LIST OF CHARACTERS

CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Pip - Phillip Pirip is aptly nicknamed Pip, a word commonly used to denote the seed of an apple. From early childhood well into adulthood, Pips budding maturity is the focus of the novel. In keeping with the Bildungsroman genre, Pip is at first an innocent young child whose place in this world has not been well defined. He is an orphan whose only sister finds him a nuisance and a burden; she resents him to the point of cruelty. Two random events happen which at first seem like mere episodes in the life of a child: Pip helps an escaped convict by giving him food and means of escape, and Pip is called to the home of Miss Havisham to entertain her and her daughter. Joe Gargery - As the village blacksmith and Pips brother-in-law, Joes commonness is expressed in his name: simple, short, and undecorative. He is a thorough gentleman at heart and is always helpful. He stands out as a loving figure in Pips life. Joe and Pip share a relationship based on love and trust, easily likened to the relationship between father and son, or brothers. They play games and participate in friendly competitions among themselves, in order to enliven the atmosphere of their home. Magwitch - Magwitch is an interesting character on many counts. For most of the novel, he is unnamed, referred to simply as the convict or Pips convict. Coincidentally, it is during these parts of the novel that he appears menacing and evil. He is a dangerous and desperate convict who keeps popping up in Pips life. When he finally reveals himself to Pip, however, he expresses love and gratitude, admiration. Estella - Like Joe and Pip, Estellas name is a reflection on her character. Estella, like a star (stellar), is cold and distant. After all, she has been reared from the tender age of three to conduct herself without emotion. Her bewitching beauty captures Pips heart and as a young boy, he is infatuated her. Somehow, despite her cruelty to Pip, she becomes the star of his expectations. Miss Havisham - Miss Havisham has lived to be one of the most memorable characters created by Dickens, both for her bizarre appearance and her eccentric behaviors. Betrayed by her lover on her wedding day, she literally freezes time in Satis House. All the clocks have been stopped at twenty minutes to nine, the exact time at which her fianc had abandoned her. Mrs. Joe - What is most interesting about her is that her actual name, Georgiana Maria, is uttered by chance by a character in the 58th chapter, long after her death. All through the book she is called Mrs. Joe. For the most part, she is an unpleasant woman who abuses Biddy Wopsle - Biddy is a complete antithesis of Mrs. Joe. She is calm, friendly, down to earth and loving. She also becomes Pips friend at the evening school where Pip studies. The school belongs to her grandmother. Biddy promises Pip that she will help him become an uncommon gentleman. Mr. Jaggers - Jaggers is a powerful and interesting character. As a criminal defense lawyer, he represents a profession that Dickens strongly detested.

Wemmick - Wemmick is Mr. Jaggers clerk and one of the most universally good characters in the novel. Interestingly, however, he lives a dual life. At the office, he is stern and officious. Herbert Pocket - Herbert is a simple and uncomplicated character. He becomes Pips most loyal friend in London. They first meet as young boys at Miss Havishams house when Herbert dares Pip to fight, and is promptly knocked down. As their friendship develops, Herbert helps and supports Pip through hard times. He is a hardworking boy with aspirations of business success that Pip finds unlikely. Later, however, in appreciation of his friendship, Pip secretly extends financial help to Herbert in order to make his dreams a reality. Later, when Pip has realized the futility of his own great expectations, he follows Herberts example and even works for him as a clerk. All along, Herbert has been practical while Pip was lost in his dreams.

