Pip's Relationship with Magwitch in Great Expectations

3109 Words7 Pages

How does Dickens use Pips relationship with Magwitch to interest the

reader?

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The novel called ‘Great Expectations’ written by Charles Dickens, uses

a very unique relationship between two characters to form the main

‘stem’ of the book.

Pip’s relationship with Abel Magwitch is extremely interesting because

it is so significant. It is at the heart of the book mainly for the

reason that it is the closest and deepest relationship between any two

characters in the whole novel. This forms a relevance to the title of

Great Expectations.’

After meeting with Pip for the first time, Magwitch begins to desire

many expectations for Pip. Pip receives money from an anonymous person

and goes to London to become a gentleman. This causes irony because

Pip thinks that the money comes from Miss Havisham when in fact it

comes from Magwitch. He wants Pip to live how he couldn’t live. These

expectations often came in the way of his duty, leaving him in a

position in which he has to choose between his family and his life in

London.

Throughout the novel both Pip and Magwitch misunderstand the meaning

of the term ‘gentleman.’ Towards the end of the novel Pip learns that

he should value generosity and also realizes that relationships are

most important.

There is a very common theme in this novel which is similar to many

other books in Victorian Times. It is about a central character

growing up and developing, written in first person. The novel portrays

the emotional and mental growth of the character whilst the reader

sympathises with the narrators of the stories. Dickens had already

written ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Oliver Twist’ in this way.

Dicke...

... middle of paper ...

...s we form with others and

people’s true nature.

The moments and scenes involving Pip and Magwitch which stand out most

in my mind are all in chapter 3. I assume that this is because I can

clearly remember how frightened Pip was when he first heard about the

other convict and when he told Magwitch that he had seen the convict,

I could picture the disbelief on Magwitch’s face. Dickens created a

lot of suspense and interest at this point and I think that is the

main reason why that chapter appealed to me more than the others.

Other than this I can also clearly recall the last few paragraphs of

chapter 56 when Pip attested his true nature. Despite the fact that

Estelle took advantage of Pips companionship, he still briefly

informed Magwitch of the pleasant virtues in her. By doing this he

helped Magwitch to die ‘peacefully’ without any adverse emotions.

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