[Three soldiers, the first carrying a torch, the others with bayonets fixed, are leading Magwitch away in chains.] -- illustration for "Great Expectations" by John McLenan

[Three soldiers, the first carrying a torch, the others with bayonets fixed, are leading Magwitch away in chains.]

John McLenan

1860

10.5 cm high by 5.5 cm wide

Dickens's Great Expectations,

Harper's Weekly 4 (8 December 1860): 773

Not reproduced in the T. B. Peterson single-volume edition of 1861

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL.]

The illustrator emphasises the threat that Magwitch appeared to pose society by showing the scene in which soldiers with bayonets fixed lead away the recaptured convict. The smoking torch underscores the fact that this is a night scene, an effect to which the general blurriness of all but the first rank of soldiers contributes. Marsh reeds and cattails in the foreground economically establish the setting as the Thames marshes. Shortly Magwitch will exonerate Pip of the theft of the "wittles" from Mrs. Gargery's pantry.

References