Compeyson Compeyson Compeyson is the main antagonist of Charles Dickens' novel, "Great Expectations", whose criminal activities harmed two people, who in turn shaped much of protagonist Pip's life. He abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar, and later got Abel Magwitch arrested. After Magwitch returned to England, Compeyson died after drowning in the River Thames while fighting with Magwitch. Compeyson had a good education when he was a child. His appearance was attractive and his manners gentlemanly and smooth. As an adult, he made his living through forgery and financial schemes. One of his fellows in crime was Miss Havisham's half brother,
Charles Dickens Chesterton stated, "It is not the death of little Nell, but the life of little Nell, that I object to", arguing that the maudlin effect of his description of her life owed much to the gregarious nature of Dickens's grief, his "despotic" use of people's feelings to move them to tears in works like this. The question as to whether Dickens belongs to the tradition of the sentimental novel is debatable. Valerie Purton, in her recent "Dickens and the Sentimental Tradition", sees him continuing aspects of this tradition, and argues that his "sentimental scenes and characters [are] as crucial to