It is very early and still quite dark outside when Pip sneaks out of the house to meet the convict on the “misty marshes.” Dickens describes it as “rimy” and “damp,” practically blinding Pip as he tries to make his way out of the village. To complicate matters, it is Christmas morning, and Pip carries with him a number of items that promise to be missed: brandy, mincemeat, and, most problematic, a pork-pie meant for Christmas dinner.
The cold and the damp slow Pip down so much--and his guilt at the thievery he has undertaken-- that he feels similarly shackled like the convict. He is so disoriented that he stumbles upon another convict (who’s escape had been heralded the night before by the “great guns” and commented on by Joe) without realizing for a moment that it is a different man. When Pip does finally find his convict in the marshes, he comments that the older man must be coming down with the “ague,” a common reference to fever. The convict seems less concerned about sickness than about getting free and finding the other convict, proving how truly desperate one must be to stay there overnight. Thus, it must have been a bone-chilling and dangerously drizzly day to be out on the marshes.
The morning Pip rushes out to meet Magwitch the escaped convict with the file and the food he took from home, the weather is described as damp and cold. Pip's feet freeze, and he has difficulty keeping warm as he travels. A mist obscures what he can see as he runs to the graveyard to meet with Magwitch.
The bad weather and mist create a great deal of spooky atmosphere in the scene. The device feels almost expressionistic, a projection of the young Pip's anxieties about being caught stealing onto the environment. Everything looks foreboding to him, even the gates he comes across. However, the mist is also beneficial, since it hides both Pip and Magwitch from those who might apprehend them.
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