great expectations

this was dickens' second-to-last complete novel. it was first published as a weekly series
in 1860 and in book form in 1861. early critics had mixed reviews, disliking dickens'
tendency to exaggerate both plot and characters, but readers were so enthusiastic that the
1861 edition required five printings. similar to dickens' memories of his own childhood,
in his early years the young pip seems powerless to stand against injustice or to ever
realize his dreams for a better life. however, as he grows into a useful worker and then an
educated young man he reaches an important realization: grand schemes and dreams are
never what they first seem to be. pip himself is not always honest, and careful readers can
catch him in several obvious contradictions between his truth and fantasies. victorian-era
audiences were more likely to have appreciated the melodramatic scenes and the revised,
more hopeful ending. however, modern critics have little but praise for dickens' brilliant
development of timeless themes: fear and fun, loneliness and luck, classism and social
justice, humiliation and honor. some still puzzle over dickens' revision that ends the novel
with sudden optimism, and they suggest that the sales of dickens' magazine all the year
round, in which the series first appeared, was assured by gluing on a happy ending that
hints pip and estella will unite at last. some critics point out that the original ending is
better because it is more realistic since pip must earn the self-knowledge that can only
come from giving up his obsession with estella. however, victorian audiences eagerly
followed the story of pip, episode by episode, assuming that the protagonist's love and
patience would win out in the end. modern editions contain both denouements for the
reader to choose a preference.

plot introduction
the story is divided into three phases of pip's life expectations. the first "expectation" is
allotted 19 chapters, and the other two 20 chapters each in the 59-chapter work. in some
editions, the chapter numbering reverts to chapter one in each expectation, but the
original publication and most modern editions number the chapters consecutively from
one to 59. at the end of chapters 19 and 39, readers are formally notified that they have
reached the conclusion of a phase of pip's expectations.
in the first expectation, pip lives a humble existence with his ill-tempered older sister and
her strong, but gentle husband, joe gargery. pip is satisfied with this life and his warm
friends until he is hired by an embittered wealthy woman, miss havisham, as an
occasional companion to her and her beautiful but haughty adopted daughter, estella.
from that time on, pip aspires to leave behind his simple life and be a gentleman. after
years as companion to miss havisham and estella, he spends more years as an apprentice
to joe, so that he may grow up to have a livelihood working as a blacksmith. this life is
suddenly turned upside down when he is visited by a london attorney, mr. jaggers, who
informs pip that he is to come into the "great expectations" of handsome property and be
trained to be a gentleman at the behalf of an anonymous benefactor.
the second stage of pip's expectations has pip in london, learning the details of being a
gentleman, having tutors, fine clothing, and joining cultured society. whereas he always
engaged in honest labour when he was younger, he now is supported by a generous
allowance, which he frequently lives beyond. he learns to fit in this new milieu, and
experiences not only friendship but rivalry as he finds himself in the same circles as
estella, who is also pursued by many other men, especially bentley drummle, whom she
favours. as he adopts the physical and cultural norms of his new status, he also adopts the
class attitudes that go with it, and when joe comes to visit pip and his friend and
roommate herbert to deliver an important message, pip is embarrassed to the point of
hostility by joe's unlearned ways, despite his protestations of love and friendship for joe.
at the end of this stage, pip is introduced to his benefactor, again changing his world.
the third and last stage of pip's expectations alters pip's life from the artificially supported
world of his upper class strivings and introduces him to realities that he realises he must
deal with, facing moral, physical and financial challenges. he learns startling truths that
cast into doubt the values that he once embraced so eagerly, and finds that he cannot
regain many of the important things that he had cast aside so carelessly. the current
ending of the story is different from dickens's original intent, in which the ending
matched the gloomy reverses to pip's fortunes that typify the last expectation. dickens
was prevailed upon to change the ending to one more acceptable to his readers' tastes in
that era, and this "new" ending was the published one and currently accepted as
definitive.
dickens has pip as the writer and first person narrator of this account of his life's
experiences, and the entire story is understood to have been written as a retrospective,
rather than as a present tense narrative or a diary or journal. still, though pip "knows"
how all the events in the story will turn out, he uses only very subtle foreshadowing so
that we learn of events only when the pip in the story does. pip does, however, use the
perspective of the bitter lessons he's learned to comment acidly on various actions and
attitudes in his earlier life