PLOT
Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent, sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents tombstones. Suddenly, an escaped convict springs up from behind a tombstone, grabs Pip, and orders him to bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items himself. One day Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy dowager Miss Havisham, who is extremely eccentric: she wears an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her house stopped at the same time. During his visit, he meets a beautiful young girl named Estella, who treats him coldly and contemptuously. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her. He even hopes that Miss Havisham intends to make him a gentleman and marry him to Estella, but his hopes are dashed when, after months of regular visits to Satis House, Miss Havisham decides to help him become a common laborer in his familys business. With Miss Havishams guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, who is the village blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily, struggling to better his education with the help of the plain, kind Biddy and encountering Joes malicious day laborer, Orlick. One night, after an altercation with Orlick, Pips sister, known as Mrs. Joe, is viciously attacked and becomes a mute invalid. From her signals, Pip suspects that Orlick was responsible for the attack. One day a lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and Pip must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip happily assumes that his previous hopes have come truethat Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor and that the old woman intends for him to marry Estella. In London, Pip befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jaggerss law clerk, Wemmick. He expresses disdain for his former friends and loved ones, especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herberts father. Herbert himself helps Pip learn how to act like a gentleman. When Pip turns twenty-one and begins to receive an income from his fortune, he will secretly help Herbert buy his way into the business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts. Orlick reappears in Pips life, employed as Miss Havishams porter, but is promptly fired by Jaggers after Pip reveals Orlicks unsavory past. Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip goes home for the funeral, feeling tremendous grief and remorse. Several years go by, until one night a familiar figure barges into Pips roomthe convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip by announcing that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pips fortune. He tells Pip that he was so moved by Pips boyhood kindness that he dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and he made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose. Pip is appalled, but he feels morally bound to help Magwitch escape London, as the convict is pursued both by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in crime. A complicated

mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that Estella is Magwitchs daughter. Miss Havisham has raised her to break mens hearts, as revenge for the pain her own broken heart caused her. Pip was merely a boy for the young Estella to practice on; Miss Havisham delighted in Estellas ability to toy with his affections. As the weeks pass, Pip sees the good in Magwitch and begins to care for him deeply. Before Magwitchs escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named Bentley Drummle. Pip makes a visit to Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness for the way she has treated him in the past, and he forgives her. Later that day, when she bends over the fireplace, her clothing catches fire and she goes up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her final days, she will continue to repent for her misdeeds and to plead for Pips forgiveness. The time comes for Pip and his friends to spirit Magwitch away from London. Just before the escape attempt, Pip is called to a shadowy meeting in the marshes, where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pips life. Pip and Herbert hurry back to effect Magwitchs escape. They try to sneak Magwitch down the river on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off. Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch is sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is Gods forgiveness and dies at peace. Pip falls ill; Joe comes to London to care for him, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he discovers that she and Joe have already married. Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Drummle, her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that Estellas coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.

