Dramatic irony Essay

Chapter 18/19 is a link between the first stage of Pips ‘Great Expectations’ and the third stage. Pip is in the 4th year of Pip’s apprenticeship to Joe. A stranger unexpectedly approaches with bullying legal manners. The stranger is Jaggers, a London Lawyer, who announces that Pip has inherited ‘great expectations’ and therefore great fortune from a mysterious benefactor. He will now have to leave the forge and be educated as a gentleman. Pip is warned that the terms of the contract. He must not seek to know the name of the benefactor, and must also keep his nickname of ‘Pip’. This reminds us that there will be continuity between the apprentice and the gentleman. Due to circumstantial evidence Pip assumes, and is convinced that Miss Havisham is his benefactor. (Miss Havisham is a wealthy spinster, turned fanatical and cruel, after being jilted on her wedding day. He spent many childhood days at her house-Satis house to play with Pip’s ‘love’, Estella, her adopted daughter-regardless of being made bitter hearted by Havisham). He remembers seeing Jaggers at Satis house and notes that his tutor to be Matthew Pocket. It is best if she is his benefactor as they are ‘related’. This is the only way he can be a ‘real’ gentleman. However, Jaggers warns us that we have no authority for this opinion. Joe refuses to accept compensation for the loss of his apprentice, Pip. He exclaims â€Å"Pip is that hearty welcome†¦to go free with his services, to honour, and fortun’ as no words can tell him. But if you think money can compensate to me for the loss of the little child-what come to the forge-and ever the best of friends! – -â€Å"This tells us that Pip’s happiness and wellbeing is genuinely important to Joe, he has no qualms about the ‘greater opportunities’ that Pip can gain. Not only are they relatives, on a more sincere level, they are good friends too. Pip is very happy about the fact that he is going to finally be able to follow his ambitions of becoming a gentleman. Before he goes he notices something, â€Å"I saw Joe†¦he never smoked so late, and it seemed to hint to me that he wanted comforting, for some reason or another†. His recognition is hindered by the reason that he can not understand how much Joe cares about him, or why he is even sad, this signifies a further crack in their relationship. Pip resents the touch of sadness in the congratulations of Joe and Biddy. As he goes to bed, he is surprised that his good fortune makes him feel considerably lonely, â€Å"lost in the mazes of my future fortunes†¦ could not trace the paths we had trodden together†. A key emotion that deepens is illustrated. On Pip taking a last walk on the marshes, he dismisses the memory of the convict-thinking that he will never see him again, after all these years. He already starts acting like a snob, planning generous disdain towards the villagers. He even asks Biddy (Joe’s wife after the death of Mrs Joe) to improve Joe’s manners in order to fit him for a ‘higher sphere’. When Biddy answers that Joe has his own pride, Pip accuses her of envy. Pip’s snobbish demeanour results in his refusal to be seen with Joe, despite Joe being a continuous, stable and almost father like, loving figure to him. Pip leaves for London alone, but is seized with remorse on the coach † So subdued I was by those tears..I deliberated with an aching heart.† The reader has little sympathetic approach to see him feeling terrible. Joe and Biddy’s dignity contrasts with the behaviour of everyone else. Everyone else contains hopes to use Pip’s fortune for their own ends; demonstrations of artificial kindness/warmth towards him are made. Dickens lets us know that there are many people around who are quite selfishly on the pursuit for filling their own short comings, but there are also some people who aren’t. Lower class people are depicted ‘truly loving’. The last phrase in this chapter creates a stepping stone for the climax of the story. â€Å"The world lay spread before me†. This indicates that Pip is losing his innocence and is about to enter a world of sin. Pip’s division of mind’, is illustrated by rapid changes in mood; elation to resentment (‘I feel offended’) and condescension (‘handsomely forgiving her’). We are bought about to a sense that things may end with wistfulness and loneliness for Pip. In chapter 39 the narrative shows that Pip isn’t completely happy about the way his life has turned out.