plot summary

the first stage of pip's expectations

pip is a young orphan who is being brought up by his adult sister, mrs. joe, a sharp-
tongued woman who is married to the simple but kind village blacksmith, joe gargery,
who treats pip warmly to make up for his sister's harshness.
on a christmas eve, pip visits his parents' graves in the churchyard in the marshes, and is
suddenly confronted with an escaped convict. the convict orders pip, with threats, to
bring him food and a file to remove his shackles. pip complies the next day, stealing food
from the pantry and the file from joe's forge. later on in the day, there is a commotion,
which turns out to be the same convict pip had helped, fighting with another convict. the
two are captured, but not before the convict repays pip in his own way by covering up for
him regarding the food and file.
mr. pumblechook, who is joe's uncle,was never very nice to pip, arranges with mrs. joe
for pip to visit miss havisham, a wealthy and eccentric spinster who resides at satis house.
when pip arrives at satis house, he finds it to have been stopped in time; everything seems
to have been kept the same way for many years, and the clocks have stopped. while there,
he fulfils miss havisham's "sick fancy" to see children play by playing cards with estella,
a beautiful but haughty girl adopted by miss havisham. his perspective on his simple but
honest life is altered forever. pip's visits to satis house continue for several years and he
develops an unrequited love for estella, whose wealth and grace also make him ashamed
of his humble life and friends.
miss havisham's payment for pip ultimately comes in the form of monetary compensation
for his years of service as joe's apprentice. pip appears to be destined to become a
blacksmith, but he cannot forget about estella, even with the advice of his female friend,
biddy.
while an apprentice, joe's cruel and hateful journeyman dolge orlick fights joe after
making a comment about mrs. joe. not long after, mrs. joe is attacked from behind by an
unknown assailant, whom pip believes to be orlick. mrs. joe never fully recovers, so
biddy becomes her nurse.
the pivotal turning point in pip's life comes in his fourth year of apprenticeship, when a
well-known london attorney by the name of jaggers informs them that pip has been
endowed with "great expectations" —- he will be provided with the necessary fortune and
upbringing to make himself a gentleman. while mr. jaggers specifically states that pip's
benefactor will not be revealed to him yet, pip believes that miss havisham is behind this,
which is further strengthened by the discovery that jaggers is miss havisham's lawyer and
his tutor will be mr. matthew pocket, a relation of miss havisham.
the first part of the novel ends with pip leaving behind his family, friends, and humble life
as he is transported by coach to london and another life.