SUMMARY
A six-year-old boy named Pip lives on the English marshes with his sister and his sisters husband, Joe. His sister is mean but his brother-in-law Joe is pretty much the best thing thats happened to Pip. One Christmas Eve, Pip meets a scary, escaped convict in a churchyard. Pip steals food from his bossy sister (Mrs. Joe Gargery) so that the convict wont starve (and also so that the convict wont rip his guts out). Soon after, Pip gets asked to play at Miss Havishams. Miss Havisham is a rich old lady who lives in a castle-mansion that is covered in vines, moss, and overgrown green things. Long ago she was jilted at the altar and since that very day, shes never taken her wedding dress off, nor has she changed a single thing about her castle. As you might expect, there are lots of bugs and things creeping around. Pip meets Estella, Miss Havishams adopted child. Estella is cold, snobby, and regal, but man is she pretty. She doesnt really talk to Pip, but Pip soon realizes that hes been asked to serve as Estellas playmate. Pip continues to go to Miss Havishams and continues to be snubbed by Estella. She grows on him. He develops a little crush. This crush turns into a big crush, and that big crush turns into full-blown, all-consuming L-O-V-E. We love what we cant have, and there is no way in h-edouble-hockey sticks that Pip, the orphan, can ever have a chance with Estella, the adopted child of the richest lady in town. When Pip is old enough (early teens), he begins an apprenticeship at his brother-in-law's smithy, thanks to Ms. Havishams financial support. He hates his new job, wanting more than anything to become a gentleman, mostly because he dreams of marrying Estella. Then, one day, Pip comes into fortune by means of a mysterious and undisclosed benefactor (youll never guess who it is!), says goodbye to his family, and says goodbye to Miss Havisham. He leaves for London to become a gentleman. This ends the first part of Pips expectations. London is pretty sweet at first, despite all of the grime. Mr. Jaggers, Pips caretaker, is one of the biggest and baddest lawyers in town. Criminals and their families hang out around Jaggers office just to be near his greatness. Pip also gets a new BFF named Herbert Pocket he is Miss Havishams cousins son. Herbert shows Pip around town and helps him learn how to be a gentleman, which is in short really hard. Pip's life in London is busy, full of dinner parties in castles with moats, encounters with strange housekeepers, trips to the theater, etc. He spends way too much money, so his debts just keep piling up. Occasionally, he takes a break from his London life and goes back home to visit Miss Havisham. He also returns home to attend his sisters funeral. Back at home, though, Pip is too ashamed of his brother-in-law Joe to want to hang out with him. Meanwhile, Estella is off touring the world and becoming a lady. Shes even more gorgeous than ever, and she moves to the London area so that she can be closer to eligible bachelors. On his 21st birthday, Jaggers gives Pip a 500-pound annual allowance (which would be a lot of money back then) and tells Pip that his benefactor will soon reveal himself. Pip decides to use this new money to help Herbert secure a job. Though he continues to long for Estella, she continues to deny Pip lovin. Then, one night on his 23rd birthday when its dark and stormy outside and Pip is thinking about Estella, a stranger arrives. This stranger is Pips benefactor. This stranger isthe CONVICT that Pip helped when he was only six years old! This ends the second part of Pips expectations. The convicts name is Abel Magwitch (but he goes by Provis in town). The courts had exiled

him to New South Wales a long time ago under strict orders never, ever to return to England. Ruh-roh. Pip doesnt feel so good about the whole benefactor thing anymore, and now hes harboring a convict. Double ruh-roh. After much hemming and hawing, Pip decides that he has to get Magwitch out of the country. They devise a plan to sneak onto a ship bound for Germany. Pip feels really uneasy all the time and his stomach is butterfly-city. He has the sneaky suspicion that hes being followed or watched. Just as they get ready to make their great escape, Estella goes and marries Pips nemesis and Pip is almost thrown into a limekiln by a hometown bully who claims to know about Magwitch. As you might have guessed, Pip and Magwitch's great escape isn't successful. They've been ratted out by Magwitchs nemesis, who is coincidentally, Miss Havishams ex-lover. Magwitch is thrown in jail, where he dies soon after being sentenced to the death penalty. Right before he dies, though, Pip tells Magwitch that Estella is his daughter. And that he's in love with Estella. Pip gets really sick, and Joe comes to the rescue. For a while, its like old times when Pip and Joe would hang out. As soon as Pip recovers, however, Joe leaves him in the middle of the night, having paid off all of Pips debts. A few days later, Pip returns home, intending to ask for Joes forgiveness and to propose marriage to his childhood friend, Biddy. Upon arriving home, however, he finds that Joe and Biddy have just married. He begs for their forgiveness at having been such a butthead, and then he moves to Cairo. Pip works in Cairo at Herberts shipping company for eleven years and eventually becomes a partner in the company. He sends money back to Joe and Biddy. Eventually, Pip returns and meets Joe and Biddys son, Pip. Pip is totally enamored of baby Pip. What follows are two different endings: The original ending sees Pip hanging out in London one day a few years later with baby Pip. He runs into Estella, and he can see that time has changed her and that she has suffered much. He's heard that her husband was abusive, but that when he died, she married a poor doctor. In the rewritten ending, Pip visit Miss Havisham's house once more. There, he sees Estella walking the grounds. She is single, beautiful, and regretful of having thrown Pips love away. Pip knows that they will be together forevermore.