Discussion Topic
Dickens' Techniques for Building Suspense and Atmosphere in Great Expectations
Summary:
In Great Expectations, Dickens masterfully builds suspense and atmosphere through vivid descriptions and unexpected events. In the opening scene, tension arises from the bleak, isolated graveyard setting and the sudden appearance of the convict Magwitch, who terrifies young Pip. The suspense continues in Chapter 4 as Pip fears exposure during a tense Christmas dinner. In Chapter 32, foreshadowing and suspense are heightened by Pip's prison visit, evoking memories of his encounter with Magwitch, and an ominous "nameless shadow" suggests future developments.
How does Dickens create tension and fear in Chapter One of Great Expectations?
Charles Dickens creates tension in Chapter One of Great Expectations with atmosphere and setting.
Young Pip comes to the churchyard in the marsh, a "bleak place overgrown with nettles." There he looks at the five graves of his dead brothers. Past the churchyard is the marshes and beyond it a "low leaden line" that is the river.
...the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.
Into this dismal atmosphere enters "a fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg." He is covered in mud, limping from leg irons, with cuts from thorns and briars, and shivering in the cold. When he comes up to Pip, growling and with teeth chattering, the boy is terrified. This man takes Pip and shakes him upside down in...
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order to find if anything is in his pockets. He frightens Pip into bringing him a file and some vittles. Then he leaves, and as he does so, Pip watches him go. Again the atmosphere is dark and oppressive, an atmosphere of fear and tension:
The marshes were just a long black horizontal line then, as I stopped to look after him; and the river was just another horizontal line, not nearly so broad nor yet so black; and the sky was just a row of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed.
With this dark, frightening atmosphere around him, Pip hurries home to find vittles for this growling and threatening man.
In Great Expectations, how does Dickens maintain interest in Chapter 1 through characters and atmosphere?
Dickens starts off his classic novel "Great Expectations" with a great hook--he has a vicious escaped criminal threaten a poor, innocent boy into helping him to survive and escape. That in and of itself is enough to elicit the interest and continued patronage of any reader. We are launched right into intense action--the grizzled and terrifying criminal threatens to cut Pip's throat if he doesn't help out; that is a page-turner for sure. So, the actual plotline and action add greatly to the first chapter's interest level.
The characters in the first chapter are also very well-written. Pip gives his brief background, and we are kept interested through his frank tone, and open way of expressing himself. Then, the descriptions of the escaped convict are fascinating. Dickens writes,
"A fearful man...who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head."
This great description grabs our interest right away; he is so obviously distressed and worn that we have to wonder what he has been through. Add that to his threats to Pip, and it is a fascinating character indeed.
Then, you have the setting; it is set in the marsh-land, on a foggy, cold day, in a graveyard of all places. It's like a really great setting for a horror movie. There is mystery, creepiness, and tombstones all around. This makes the story quite intriguing; the fact that the action occurs in a cemetary makes it more interesting and exciting. We wonder about ghosts, and the level of anxiety and danger is raised.
Dickens does a great job, through the opening action, the character descriptions, and the setting, and getting the attention of readers right off the bat. I hope that helped; good luck!
How does the author build suspense at the end of chapter 4 in Great Expectations?
In Chapter 4 of Great Expectations, a tortured Pip suffers through Christmas dinner, expecting that someone will discover that he has stolen from his sister and Joe to aid an escaped convict.
During the meal, Mrs. Joe complains to her guests about what a burden it has been to raise Pip, which obviously creates an uncomfortable situation for him--and causes him to clutch the table leg for the entire meal. Then, Mrs. Joe offers her guests brandy, which causes more anxiety in Pip, because he took brandy to the convict and replaced it with tar-water. Uncle Pumblechook drinks the tar-water, has a violent coughing fit, and the incident ends with Mrs. Joe exclaiming, "Tar! Why, how ever should tar come there?"
Before anyone pursues the answer to this question, Mrs. Joe decides to retrieve and serve the pork pie she has made for the dinner, which Pip has also stolen. As Mrs. Joe heads for the pantry, the fear becomes too much for Pip:
I have never been absolutely certain whether I uttered a shrill yell of terror, merely in spirit, or in the bodily hearing of the company. I felt that I could bear no more, and that I must run away. I released the leg of the table, and ran for my life.
Just as Pip flees, soldiers intercept him at the front door. Though they are there to seek Joe's help in repairing a set of handcuffs, Pip thinks they are there to arrest him for stealing.
Obviously, Dickens creates a very uncomfortable situation for the young Pip, showing his growing anxiety during what should have been a pleasant holiday dinner.
How does Dickens create suspense and foreshadowing in chapter 32 of Great Expectations?
Dickens gives us (and Pip for that matter) great hope in a relationship between Pip and Estella. Pip receives a letter that says Estella is coming to town and he is to meet her. This makes readers believe that for all this time while we have watched Estella mock and abuse Pip, there just may be that glimmer of hope for him with her. Now, it feels to the reader like a relationship for them is not only possible but probable. While readers get anxious right along with Pip, Dickens drives the story away from Estella.
Wemmick comes along and takes Pip to Newgate Prison. A prison is an ironic place to go considering what Estella's treatment to Pip over the years has done. This negative experience might make readers wonder, is this meeting between Pip and Estella going to be any different, or is Pip yet again bound to the life from which he began. The prison experience is also a connection to who he finds out is his benefactor as well as to what we learn about his connection to a convict in the very beginning.
Finally, the chapter ends with an ominous question:
What was the nameless shadow which again in that one instant had passed?
A shadow could be so many things. It could refer to the past or the future. It could refer to a bad experience. It is unnamed, so once again we are guessing. But, it is a clue and you will be able to put it all together in the end!