the second stage of pip's expectations

on his arrival in london, pip's initial impression is that london is unattractive and dirty.
nonetheless, his great expectations lie before him, and he is informed by jaggers and his
clerk, wemmick, of his new living quarters. when pip reaches his house, he meets his
roommate, herbert pocket, a member of miss havisham's extended family. herbert was
also one of many acquaintances miss havisham chose to be in the company of estella,
although she did not favour him. miss havisham detests the pockets as she believes that
they only pay tribute to her because they expect to inherit her money when she dies,
though this is untrue of herbert's father.
pip and herbert quickly become close friends, and herbert teaches him the ways of polite
company, including dining etiquette. pip confides in herbert of his love for estella, but
herbert warns him that estella was adopted and raised by miss havisham to "wreak
revenge on all the male sex" after miss havisham's fiancé jilted her on their wedding day,
the event which also caused miss havisham to stop time at satis house. pip, however, does
not heed herbert's warning.
during pip's training to be a gentleman, he becomes more deeply involved with his
acquaintances, gaining a perspective on their personal lives. he dines with herbert's large
and disorganised family, including matthew pocket, pip's tutor and the person who
warned miss havisham about her lover; he was disowned by her as a result. pocket's other
students include startop, whose mother's pampering led to him being physically frail, and
bentley drummle, a contentious and thuggish "blockhead," who is dubbed "the spider" by
jaggers.
pip also spends time with wemmick, jaggers's clerk, and learns that wemmick has an
entirely different personal life from his strict business life. outside of work, he lives in a
cottage with many whimsical features. in the cottage resides wemmick's deaf and elderly
father, referred to as the "aged parent", or simply "the aged", whom he treats
compassionately and amusingly. pip next has dinner with jaggers who, in contrast to
wemmick, deals with his personal life as seriously and tightly as his public life.
on a monday, pip receives a letter from biddy. the letter informs pip that joe wishes to
visit him in london tomorrow, and biddy says that she hopes that pip will accept joe as an
important visitor, even though he is now a gentleman. despite this reminder, pip reacts to
this news not with pleasure, but with dread that the common and unrefined joe will be
seen and associated with him.
the social disparity between the two former companions is further emphasised when joe,
uncomfortable in the luxury of pip's place, frequently addresses him as "sir", not "pip".
joe informs pip that miss havisham asked him to tell pip that "estella has come home and
would be glad to see him." his first instinct in his realisation that he had humiliated joe is
that he must stay at joe's home, but as he goes, he makes excuses to himself why he must
stay at the inn instead.
when pip reaches satis house, he finds to his surprise that orlick is now miss havisham's
porter for protection. pip locates miss havisham in the same dilapidated room and sees
estella for the first time in many years, who has grown up into a beautiful and elegant
lady. her beauty and self-possession cause him to feel inadequate in her presence again.
estella shows little memory of pip as a child, cautioning him that she has no heart that can
be touched by emotions, which pip refuses to believe.
once alone with miss havisham, pip is asked by miss havisham if he admires estella. after
pip remarks that all who see her must admire her, miss havisham fiercely admonishes him
to love her, even if she breaks his heart. in the passion of this outburst, miss havisham
declares that she raised estella to be loved and reiterates in such a vehement fashion that
pip must love her, that pip observes that if words of hatred had been substituted for
"love", it could not have sounded more like a curse.
after pip returns to london, he tells jaggers of his suspicions of orlick. jaggers resolves
immediately to fire orlick, which alarms pip, who does not want orlick to know of his
hostility towards him, but jaggers brushes aside his objections.
sometime later, pip receives a letter from estella bearing the news that she will arrive in
two days in london, and that it has been settled that pip will meet her there. on the
appointed day, pip meets estella's coach, and finds her even more delicately beautiful than
ever. she tells pip that she is to go to richmond surrey by carriage and that pip is to escort
her and pay for all expenses out of her purse. she also states that "we have no choice, you
and i, but to obey our instructions. we are not free to follow our own devices, you and i."
on hearing this, pip hopes that there was an inner meaning to those words.
estella is to live with a lady at richmond, who is to introduce her to society. she speaks of
the pockets and her amusement that they have been stoked into hatred of pip, whom they
see as their rival. she assures pip that no harm can come to him from this animosity but
that she is delighted that such mean people are made unhappy and that she is beholden to
pip for causing this displeasure. she offers pip her hand upon it, and when pip kisses it,
she scorns this romantic gesture. pip asks her if he might kiss her again if he affirms that
he did this in only a friendly way. estella complies, but glides away as soon as he touches
her cheek. when he and estella part, pip ponders on how happy he believes he would be if
he lived with her, but on how she always made him miserable in his company.
later on, pip unexpectedly receives word that his sister has died, which leads him to
