Dickens employs a rich variety of settings and characters to embody :: English Literature

Dickens employs a rich variety of settings and characters to embody the continual struggle between darkness and light central to his novel Great Expectations. Examine how the author has captured this symbolic battle â€Å"Great Expectations† By Charles Dickens Dickens employs a rich variety of settings and characters to embody the continual struggle between darkness and light central to his novel Great Expectations. Examine how the author has captured this symbolic battle, and how it has been dramatically linked to Pip’s ever-changing fortunes. Dickens captures the symbolic battle between the darkness and the light by employing a wide diversity of settings and characters to represent the ever-changing situations that Pip is in. The characters are always correlated to the background to convey the lessons that Dickens wants to show and he uses the characters to (more or less) tell the story, which gives the novel an almost theatrical, feel like the backgrounds are painted to suit the event. The author makes it easy for us to imagine the setting which creates these very dramatic, colourful backdrops in our imagination, by creating the mood and the atmosphere of the book. A continual question that is kept throughout the story is whether Pip’s aggressive side has anything to do with his working class background and how uneducated he is? As the reader we can only conclude this question right at the end of the novel, when Pip essentially aspires to his â€Å"Great Expectations† and his new status. Pip has two sides to his ever-changing character, a good side and a bad side which is very much influenced by where he is or what is happening. It becomes clear as the novel progresses that whenever Pip is with Mr Joe Gargery his, loving, kind side is always brought out. Joe is always linked to the brighter side of nature, a man who never thinks or talks ill of anyone. It is Joe’s influence and presence that is evidently replicated upon Pip in this quote â€Å"There I stood, for minutes, looking at Joe, already at work with a glow of health and strength upon his face that made it show as if the bright sun of the life in store for him were shining on it.† Whereas whenever Pip is in the company of Miss Havisham who is forever linked to darkness, death and decay †I saw Miss Havisham going along it in a ghostly manner, making a low cry†, â€Å"She sat, corpse-like† we are given the impression that Pip becomes torn between the two different worlds. This is due to the fact there is this bright star, Estella who brings light into