Essay Example on There are many literary techniques of writing that Charles Dickens

There are many literary techniques of writing that Charles Dickens constantly demonstrates in his novel Great Expectations These include emotional dialogue suspense point of view as well as the use of imagery and symbolism As seen in the excerpt above Dickens loves detail and spinning elegant language His wordiness creates for long overdrawn sentences yet his use of elegant language and detail draws in the reader and further creates an atmosphere of suspense The mood of the entire novel is one of mystery tension and thrilling suspense The most memorable opening scene in which the orphaned Pip kneeling and weeping over his parents graves is frightened by a figure emerging from the mists It is the runaway convict Magwitch From this moment onward the sinister note of criminality taints every major character Part of the poetry of Dickens s work lies in its its supercharged emotional atmosphere yet Dickens knew how to utilize comic relief Through his many touches of humour Dickens was able to amuse the reader and further draw them in and keep them engaged His wordiness is often used to create humor as are his characters names 

Among the most amusing of the characters are the flirtatious Wemmick the grotesque Old Bill Barley and the hypocritical Mr Pumblechook In addition Dickens uses intense emotional dialogue to further draw readers into the story For example a wealthy spinster Miss Havisham goes crazy after being defrauded and left at the altar by her lover Years later she finds emotional satisfaction by instructing her stepdaughter Estella to manipulate Pip and toy with his emotions Miss Havisham insincerely tells Pip Love her love her love her If she favours you love her If she wounds you love her If she tears your heart to pieces love her love her love her Not only does Dickens use emotional dialogue he also uses a lot of repetition For example the repetition of love her adds emphasis Furthermore Charles Dickens uses a unique format of narration The narrator of Great Expectations is an adult who relates the narrative in his own voice but he tells the story from his memory rather than as it happens The story gains its depth from the back and forth motion between describing the experience of the young child and mediating it through the lens of the adult Pip in fact arranges his narrative for the greatest effect For example though he could have revealed early on that it is Magwitch to whom he owes his great expectations he withholds that bit of information until the crucial moment so that we can feel the shock he experienced Pip is not a static but a developing character who is molded and remolded by the people and experiences he meets Because the effects of those meetings are seen from inside the protagonist the entire psychological being is developed By taking the reader within the hero's mind 

Dickens presents a full portrait of the man growing from the boy The reader is not allowed to be just an external observer but experiences Pip's maturation from the vantage point of his the reader's own feelings Moreover Charles Dickens utilizes dirt and filth imagery to symbolize the immortality of society and display the differentiation between Pip s previous life and his life in London When Pip first comes to London with his perceived ideas of a rich and flashy city he sees rather the opposite I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly crooked narrow and dirty 151 The opposition between between London s dirtiness and Mrs Joe s profuse cleaning of the house showcases the imminent feeling of differences in expectation of the city of London and future for Pip When he finally sees London for himself Pip receives the actuality with disappointment and disgust and later he often affiliates the dirt and filth with criminals In evidence as he waits in Mr Jaggers office Pip observes that the clients seemed to have had a habit of backing up against the wall being greasy with shoulders 151 These greasy shoulders exhibit the outside demeanor of the criminals as well as symbolize the character of those dealing with Mr Jaggers Constantly washing his hands his eccentric habit also emphasizes that he does not want to involve or fraternize with these people Furthermore when Pip decides to take a trip around London after he arrives he again describes the dirt near the prison the shameful place being all a smear with filth and fat and blood and foam which seemed to stick to me 152 Dickens specifically displays the prison as a dirty place to distinguish it from Mrs Joe s house as he presents that house with taintless ness People in the prison stand in the same class as Pip s relatives not wealthy just common but their values differ and cause Pip s aversion towards them In conclusion Dickens s imagery of dirt and filth penetrates the peak of abhorrence of those nefarious dealers with society placing them in an analogy with scum and uses the contrast between Pip s childhood and London to display his abhorrence toward the displacement of people’s values