realise that he had thought little of his previous home lately, which further fuels his anger
against orlick, whom he suspects as the cause of her suffering and now death.
pip returns home to attend the funeral and comfort joe. he has a walk with biddy in which
he promises to visit joe more often. biddy expresses doubt at this, which pip replies with
righteous indignation, but he avoids her for the rest of the day, subconsciously realising
that she is correct in her doubt.
when pip turns 21 years old, he visits jaggers for further information on his expected
fortune and hopefully the identity of his benefactor. jaggers tells him that he will have an
annual allowance of 500 pounds until his benefactor is made known to him, but refuses to
tell him when his benefactor will be revealed to him. he also tells pip that when his
benefactor is revealed, jaggers' business will end, and he need not be informed about it.
with extra money in his pocket, pip decides to secretly help herbert secure a job, herbert
having come of age earlier but having nothing to show for it and being still unsure of his
future. pip discusses this with wemmick, who arranges for pip to influence a firm in
hiring herbert. herbert's elation at discovering this is so profound that pip is moved to
tears of happiness that his expectations had finally done good for someone else.
meanwhile, pip continues to pursue estella who continually places him "on terms of
familiarity without placing [him] on terms of favour." estella uses pip's presence to tease
her admirers to jealousy, and their attentions in turn inspire pip to jealousy and constant
misery. despite this, and estella's indirect warnings for him to give up on her, pip
continues to imagine himself as married to her and writes off her warnings as bitterness
against miss havisham's intent for them to be paired together. he further convinces
himself that miss havisham will only use estella to torment her other suitors until she
officially becomes his.
on a visit with estella to see miss havisham, pip witnesses the first time that he has ever
seen estella in opposition to miss havisham. while estella is sitting beside her with miss
havisham clutching her hand, she gradually disengages herself from her grip, moving
away. miss havisham reacts angrily: "what! are you tired of me?" estella's mild response
only enrages miss havisham more, and her adopted daughter's cool composure induces
miss havisham to accuse her of having no heart. estella replies that she is only what miss
havisham made her; when miss havisham says that she wants love from her, she says that
she cannot return what she has never gotten, leading miss havisham to cry out to pip, "did
i not give her love?" after that confrontation, estella and miss havisham show no further
hint of the argument, although pip notes that from then on, miss havisham seemed to
regard her with a little fear.
pip discovers that bentley drummle is also courting estella when he proposes a toast to
her at a meeting of "the finches of the grove," an organisation that pip and herbert joined.
when pip confronts drummle, accusing him of associating himself with a lady he barely
knows about, the other finches agree that if drummle can provide evidence of his
acquaintance with estella, pip must apologise to him. when drummle shows up the next
day with a letter from estella confirming that she had the honour of dancing with him
many times, pip is forced to make the proposed apology.
pained that estella would choose a boorish suitor over him, pip admonishes estella at a
dance for giving special attention to drummle. when estella replies that she cannot help if
so many men are attracted to her, pip complains that she treats him with an affection that
she never shows to him. estella's unexpected response is an angry look and the retributal,
"do you want me then [...] to deceive and entrap you?" she then states that pip is the only
person with whom she has been completely honest.
having devoted his chapter to estella, pip now turns to focus on the event that would
destroy all his assumptions and planning of his future. the critical event takes place on a
day of heavy rain and storms, when a grey-haired stranger comes into his house late in
the night, who greets him cordially with both arms outstretched. when pip questions him,
the stranger reveals that he is none other than the convict that he had helped when he was
a child. the convict had never forgotten pip's generosity that day and was the benefactor
behind his plan to make him into a gentleman.
this revelation shocks pip, who feels not gratitude, but disgust and repulsion at the fact
that all his wealth had come from a criminal. even as a stunned pip tries to collect his
thoughts, the convict further informs him that he must be hidden in pip's home because
he violated his terms of exile to australia to see his "london gentleman," and he would be
hanged if caught in england.
pip allows the convict to stay for the night but stays up to ponder on this sudden turn of
events. as he thinks, the enormity of wrecked fantasies come home for him: miss
havisham, not his benefactor as he had assumed, had no purpose for him, other than
another object for estella to toy with and make the people around her miserable. the thing
that sticks in his mind the most is on how his great expectations led him to desert joe.
the third stage of pip's expectations: dealing with reality and its
consequences
having absorbed the first shock of the convict's coming, pip considers what he must do to
deal with the convict's presence, considering the dangers they both are facing. he and
herbert no longer have a servant, but they have a nosy cleaning lady and her niece, so pip
resolves to tell whoever visits that his "uncle" had arrived unexpectedly from the country.
