten me on the subject of my expectations, and my twenty-third birthday was a week gone. " It also makes the reader think about where Pip's wealth comes from. This makes the reader very curious, and also possibly provides a clue. something relating to the mystery about wealth may soon be answered.
Living in a world where much about a person’s character is measured by wealth, it has become increasingly important to maintain a separation between material characteristics and intangible moral values. Pip, in Dickens’ Great Expectations, must learn from his series of disappointments and realize the importance of self-reliance over acceptance to social norms. Through his unwavering faith in wealthy “ideals,” such as Miss Havisham and Estella, Pip develops both emotionally and morally, learning that surface appearances never reveal the truth in a person’s heart.
Their venture into the dark and mysterious tomb exemplifies a prime example of gothic writing through the eerie setting. Along the way, skeletons of the narrator’s dead family are seen.
Dickens' Use of Settings in Great Expectations Great Expectations is the story of a young boy called Pip's physical and emotional journey. The story starts when Pip meets an escaped convict in a churchyard near his home and gives him food and drink.
shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been
desire to improve his station in life. He is raised by his sister, and her husband, Joe Gargery. Then Pip
As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.
Charles Dickens is well known for his distinctive writing style. Few authors before or since are as adept at bringing a character to life for the reader as he was. His novels are populated with characters who seem real to his readers, perhaps even reminding them of someone they know. What readers may not know, however, is that Dickens often based some of his most famous characters, those both beloved or reviled, on people in his own life. It is possible to see the important people, places, and events of Dickens' life thinly disguised in his fiction. Stylistically, evidence of this can be seen in Great Expectations. For instance, semblances of his mother, father, past loves, and even Dickens himself are visible in the novel. However, Dickens' past influenced not only character and plot devices in Great Expectations, but also the very syntax he used to create his fiction. Parallels can be seen between his musings on his personal life and his portrayal of people and places in Great Expectations.
find out he was a orphan when he was young as he said, "I never saw my
In conclusion, Dickens portrays the novels title, Great Expectations, through Pip’s desires and dreams and luck. Once he finds out his secret benefactor was Magwitch, he is surprised. Pip has had many great expectations which he was able to fulfill through the aid of Magwitch. Apart from Pip’s expectations of riches and importance of being a gentleman, the readers have expectations of the novel having many turning points due to Dickens ability to craft a consistent plot in which there is a fluency in all angles. Pip had high hopes, or Great Expectations, for everything which blindly seems right to him were not carried out.