I know this may seem very inconvenient, but I need utmost help in my english coursework, as I'm on study leave, and I've lost my english notes on where I had gone wrong (year 11 = worst year of my life so far)!! If you can't help me, could you give me a hint please? P.s Its a work in Progress Can anybody take a look at this essay and see if its alright or awful?? Criticism in need here! What techniques were used to introduce Charles ****ens' Characters in the opening chapters of Great Expectations? Charles ****ens presents his characters from his novels in such a powerful way, that he shows a depth of understanding, and an immense imagination. ****ens was born in 1812, and the early years of his life were spent viewing life amongst the Thames as he went with his father on a boat and on the shores. In Charles ****ens' later life, he became a solicitor’s clerk; then a reporter, with only his wits and talent, although he did not receive the education, the support of money and influence, which gave him a slight disadvantage to life. ****ens was no stranger to struggle and poverty yet he became extremely successful as a writer, and soon enough, he was writing novels in serial form every day in his own magazines. The end of each episode would contain a nail-biting cliff-hanger. He would also reinforce his characters in each chapter, including the development of their characteristics. ****ens exaggerates the portrait of each character and its personality; Magwich with his harsh threats and growls, Mr Jaggers with his mystery and enigma all around him, or Herbert, with his upbeat sense of humour and modest attitude. They are all characters that are portrayed as larger-than-life by ****ens as I will explain. ****ens was a journalist by trade, so it would have seem to suggest that he had a specialist ear for hearing the vast amounts of dialects in London. He gives Magwich a strong dialect, as it is of his techniques of characterization, which helps the reader imagine him. Magwich is one of ****ens' greatest inventions in the novel ‘Great Expectations’ - he leaps out at the reader at the start, haunts Pip as he grows up, has that sense of mystery of wanting to know more about him and returns to satisfy his needs later on in the book. At the start of the novel, Magwich escapes from the hulks (old warships used as prisons), and meets Pip on the marshes. He then frightens Pip by turning the young pale boy upside down, to see if there was any food or money to scavenge. ****ens first describes him as; ‘A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes…he limped, and shivered, and glared and growled’ This implies that Magwich was a terrible man, and the fact that he had no hat and had broken shoes showed us that he may have been an escaped convict. He was probably limping since the iron on his leg had such a hefty weight that he could have only suffered so much that his attitude showed it, thus making it a bad time for Pip to come across at such a time. Since Magwich’s previous history of being convicted, life must have treated him so badly that it could have make him behave "You get me a file." He tilted me again. "And you get me wittles." He tilted me again. "You bring 'em both to me." He tilted me again. "Or I'll have your heart and liver out."’ Magwich would have been one of millions that would have gone to prison for being in debt, crime, or just being a nuisance to the public during an earlier part of his life. When he threatens Pip to get his heart and liver out if he did not get a file and wittles, this shows to the readers just how desperate he is to get his leg free from the iron that trapped it from freedom, and for some food to eat. He must have felt it was the only way, to threaten somebody to get him something but on one price, they don’t tell the police. The dialogue gives the audience an impression that he is really a malevolent character when he actually is not that malevolent. Magwich also has another side of him, but it is only shown at the end of his introduction of being this fearful fellow; ‘”I wish I was a frog. Or an eel!” At the same time, he hugged his shuddering body in both his hands… And limped towards the Low Church wall. I looked over my shoulder, and saw him going on again towards the river, still hugging himself in both arms, and picking his way with his sore feet among the great stones dropped into the marshes here and there.’ This portrays a different vision of Magwich, and the readers feel more sympathy than hatred, for threatening the main character, Pip, to give him wittles and a file, or else his heart would be torn apart. When Magwich wishes himself to be a frog or an eel, it would probably be since he was feeling so cold, and if he was a frog or an eel, because they adapt so well to the cold, that if he were one of those animals, not only would he feel much better, but he would not have to worry about such a thing like finding food or going to jail, as the nature of the animals do not have such laws. The readers feel that Magwich seems to be in such suffering and pain, yet the overwhelming sense the reader has is of Magwich as a villain. Mr. Jaggers plays a pivotal role in the novel, Great Expectations. We are first introduced to him in Chapter 11, where Pip encounters the rather condescending barrister on the stairs of Satis House, belonging to Ms. Havisham. Pip, the narrator, describes Mr. Jaggers as; "A burly man of an exceedingly dark complexion." We cannot help but notice that he an extremely unfair fellow, by virtue of him holding Pip's chin and being almost sure that Pip was of "a bad set of fellows" although he had scarcely known Pip for two minutes, and here he was, being insulted by Mr.Jaggers. ****ens portrays him in a humorous description; ‘He was a burly man of an exceedingly dark complexion, with an exceedingly large head, and a corresponding large hand…He was prematurely bold on the top of his head, and he had bushy eyebrows that wouldn’t lie down, but stood up bristling. His eyes were set very deep into his head, and were disagreeably sharp and suspicious… His hands smelt of scented soap.’ This gives a picture to the reader’s mind that Mr. Jaggers was a middle aged arrogant man, whose bushy eyebrows which stood up bristling gives his face character. His eyes that looked sharp and suspicious also give intensity that there is more than meets the eye for the character of Mr.Jaggers; ‘“You’re too late,” said Mr Jaggers. “I am over the way… I am,” said Mr Jaggers, “and there’s an end to it. Get out of the way.” Mr Jaggers suddenly became more irate. You infernal scoundrel, how dare you tell ME that?”’ This indicates not only how well he speaks, but of his arrogance. He is the epitome of callousness and displays the very least human feelings and affection to anyone he may ever know. The reader has a clear view of Mr Jaggers, as a criminal defence lawyer, for that he deals with many underworld clients. ****ens has created the sense of mystery as Mr Jaggers has no background history, making the character seem very mysterious and isolated from all the other characters. He is well respected in his own dubious social circle, and is most well known for his ability to defend even the dregs of society; ‘“Now, I warned you before,” said he, throwing his forefinger at the terrified client, “that if you ever presumed to talk in that way here, I’d make an example of you. This character, Herbert Pocket introduces himself in Great Expectations, Pip first meets Herbert in the garden of Satis House, when, as a pale young gentleman, Herbert challenges him to a fight. Years later, they meet again in London, and Herbert becomes Pip’s best friend and key companion after Pip’s elevation to the status of gentleman. We cannot help but only admire his sense of spirit and his best for Pip, thus helping him and the main character grow in their friendship in every aspect; “I looked in at another window, and found myself, to my great surprise, exchanging a broad stare with a pale, young gentleman with red eyelids and light hair and then came at me with an air and a show that made me believe he really was going to do for me at last. He got heavily bruised, for I am sorry to record that the more I hit him, the harder I hit him; but, he came up again and again and again, until at last he got a bad fall with the back of his head against the wall. He seemed so brave and innocent." ****ens gives the readers a vision of Herbert being very innocent, and though he is assumingly weak, due to his pale self, he is an upbeat, amiable young fellow that loves to mess around. He seems like the playful character to the audience and Pip, also thinks that his spirit was great, but the fact that he had no strength appealed to him losing in the fight at the end; '"Halloa!" said he, "Come and fight," said the pale young gentleman… In a most irritating manner he instantly slapped his hands against one another, daintily flung one of his legs up behind him, pulled my hair, slapped his hands again, dipped his head, and butted it into my stomach. "Laws of the game!" said he. Here, he skipped from his left leg on to his right. "Regular rules!’’ He did all sorts of things while I looked helplessly at him.' ****ens gave Herbert a great dialect, and the character itself seemed very kind, quite sensible and he always goes by the rules. The audience sees him as being annoying to Pip, who thinks that Herbert is a strange fellow. Despite being an irritant one, he seemed to be quite courteous, and this shows that as the story progresses, up to the point where they meet again, they develop their friendship. Herbert is one which would have been called an unusual character, but the readers find him amiable, in any way whatsoever.
Hmm.. I'm not sure but I know when I was in high school we had to lay out our quotes a certain way. Are you looking for punctuation errors? If so you have a few " . " and " ; " missing at the end of your paragraphs. If not I couldn't tell you what was wrong, I think its done nicely. Better than any essay I'd ever written! : D
The punctuation errors seem pretty minimal. You didn't list the requirements, so its a bit hard to say if you followed those. I'd say it is fine, though. LMAO, the filter edited "D!ckens" xD