since the storm caused a blackout, pip feels his way down the stairs to find the night
watchman and have him get a lantern. in doing so, he stumbles over someone crouching
in a corner, who silently steals away. pip runs for the watchman, but they find no-one
there on their return. pip asks the watchman who came through the gate during the night,
and the watchman mentions the visitor who asked for pip; i.e., the convict, who pip says
is his uncle. then the watchman asks whether pip also saw "the person with him," who
stayed close by the convict, stopping when he did, and following when he moved on; this
discovery makes pip even more fearful.
back in his apartment, pip and the convict have a conversation, where the convict reveals
that his alias in london is provis, but that his real name is abel magwitch, who was
brought up to be a "warmint." magwitch tells pip that he was tried in london, and it was
jaggers who was his attorney. he is not especially afraid of discovery, even though being
caught would mean death, because many years had passed since he was last seen in
england. because of this, he tells pip that he has come back for good; he has already
evaded many traps before and will only concern himself when faced with immediate
danger.
despite the fact that magwitch put his life in great peril to reach pip and that he greatly
admires him, pip can only feel loathing towards him. after five days, herbert returns and
is informed of the situation by pip. herbert appears to share the same repugnance against
their visitor, and while talking alone, pip declares that he cannot accept any more of
magwitch's riches, even though he is deeply in debt. herbert, however, warns him that
simply disowning his great expectations would likely drive magwitch to great desperation
after devoting his entire life and safety to his welfare. they finally agree that the only
possible course of action is for pip to get magwitch out of england by going with him.
when magwitch wakes up, pip says to him that he wants to know about his life story and
also about the other convict that he had fought with before capture. after reminding
herbert that he is under oath not to repeat any of it, magwitch complies. he says that all
that happened to him for a while was that he was in and out of jail several times. just
about every punishment was inflicted upon him, save for hanging: being locked up,
pushed around, put in stocks, and whipped.
he knows that his name is abel magwitch, but cannot recall how he knows. he has no idea
where he was born, and his first memories were of stealing turnips for a living and being
abandoned by a tinker. he also cannot recall anyone in his youth who was not frightened
of him as a declared hardened criminal, and either avoided or fought him. he begged and
stole and sometimes worked when someone would give him some work.
more than 20 years earlier, he fell in with a con man named compeyson, the other convict
he was fighting on the marshes in pip's childhood. unlike him, compeyson was a smooth
talker who could pass off as a gentleman.
at the time magwitch met compeyson, compeyson had another confederate named arthur
who was deathly ill. arthur and compeyson "had been in a bad thing with a rich lady (who
turns out to be miss havisham) some years afore, and they'd made a pot of money by it."
now, arthur was dying and going insane too, although compeyson showed little concern.
arthur dies after hallucinating his late wife taking him to the afterlife.
magwitch realises that he should have taken warning from the example of arthur about
compeyson's perfidy but did not and was betrayed as a result. the two had several
misdemeanour brushes with the law, but after four or five years were brought up on a
felony charge of passing stolen notes. compeyson set up magwitch to take the greater part
of blame by telling him that they would put up separate defences. as a result, at trial,
compeyson passed off as the dignified gentleman, while magwitch had to sell his
belongings to hire jaggers. magwitch received a fourteen-year sentence while compeyson
was given half of the time.
they were put in the same prison-ship, but magwitch could not get at him. at one point he
did get ahold of compeyson but was immediately seen and placed in the "black-hole" of
the ship, from which he promptly escaped and made his way to shore, where he was
hiding among the graves when he encountered the then-seven-year-old pip. young pip's
mention to magwitch of the other person he encountered on the marshes made magwitch
realise that compeyson was there, too, apparently driven to escape by his terror of
magwitch. magwitch attacked and beat compeyson until he was stopped by the arrival of
the soldiers. compeyson was again given a light punishment for his escape, but magwitch
was retried and sent for life imprisonment, though he later was released on condition of
never returning to england.
pip asks if compeyson is dead, and magwitch replies that he has never heard from him
since. when magwitch's story is finished, herbert, who has been writing in the cover of a
book, softly pushes the book over to pip, who reads herbert's words: "young havisham’s
name was arthur. compeyson is the man who professed to be miss havisham's lover".
pondering on this, pip's mind turns to estella. he decides not to tell magwitch about estella
but that he must see both her and miss havisham the next day before going abroad with
magwitch. upon reaching richmond, however, he learns that estella has already gone to
satis house. this disturbs him, as estella has never returned to satis house without pip as
her companion.
arriving at satis house, pip finds miss havisham with estella, who is quietly knitting. pip
tells havisham that he has found out who his benefactor was, but that he can reveal no
