A Comparison Of The Novel Great Expectations

Great expectations. The story of a young boy who since the day he met a young lady, dreamt of becoming a gentleman and winning her heart, Dickens tell us the story of Pip 's journey, the people he meets, the love, heartbreak, friendship and deceit that he and his fellow characters go through all in the backdrop of a Victorian London. One of Charles Dickens ' most popular novels has been adapted to screen multiple times and in many different ways, each adaptation taking a different perspective from the novel and perceiving every character, theme and image in different ways based on the creators interpretation. Brian Kirks BBC mini series (2011) is only one of these adaptations, but the question is was there something lost in the shift from written

The first time this is mentioned is through Pips sisters, Mrs Joe Gargery and how she “brought him up by hand”, this is one of the first allusions to violence in the novel but it is also a loss of integrity on Pip’s behalf, each time Pip is beaten by his sister he loses a bit of himself; perhaps this is why Pip was so effected by Estella, he did not have the integrity to stand up to her as a child. Pip begins his hope of rising in society when he begins to take pride in his appearance, in the novel it is his shame at his “course hands” (dickens) in the series it is shown when Pip srubs his hands clean, it is when Pip burns his hands after attempting to save Miss Havisham, this not only indicates a further struggle in Pips social position but it also shows the turning point in Pips life, it is while Herbert changes Pips bandages that Pip and he admit their fondness for Magwitch and that Pip learns that Molly is Magwitch’s wife and Estella his daughter. Jagger’s is another character in Dickens story that has a connection with hands, mainly the fact that he is constantly washing them, so while Jagger’s is of high social standing and a rather imposing figure, this hand washing in between cases and clients alludes to what he has done to get what he has, the hand washing could be Jagger’s subconscious way of washing away the corruption and

Kirk uses lighting and mise en scene to prove the same point, but what do these images actually mean? When the search for convicts occurs, it is in darkness as is Miss Havisham’s house, finding Magwitch and the dispute between Orlick and Pip all of which happen in the dark. In the novel the darkness contributes to the novel’s gothic feel, surrounding the characters in darkness and therefore is really evident when there is actually light, in the series we see the darkness is used to create suspense, the ambiance of danger lurking around every corner. There is one main instance where we do see light and that is Joe’s forge, in the words of Pip the forge was “a glowing road to manhood and independence” (Dickens), it was with Joe that Pip had light and direction, it was in the darkness of Satis house that Pip strayed of the path, became lost and further shrouded in darkness. Furthermore, where there is light and dark, there are shadows; it is the shadows that Pip exposes to us throughout the novel, mainly through his observation of Estella, Pip will often see a shadow across Estella’s face, the shadow of Miss Havisham perhaps? It is in the rewritten, second ending where Pip sees “No shadow of another parting from her” (Dickens) this emphasizes that the shadows of our past, the secrets we hold will always remain with us further highlighting the complexity of these characters.