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Acts of forgiveness
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The extract is introduced: Miss Havisham has just written a note to her lawyer agreeing to pay Pip a sum of money to be invested in Herbert's career. The extract includes Miss Havisham asking Pip to write 'I forgive her' and Pip responding that he can do it now before she kneels, weeps and cries, 'What have I done! What have I done!'
Explore how Dickens presents acts of forgiveness, in this extract and elsewhere in the novel.
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Marking points
- 1 Discusses the printed extract and elsewhere in the novel.
- 2 Explores acts of forgiveness rather than only retelling plot.
- 3 Analyses Dickens's methods and context.
- 4 Maintains accurate written expression for SPaG credit.
Full-mark answer
A strong answer would treat Miss Havisham's plea as both desperate and transformative, comparing Pip's immediate forgiveness with other moments involving Joe, Estella and Magwitch. It would analyse religious language, kneeling and weeping imagery, and the novel's growth-and-justice context.
Why this answer loses marks
Pip forgives Miss Havisham in the extract.
This is extract-only: it needs links to other forgiveness moments and analysis of Dickens’s methods and context.