† I was alone and had the dull sense of being alone†. This shows that Pip’s pursuit of his ‘great expectations’ has led him to great loneliness. Pip is ‘dispirited and anxious’, he is still ‘long hoping’, and ‘long disappointed’. This suggests that he has some issues about what he has happened. Even though he has got the big opportunity to become a gentleman, his life still feels like there is a missing element, which he has been yearning for, for a long time-shown by the repetition of the word ‘long’, this could be love. The scene is set on a particularly ‘ferocious’, ‘gloomy’ stormy night. The weather is very unsettled. â€Å"It was wretched weather; stormy and wet; mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets. Day after day†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Dickens uses repetition to emphasize the significance and effects of Magwitch’s resurface. Irony plays a major role here, compellingly helping to set the mood of the scene. Stormy weather/atmosphere is used to convey an artifice of uncertainty embarking around Pip, connecting first chapter. Pip’s feelings are expressed, throwing us back to the graveyard scene. Dramatic irony is finely tuned here preparing us for Magwitch’s much anticipated return. The lights have gone out, due to the bad weather. Dramatically this shows that Magwitch has arrived, and ironically he is about to ‘blow out the light of Pips life’-being a gentleman. Magwitch has come to meet Pip, he represents the voice from the ‘darkness beneath’ coming up. Pip can’t see Magwitch properly, and so does not know that it is him. The expression on the mysterious visitors face both puzzles and annoys Pip, he feels unsure about the person, but the man gives off the impression that he is happy to have met him.† In the instant I had seen a face that was strange to me, looking up with an incomprehensible air of being touched and pleased by the sight of me†. Pip resents the ‘bright and gratified recognition that still shone on his (strangers’) face†, he is weary of the ‘stranger’. He doesn’t want to respond to him and he shows this by inhospitably asking him questions, he thinks that he doesn’t know who he is. The description of ‘the strangers’ appearance is an indication from Dickens that shows that ironically this is Magwitch. Magwitch looks ‘substantially dressed, but roughly’, showing that although he has made a great deal of money, his old habits/ status have still stayed with him, his look ‘voyager by the sea’ indicates that this man has travelled far to get here, Magwitch came from Australia, where he was last taken. He is muscular, in particular ‘strong on his legs’, shows that he could runaway quite easily in spite of his age. Magwitch is ‘browned and hardened’ as a result of exposure to harsh weather and labour. His hair is ‘iron grey’; like irons that convicts would wear to prevent them from escaping. Dickens is trying to relate Magwitch to the realities of crime, to show Pip and both the reader that it was near impossible to shake of the image of crime, even if you had made a large fortune to show as well, at the time. The man’s actions are a clue that he is in fact Magwitch. He continually holds out both of Pip’s hands, which Pip ‘reluctantly gives’, ‘grasping them heartily’ and kisses them. This shows a relationship between them, although a large number of years since contact have passed. The narrative shows Pip’s reaction to be ‘a stupid kind of amazement’ towards the stranger holding out his hands to him. Pip is ‘half suspecting him to be mad’, and ‘wished him gone’, which shows the lack of affection that Pip feels towards a man who clearly shows him some. Dickens is carefully dripping in the truth for added affect. The dialogue explains how Pip recognises the ‘stranger’, (shaking his head with deliberate affection): â€Å"You’re a game one’†¦I’m glad you’ve grown up, a game one! But don’t catch hold of me. You’d be sorry afterwards to have done it†. Magwitch tells Pip that he shouldn’t try to stop him, last time Pip almost got into trouble for helping him. Magwitch just wants to meet Pip and then he will leave. The audience knows that the ‘stranger’ is Magwitch, where up until now Pip doesn’t. The dialogue and narrative proves, to everyone, that the man is Magwitch. He reveals news about his life in Australia. He lets us know how he made his fortune, through land and stock, especially the tough agricultural industry. He has been a stock farmer, a sheep farmer and ‘other trades beside’. Magwitch reveals, by hints, that he is Pip’s benefactor. He coyly pretends to ‘guess’ important facts about Pip and his coming of fortunes. â€Å"†¦income since you come of age†¦first figure, now. Five†¦ there ought to have been some guardian (while he was a minor) †¦the first letter of that lawyer’s name, now. Would it be J?† Pips’ reaction to the news comes as a blow to him; the moment of truth of his position is powerfully portrayed through the language, narrative, and description. â€Å"†¦its disappointments, dangers, disgraces, consequences of all kinds rushed in such multitude that I was borne down †¦ struggle to breath†. The effective use of descriptive alliteration and long sentence structure vividly highlights Pips overwhelming flight of emotions that come ‘flashing down’ upon him. He is especially disgusted as his hopes of being a gentleman have come crashing down, almost like a feeling reflected by the weather, ‘a vast heavy veil driving over’ him. His distress is exemplified by the fact that he deserted his loyal friend Joe for the life that the convict Magwitch has given.