Am I Wemmick?

Dickens' play with appearances is also highlighted in his characterization of Wemmick. Wemmick lives a dual life at home and at work. At work, he is Mr. Jagger's "yes man," and is devoted to imitating his boss. In contrast, as Wemmick approaches his home, a gradual softening of his character becomes apparent. In fact, the Wemmick who resides in his "castle," is a good example of a "true gentleman;" however, he cannot retain the title as it contradicts the drastic change in his character at work. Poor Wemmick must put on a mask in order to survive all of the horrible and immoral acts of people he is forced to deal with on a daily basis.
http://www.geocities.com/little_smurf/charles_dickens/essay.htm accessed on 21 Sep 04


One of Dickens' favourite devices of characterisation is the description of living creatures as though they were inanimate. In Great Expectations Wemmick is describe as a dry man, rather short in stature, with a square wooden face whose expression seemed to have been imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel. This impression of lack of animation is confirmed by the author's habit of describing his mouth as a post-office. Dickens shows an inveterate habit of separating the body into inanimate bits, which surely combines with his obsession with deformity. This separating out of a single feature has a startling effect. The feature stands in sharp relief as a menacing warning? Wemmick's mouth tightens into the post-office shape
as soon as he crosses the castle's drawbridge in his way back to the office, thus emphasising the breach between his completely split personality.
http://www.uned.es/dpto-filologias-extranjeras/cursos/LenguaInglesaIII/TextosYComentarios/dickens. htm
accessed on 21 Sep 04

Jaggers's clerk and Pip's friend, Wemmick is one of the strangest characters in Great Expectations. At work, he is hard, cynical, sarcastic, and obsessed with "portable property"; at home in Walworth, he is jovial, wry, and a tender caretaker of his "Aged Parent."
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/characters.html accessed on 21 Sep 04