more, since it is not his secret, but another's. he says that he now understands that he was
brought to satis house as a child on miss havisham's whim, as no more than a kind of paid
servant. miss havisham nods her assent; then pip brings up jaggers, his benefactor, and
havisham's mutual attorney, but havisham cuts him off, saying that the coincidence has
no greater meaning.
miss havisham also agrees that she took advantage of the fact that the pocket family
thought pip was their rival for miss havisham's money, and that she took pleasure in
letting them think so. pip hastens to let havisham know that he had become close to one
part of the pocket family, herbert and his father matthew, and that she has wronged them,
as they are "generous, upright, open, and incapable of anything designing or mean." pip
contrasts them with the other pockets, a point that havisham seems to appreciate.
havisham then asks pip what he wants for that part of the family. pip first states that he
only wants her to treat them differently than the others, then goes on to request further
monetary compensation for herbert's welfare.
after settling these matters, pip turns to estella, confessing his love for her ever since he
met her as a child. estella shakes her head at this, to which pip states that miss havisham
would have realised the cruelty of her encouragement of his futile hopes for her if she had
not been so fixated on her own troubles.
miss havisham reacts to this by placing her hand on her heart, but estella is unmoved,
saying that he can stir no emotions in her heart. she asks him if he has not, to which pip
miserably replies, "yes." he explains that he pursued her against her warnings because he
could not believe that such a beautiful and young person could be so irrevocably cold.
the conversation then turns to bentley drummle, and estella acknowledges that he is to
dine with her today. pip protests that estella could never love him, much less marry him.
estella then devastates him with the declaration that she will in fact be married to him. an
anguished pip buries his face into his hands; when he looks up again, he notices that the
colour has drained out of havisham's face.
pip vainly tries to persuade estella to choose a more worthy man than drummle, but
estella, only amazed at his earnestness, restates her decision to marry drummle. she offers
her hand in friendship to pip, saying that he will move on with this, but a heartbroken pip
declares that he could never forget her, as he has never got her out of his thoughts since
childhood.
in his despair and defeat, pip decides that he cannot go back to the inn to see a triumphant
drummle, and instead sets out to walk the entire distance back to london. it is past
midnight when he arrives there. a guard at the temple, after hearing his name for
identification, gives him a note from wemmick reading, "don't go home".
leaving the gate immediately, pip heads to covent garden where he spends a restless night
in a sooty and dusty room. early the next morning, he travels to the castle, wemmick's
home, and finds him in a cheerful mood. wemmick, communicating indirectly to him by
hints and indirect statements because he is in his personal space now, informs pip that he
has overheard talk that suggests that rumours have arisen about the convict's whereabouts
and that pip's quarters are being watched. pip asks wemmick if he knows of compeyson
and if he is alive, and wemmick affirms both facts.
wemmick also tells pip that he sought out and found herbert, and informed him that if he
knew of suspicious people hanging around his chambers, that he should get anybody out
of the way, meaning that magwitch must be moved, but that it is not yet safe to ship him
from england. herbert decided to move magwitch to the home of his fiancée, clara barley,
at mill pond bank.
after spending the rest of the day at wemmick's home, pip goes to the barleys' residence,
where he finds magwitch comfortably residing. he asks magwitch if he trusts jaggers's
judgement, and magwitch says that he does. pip goes on to tell him of the danger he is in,
and that he will stay here until he can be safely moved out and removed by boat from
england. magwitch is pleased at this proposal, and pip takes his leave.
pip returns to the temple, where he obtains a boat to practise rowing on the thames in the
following days to prepare to remove magwitch by this means when the time is right. pip
practices hard and often, sometimes alone and sometimes with herbert. he becomes a
familiar presence rowing on the thames, which is his intention, so that his comings and
goings on the boat will not arouse suspicion. though weeks pass with no hint of trouble,
pip lives in constant fear that the convict's pursuers may appear at any time.
nothing is heard from wemmick for some time. pip's financial affairs are deteriorating
and he feels he cannot take any more of magwitch's money, returning the cash-filled
pocketbook he had given him for safekeeping. another of pip's fears is that estella has
already married, and he avoids newspapers lest he read something to confirm that fear.
one cold february evening, after a day of rowing, pip decides to stop at a chophouse for
dinner. there he unexpectedly encounters mr. wopsle, who pip heard had given up his
pursuit in theatre, now performing comic pantomime. to pip's surprise, he sees mr. wopsle
glaring in his direction with a look as though he had unconfirmed suspicions of him. as
pip leaves the performance, he finds mr. wopsle waiting for him. he tells pip that he saw
him, but also saw someone else. becoming alarmed, pip presses mr. wopsle to explain,
and mr. wopsle replies that he saw a figure sitting behind pip "like a ghost", and that he
was certain it was someone he had seen on christmas day long ago, when pip was a child.
