Isabel Calway Great Expectations Coursework Essay

In this essay I am going to write about how Dickens presents Estella and Magwitch, two key characters in the story, and the purpose of them.  Pip firsts meets Magwitch in a graveyard on Christmas Eve. He has a leg iron, this shows that the story was written when leg irons were still used, in the Victorian times.  Pip firsts meets Magwitch in a graveyard on a cold Christmas Eve. Pip finds him threatening and is scared by him we know this because pip tells us that he was ‘a fearful man all in coarse grey’ and when they first meet, Magwitch says ‘keep still you little boy or I’ll cut your throat’. He asks him to bring him some food and drink and a file He does exactly what Magwitch asked him to do, and brings him all the things he needed. Even through pip is threatened by him he is still intrigued and asks Mrs. Joe and Joe about the ‘hulk’ where Magwitch said his was from, even Though every times he asks he gets told off he continues to ask and finds out it is a prison ship and that Magwitch must be a convict. When the police arrive at pips door on Christmas Day pip is scared it is about stealing the pork pie for the convict, but they are just there to get some handcuffs fixed by his brother-in-law Joe Gargery.  Pip makes sure that Magwitch knows it wasn’t him to told the police about his presence on the marshes, and Magwitch sticks up for pip by saying ‘I took some wittles, up at the village over yonder-where the church stands a’ most out on the marshes’ this shows the reader that Magwitch does have a heart and wants to make sure Pip doesn’t want to get him into trouble and actually has the time to say it, when he didn’t have to and it was inconvenience for him. Magwitch is not very well spoken and has an accent, Magwitch say ‘wittles’ meaning food shows he isn’t an gentleman and hasn’t been taught to speak properly he also says ‘lookee here’ and ‘dyee’. He pronounces his ‘v’ as ‘w’. Magwitch comes across as a threatening, strong and violent character but later in the story you find out that he is quite emotional and caring. He benefactors his life saving which he must have worked hard for, he gives them to pip because he lost his daughter.  aPip often refers to Magwitch as ‘my friend’ or ‘my convict’ this shows there is a real connection, most young child when threatened like Pip was would run away, but pip lingers and tries to engage Magwitch. Magwitch does affect pip he is younger life but only a bit, Pip forgets him when he is growing up, but when he finds out that he is his benefactor all of his memories come flooding back. When Pip is becoming a gentleman thanks to Magwitch he is told Magwitch would be taken to prison and maybe killed, Pip feels that it is his duty to help him and act like a son to him, as it, in a way is how Magwitch treated pip. Pip first meets Estella when he is asked to go and play at Miss Havishams home; from the moment he saw her he thought that she was beautiful when she takes him to see Miss Havisham he say that ‘she shines along the dark passage like a star’, and when he is asked by Miss Havisham what he thinks and feels about Estella the first thing he says without hesitation is ‘I think she is very pretty’.  Estella follows Miss Havisham’s every demand. Estella is repeatedly told to break pip heart by Miss Havisham and of course Estella does.  She is vulnerable towards Miss Havisham, and Pip is to her, he falls in love with her very easily even though Estella is very honest towards him by telling him not to and that she has no heart, she does allow him to kiss her on the cheek a few times, this keeps Pips love for her alive and it seems she is always present to Pip even absent. It is because of Estella Pip aspires to be a gentleman in his visits to Miss Havisham Estella frequently says things such as ‘with this boy?!, why he is a common labouring boy!’ and ‘..And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots’ this made Pip feels negative and embarrassed about himself when before he felt positive and comfortable.  Estella plays a big role in Pips childhood she was his first love and only love, Everything he does has a connection to her, he either does it to impress her or to get closer to her and many other things, if Pip had never of met Estella he would not be so determined to do the things he did, this is a good thing because Pip turned out to have a better life then he would of with Joe, but at the same time is heart is broken, which is not positive.