Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? You do this essay by studying how Dickens creates sympathy for THREE characters: • Pip • Magwitch • Miss Haversham So you write your essay in 3 sections: Pip And having done it for Pip, you repeat it for Magwitch and Miss Haversham Magwitch Miss Haversham Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? At its most basic level, the answer to this is that Dickens tells us things about them that make us feel sorry for them – that make us ‘warm’ to them as characters. (THIS is where you show that you understand the story.) So you write this: Pip In the story… Dickens tells me … and this makes me like Pip because… And having done it for Pip, you repeat it for Magwitch and Miss Haversham Magwitch In the story… Miss Haversham In the story… Great Expectations CWK Pip In the story… This will get you a pass at Grade G/F – showing that you understand the story. Magwitch In the story… Miss Haversham In the story… Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? To get a higher grade than G/F, you need to show that you understand how Dickens uses language to affect his reader (you) – to make you sympathise with his characters. Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? So you need to add paragraphs for each character showing how Dickens uses things like detail, lists, repetition, adjectives, comedy, dialect etc., and how these affect the reader. (THIS is where you show that you understand English.) So you write this: Pip In the story… Dickens tells me … and this makes me like Pip because… By his language… Dickens uses the technique of… and this affects me to like Pip because… and repeat for… Magwitch In the story… By his language… Miss Haversham In the story… By his language… Great Expectations CWK Pip In the story… By his language… This will get you a pass at Grade E/D and perhaps higher – explaining how Dickens uses English to create sympathy. Magwitch In the story… By his language… Miss Haversham In the story… By his language… Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? To secure a Grade C or go higher… you will need also to show that you understand about the book in its historical context. Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? One way you can do this is by adding in: 1. General comments about each character. 2. General comments about the book in its historical context. Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? You can get all the information you need to do this from the BBC Bitesize site… http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize /english_literature/prosegreatexpect/ Great Expectations CWK For character: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/pros egreatexpect/2prose_greatexpect_charrev1.shtml Great Expectations CWK For context: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/pros egreatexpect/0prose_greatexpect_contrev1.shtml Brief description of the book in its context Pip Brief character-description of Pip In the story… Dickens tells me … and this makes me like Pip because… By his language… Dickens uses the technique of… and this affects me to like Pip because… Magwitch Brief character-description In the story… By his language… Miss Haversham Brief character-description In the story… By his language… Great Expectations CWK How does Dickens create sympathy for his characters in Great Expectations? So your finished essay should go like this… Brief description of the book in its context Pip Brief character-description of Pip In the story… Dickens tells me … and this makes me like Pip because… By his language… Dickens uses the technique of… and this affects me to like Pip because… Magwitch Brief character-description In the story… By his language… Miss Haversham Brief character-description In the story… By his language…