he asserts that he feels that the person was one of the two fighting prisoners on the
marshes, "the one who had been mauled." pip realises with terror that the person who had
been behind him was compeyson, magwitch's enemy.
about a week after his encounter with mr. wopsle, pip runs into jaggers after another day
of rowing, who invites him to dine at his home with wemmick. there, pip is given a note
from miss havisham stating that she wishes to see him on a matter of business, meaning
the gift for herbert.
jaggers comments that "the spider," or drummle, has won, which confirms his status as
estella's husband. pip is then distracted by the arrival of molly, jaggers's maidservant,
who he sees make "a certain action of her fingers as she spoke that arrested my attention."
the action strongly resembles the motions pip saw of estella's knitting. he scrutinises
molly's looks and becomes convinced that she is estella's mother.
pip and wemmick leave jaggers's dinner early, and as they walk, the "right" wemmick
emerges. pip asks wemmick if he knows anything about molly's backstory. wemmick
obliges, explaining that some years ago, molly was tried for murder, with jaggers as her
attorney. evidence made it clear that the murderer had been an exceptionally strong
woman who had strangled another woman in a passionate fight.
while all available evidence pointed to molly as the murderer, jaggers acquitted her by
claiming that a woman as small as molly could never overpower another so much larger.
he dressed molly so as to make her appear more delicate than she really was, and
explained the lacerations on the back of her hands as the result of being scratched by
brambles.
jaggers also challenged the prosecution's classification of the murder as one of jealousy,
and that molly had destroyed her child to exact revenge upon the man that had wronged
her; he demands on why molly is not being tried for the murder of her child, and the jury
is forced to concede and acquit molly.
pip asks wemmick if he knew the gender of molly's child, and wemmick replies, "said to
have been a girl."
after this discovery, pip goes to satis house once more to talk with miss havisham.
sensing that the house is disquietingly empty now that estella is gone, pip finds miss
havisham in a disconcerted state. after miss havisham gets from him the exact amount of
money to write to herbert, she asks him about estella. pip restates his feelings for estella,
and is surprised when miss havisham crawls to him to her knees, lamenting, "what have i
done!" miss havisham says that pip's confession of love to estella and estella's coldness at
this made her realise the folly of raising her to have a heart of ice. she insists that when
she first received estella as a baby, she only planned to protect her from the misery she
had suffered from being jilted, but when estella grew up to be beautiful, her intentions
changed to using her as a tool to take out her revenge on men. pip asks her if she knows
where estella came from, but miss havisham says that she knows nothing about this, other
than jaggers giving her custody of the baby.
pip leaves miss havisham still crying, "what have i done!" and takes a brief tour of the
garden he first met estella in. when he returns to peek in her room, he witnesses her
trailing wedding gown catching fire from the fireplace, and quickly smothers out the fire
by using the tablecloth from a nearby table. miss havisham survives, but from then only
stares into space, muttering about her regret and grief. pip forgives her by giving her a
kiss.
the day finally arrives to escort magwitch from england, and pip and herbert set their plan
in motion. they begin by rowing him off the coast, heading towards a steamer which will
pick up magwitch. along the way, however, they come upon another ship who had been
seeking them out. magwitch recognises a person on the ship as none other than
compeyson, and initiates a vicious fight with him, in vain of pip's attempts to hold him
back.
the day after, pip learns that magwitch is being held in jail. jaggers informs him that he
will most likely have to give up his fortune and his great expectations. pip is willing to do
so, as his feelings for magwitch have mellowed considerably, seeing the convicts
compassion for him, and visits him in jail frequently. magwitch, however, is declining in
health; just before he dies, pip reveals to him that his daughter who he thought was dead
is in fact alive and that he is in love with her. with a final squeeze of his hand, magwitch
passes away peacefully.
after this incident, pip becomes bedridden with a serious fever. when he comes to, he sees
joe sitting by his side, who had come to london and took care of him since he heard news
of his illness. pip gradually gets stronger with the assistance of joe, and begins to think of
other things now that his business with estella and magwitch has been resolved. when he
has fully recovered, he makes plans to propose to biddy as part of his recompense for
neglecting her and joe back at home. before he goes, he discovers that joe has paid off all
of his debts and left.
pip returns to his hometown, only to learn from biddy, just before he proposes to her, that
she and joe have just been married. pip congratulates them both, resigning himself to the
fact that his latest plan had been as futile and illusionary as all the previous rest. since he
no longer has his great expectations, he decides to take on a modest but honest job with
herbert.
many years later, pip also meets the son of joe and biddy, who bears a striking likeliness
of him as a child, and becomes a sort of guardian to him. biddy also asks him if he really
has gotten over estella; pip replies that he has, although his reply is more affirmative and
final in the original ending (see below).

