FREE ESSAY ON CHARLES DICKENS' NOVEL GREAT EXPECTATIONS

CHARLES DICKENS' NOVEL GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations is a very enjoyable book for the reader for many
reasons. Overall, Great Expectations is a novel that effectively depicts the emotions and
feelings of the characters in the story and has a plot that maintains the reader's
interest. These elements, along with others help to make the novel appealing for the
reader. 
When young boy by the name of Philip Pirrup (referred to a Pip by all that know him)
encounters an escaped convict in a churchyard, he is extorted to get food and a file for
the man. Once Pip retrieves these items for the man, he learns that the man is in fact,
an escaped convict. Pip, although being only seven at the time, was part of the group
that apprehended the convict.
For a few years following this event, Pip frequently visited extremely wealthy old women
named Miss Havisham. In the process, he falls in love with the woman's adopted daughter
named Estella. She, however, despises him for being common and not a gentleman and she
frequently puts him down and, on one occasion, causes him to cry. After about a year of
providing company, she tells him not to visit her any more and pays him for his
services.
Soon after, Pip is told that his prior plans to be a blacksmith (he was apprenticed to
his brother-in-law) were not to be and that he had come into Great Expectations. His
benefactor was to remain a secret until the person revealed himself or herself, but Pip
was certain that it was Miss Havisham. Pip was very happy not only because his new wealth
but also because he was certain that he was to marry Estella whom he still loved. Pip
moved to London where he befriended his new tutor's son and his guardian's co-worker.
Pip was quite shocked, however, when he found his benefactor to be not Miss Havisham, but
rather the same man who Pip helped to apprehend when he was a convict. Also his sister,
who had raised him since his parents died when he was very young, had died due to an
attack she had suffered months before. This devastated him in that he would no longer be
wed to Estella. When he professed his love to her, he learned that she was to be married
to a person whom he despised.
Pip later discovered that his benefactor, named Magwitch was the real father of Estella.
When Magwitch was captured and sentenced to death for past crimes he had committed, Pip
returns home to find that his friend and person whom he planned to marry instead of
Estella, had married Pip's brother-in-law after his sister was murdered. When Pip then
goes to Miss Havisham's deserted house, he finds Estella there whom he talks to about
their past relationship. Then they part for the last time, without Pip feeling badly
about it. *
Dickens incorporated many effective writing techniques in his style of writing which
makes the novel enjoyable to the reader. The techniques employed by Dickens help to add
reality to the book and help the reader understand the characters' feelings.
Dickens used several techniques in the story that made it more real to the reader. One
such technique that Dickens used was that of dialect. He used this by not only writing
the dialogue in the way that it would be said in terms of the sentence structure used in
the character's speech, but he also spelled out single words by the way in which the
character would pronounce them. This allowed the reader to almost know exactly how it
would sound had the character been talking right in front of them.
Dickens used the technique of dialect when the "commoners" spoke. A few instances of this
include when Joe spoke and said particular as "partickler." This juxtaposition of the
commoners' speech and that of the wealthy persons' articulated speech allows the reader
to understand the education difference between people of both classes.
Dickens also repeats and stresses certain things that are said and felt by the
characters. He does this when Pip, the narrator, continues to inform the reader of the
difference he feels between himself and Estella and the feeling he has of never being in
reach of having her. He also stresses Pip's misery and disgust when Pip learns whom his
benefactor truly is. Dickens states that the reason for Pip's unhappiness was due largely
to the fact that he was never intended for Estella and would not have her. Because of
this, the reader is able to understand the extent that Pip's love for Estella has on his
life and his feelings towards everything else in his life.
Dickens' use of analogies also adds to the realness of the story and to the reader's
understanding of it. With such analogies as Wemmick's mouth to be a post office, the
reader has a better sense of what exactly Wemmick looks like, and thus it adds to the
reader's sense of the look of the location, person, or object that is used in the
analogy. Also, since Dickens continued to use that word to refer to the particular object
used in the analogy, the reader is constantly reminded by its appearance and so instantly
remembers how it was first described. This allows the reader to know exactly what the
object or place looks like without Dickens having to describe it in detail again. *
Charles Dickens novel is enjoyable for the reader because of the techniques that he used
to make it more real to the reader. This was achieved by making the feelings and emotions
of the characters better understood by the reader and also the circumstances that induced
the feelings.
The book is made enjoyable due largely to the realness of it, which allows the reader to
fully understand the characters' emotions and feelings. When Dickens used a dialect for
the common people to speak in, it contrasted the differences in the education of the
classes. This distinguished between Pip and Estella and how different they were and what
Pip hoped to become so that he could be with Estella. When the difference that Pip feels
between them is stressed, the reader also understands better how much he cares for
Estella and how much it troubles him when he thinks that he can never be with her.
When Dickens is able to make the reader fully understand and relate to the feelings of
his characters, it get the reader's interest and gets the reader mentally involved with
the story line and its characters. When this happens, the reader enjoys the story more
since he can relate to the feelings of the characters, and thus he can relate to the
characters' situations more. This is a large reason for this novel's appeal to many
readers and makes it a very good literary work.