Charles Dickens makes it clear that most of the action of Great Expectations take place in London and Kent. Identifying the locations is generally easy as Dickens specifically provides names of the setting. It is the time of the story that gets a little more difficult to pin down. Dickens does provide a few clues that help us narrow this down though.
In chapter 53, a match is described as being the source of a fire.
He lighted the candle from the flaring match with great deliberation, and dropped the match, and trod it out.
Friction matches were invented in 1826, so we can assume that the action takes place after this year. When Pip leaves London for Sattis House, there is no mention of railroads, which did not come to London until 1837. Perhaps this is an oversight, or it is a deliberate omission because the city did not have a railroad at the time of the story. Another clue occurs in chapter 36 when Mr. Wemmick lists all the bridges along the Thames. He fails to mention the Hungerford Bridge which was built in 1845, so we know for sure that the story takes place before this year. We can, therefore, be sure that the story most likely takes place between 1826 and 1837, and definitely not after 1845.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
What are the details in the story that reveal time and space in Great Expectations?
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