main characters in great expectations

pip, the protagonist, and his family

• philip pirrip, nicknamed pip, an orphan, and the protagonist. pip is destined to be
trained as a blacksmith, a low but skilled and honest profession, but strives to rise
above his class after meeting estella havisham.

• handel, herbert pocket's nickname for pip, which he uses to address pip
from their first formal meeting.

• joe gargery - pip's brother-in-law, and his first father figure. joe represents the
poor but honest life that pip rejects.

• mrs. joe gargery, pip's adult sister, who brings him up after the death of their
parents, but complains constantly of the burden pip is to her. a hot tempered
woman, mrs. joe goads joe into defending her honour against orlick, joe's
journeyman blacksmith, who secretly attacks her as revenge, eventually leading to
her death.

• mr. pumblechook, joe's uncle, an officious bachelor who tells mrs. joe how noble
she is to bring pip up by hand and who holds pip in disdain. as the person who
first connected pip to miss havisham, he even claims to have been the original
architect of pip's good fortune. pip despises pumplechook as pumblechook
 constantly makes himself out to be better than he really is. he is an imposter of the
greatest sorts. when pip finally stands up to him, pumblechook turns those
listening to the conversation against pip.

miss havisham and her family

• miss havisham, wealthy spinster who takes pip on as a companion, and whom
pip is led to believe is his benefactor. miss havisham does not discourage this as it
fits into her own spiteful plans.

• εστελλα [ηαϖισηαµ] , miss havisham's adopted daughter, whom pip pursues

romantically throughout the novel. estella represents the life of wealth and culture
that pip strives for. since her ability to love any man (or anyone for that matter)
has been ruined by miss havisham, she is unable to return pip's passion. she warns
pip of this repeatedly, but he is unwilling or unable to believe her.

• arthur (havisham), miss havisham's half-brother, who felt he was shortchanged

in his inheritance by their father's preference for his daughter. he joined with
compeyson in the scheme to cheat miss havisham of large sums of money by
gaining miss havisham's trust through promise of marriage to compeyson. arthur
is haunted by the memory of the scheme and sickens and dies in a delirium,
imagining that the still-living miss havisham is in his room, coming to kill him.
arthur has died before the beginning of the novel, and is only described to pip by
magwitch.

• matthew pocket, a cousin of miss havisham's. he is the patriarch of the pocket

family but he is not one of her relatives who are greedy for havisham's wealth.
matthew pocket has a family of nine children, two nurses, and a pretty but useless
wife (named belinda). he also tutors young gentlemen, such as bentley drummle,
startop, pip and his son, herbert, who live on his estate.

• herbert pocket, a member of the pocket family, miss havisham's presumed heirs,
who pip first meets as a "pale young gentleman" who challenges pip to a fist fight
at miss havisham's house when both are children. he is the son of matthew pocket,
pip's tutor in the "gentlemanly" arts, and shares his apartment with pip in london,
becoming pip's fast friend who is there to share pip's happiness as well as his
troubles. he also has a secret called clara. she is secret because herbert knows his
mother would say she is below his "station." she's actually a sweet, fairy-like girl
who takes care of her dying drunk of a father.

• camilla, an ageing, talkative relative of miss havisham who does not care much
for miss havisham but only wants her money. she is one of the many relatives who
hang around miss havisham "like flies" for her wealth.

• cousin raymond, another ageing relative of miss havisham who is only interested
in her money. he is married to camilla.
 • georgiana, another ageing relative of miss havisham who is only interested in her
money.

• sarah pocket is an ageing relative of miss havisham who is only interested in her
money.

characters from pip's youth

• the convict, an escapee from a prison ship, whom pip treats kindly, and who turns
out to be his benefactor, at which time his real name is revealed to be abel
magwitch, but who is also known as provis and mr. campbell in parts of the story
to protect his identity.

• abel magwitch, the convict's given name.

• provis - a name that abel magwitch uses when he returns to london, to

conceal his identity.

• mr. campbell, a name that abel magwitch uses after he is discovered in

london by his enemy.

• mr. and mrs. hubble, simple folk who think they are more important than they
really are. they live in pip's village. mr. hubble is a wheelwright.

• mr. wopsle, the clerk of the church in pip's town. he later gives up the church
work and moves to london to pursue his ambition to be an actor.

• mr. waldengarver, the stage name that mr. wopsle adopts as an actor in
london.

• biddy, granddaughter of mr. wopsle's great-aunt; the latter runs an evening school
in her home in pip's village and biddy becomes pip's teacher. a kind and intelligent
but poor young woman, like pip and estella an orphan, who is the opposite of
estella. pip ignores biddy's obvious love for him as he fruitlessly pursues estella.
after he realises the error of his life choices, he returns to claim biddy as his bride,
only to find out she has married joe gargery.

the attorney and his circle

• mr. jaggers, prominent london attorney who represents the interests of diverse
clients, both criminal and civil