Greg Barker

Crime and CriminalityExplore the ways in which Dickens explores the issues of crime and criminality, with particular reference to the characters of Magwich, Orlick, Compeyson, Bentley Drummle and Jaggers.In Great Expectations, Dickens delves deeply into the realm of crime and criminality. There are many references to criminals in the story. The first criminal to be mentioned is the escaped convict Pip meets on the marshes when he is little. The criminal, later revealed to be Magwich is portrayed as being, desperate and hungry. He threatens Pip with another convict who will eat his heart unless he is brought some whittles and a file. This other convict with whom Pip is threatened doesnt exist. He is just used by Magwich as a scare tactic. When Pip returns with the whittles he accidently bumps into another convict (who is later revealed to be Compeyson). This other convict runs off. When pip does find Magwich he appears very grateful towards pip for helping him. Pip appears to be scared but still has pity for the convict. When the soldiers are out on the marshes with Pip and Joe, pip says, I hope, Joe we shant find him. Joe agrees that he doesnt want the convict to get caught. Joe treats Magwich a lot better than the soldiers. When Magwich apologises for eating the pie, Joe says, God knows you're welcome to it--so far as it was ever mine . . . We don't know what you have done, but we wouldn't have you starved to death for it, poor miserable felllow-creatur" (Ch. 6) Dickens is suggesting that we should feel compassion for Magwich. It is as though he had no other way to survive other than by stealing.The first impressions we get of Magwich are a lot different to those of Compeyson. Pip says he appears as,A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A 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 as he seized me by the chin. (ch.1)

This implies that he is hard worn; he has been living in the wild for a long time. Dickens makes us feel sorry for him, Joe also backs this up by saying to Pip that he hopes they dont catch him. Later in the novel we see Magwich in a slightly different light. We see he didnt really have any choice but to commit crime and that when he was deported he worked intensely to earn a good living, of which most he sent back to Pip to make him a gentleman, as a form of repayment for Pip helping him on the marshes. We see aspects that make him a much better person than most of the other people in the book. All the way through the novel he is presented as a suffering human being.Pips first impressions of Compeyson are when Compeyson runs away from Pip on Sight. He instinctively tries to hit Pip as soon as he draws near, he also has a bruise on his face. He is shown as a coward.Later on in the book, it is revealed that he is a professional swindler. He is also the man that jilted Miss Havesham at the altar. When he was tried with Magwich he shifted all the blame on Magwich, as to get a lighter sentence. This backs up the idea of him being a coward. The society Dickens is depicting is one in which people think that rich and upper class people are good, innocent and would never do anything bad, in reality, he was the one who led Magwich to crime.Drummle and Orlick seem to be very different as they are both at opposite ends of the social scale, but in other ways they are very similar. They are both large, brutish and arrogant. I think Dickens does this to show that not only poor lower class people can be criminals. Orlick is said to always slouch and never be in a hurry, and was a swarthy fellow of great strength. Later on in the novel he attempts to murder Mrs Joe. Drummle was said to be sulky, heavy in figure, movement and comprehension. These two descriptions make them seem very similar. Jaggers says that Drummle with Estella either beats or cringes. Meaning he will either beat Estella or will cringe from her. This shows that Jaggers can tell when someone has the natural criminal instinct within them. He first says this in Ch. 26, when he says, Keep as clear of him as you can. But I like the fellow, Pip; he is one of the true sort.In chapter 43 Pip sees Drummle on his horse and the way he sits reminds him of Orlick. This also happens when Orlick lights Drummles Cigar.Jaggers seems very good at identifying whether a person is a natural criminal. He does this with Drummle and his servant, Molly. When Jaggers first appears in Great Expectations Pip notices a strong smell of soap around Mr Jaggers. It is later shown that he washes his hands after every trial as if he is washing the blood off his hands. This reminds us of Pontius Pilate and how after Jesus was sentenced, he washed his hands of the responsibility, even though it still rested in his hands.His office has 2 casts of faces on the wall, of dead clients. They seem to be a warning to people to behave or that might be what theyll end up like. He seems to represent justice in the novel although it is made clear at one point that he will bend justice to get his way. It is revealed that Jaggers twisted the evidence to get Molly off a murder charge which she obviously committed. He took her child and gave it to Miss Havesham to look after. He did this to protect the child as he had seen too many children being punished by the justice system and wanted to save just one. He said that if he saved the mother then the child would be saved, if he didnt save the mother then the child would still be saved. He didnt want to tell Estella of her true parentage as it would

Dickens takes a very liberal stance towards criminals in Great Expectations. He portrays some of them as being misunderstood, implying that they only commit crimes because they have no choice. He portrays this mainly through Magwich, Others he shows as being true criminals, who deserve to be punished, i.e. Compeyson and Orlick. He also shows how the lower classes are often more sympathetic towards criminals than the upper classes. Joe and Pip are sympathetic towards Magwich at the start, on the marshes, but when Pip becomes a gentleman he looks down on him at first, when Magwhich turns up at his house.

When Magwich is dying, waiting for his execution, Pip goes to visit him every day. On his last day Pip notices that his eyes have lit up. Pip also tells him that he has a daughter and that his daughter is Estella. Just after this Magwich dies a quiet and peaceful death. Pip asks God to be merciful of him.

It is revealed that Jaggers twisted the evidence to get Molly off a murder charge which she obviously committed. He took her child and gave it to Miss Havesham to look after. He did this to protect the child as he had seen too many children being punished by the justice system and wanted to save just one. He said that if he saved the mother then the child would be saved, if he didnt save the mother then the child would still be saved. He didnt want to tell Estella of her true parentage as it would ruin her reputation among the upper class if her true origins as the daughter of criminals. It would give Drummle ammunition to use against her. He did what he did to save her.

Bibliography

Dickens, C. (1860) Great Expectations. London: Penguin Classics.