Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
(1812 – 1870)

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812. Born to Elizabeth and John Dickens and lived a happy middle-classed life until his father was put into debtors prison for serious financial mismanagement. As a result of the family’s sudden plunge into poverty, Charles was removed from school, an area in which he flourished, and put to work at Warren’s Blackening Factory a position which crumbled his spirits. Dickens remained in the work force for six months, until his family could afford to put him back into school. Dickens was deeply scared by the traumatic change in circumstance and had great impact upon themes in his later writings.

Dickens took well to education, especially writing. By age 17 he was already a court reporter for various legal offices. At the age of 21 his first story was published in Monthly Magazine. His first work to gain him prestige in the literary world was The Pickwick Papers which began as a serial piece. From there he wrote and published Oliver Twist which gave him national attention and fame for accurately depicting the brutal conditions of London orphanages. By 1859 when A Tale of Two Cities was published as a serial he was England’s most famous living writer.

Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, a daughter of a colleague at the Morning Chronicle in 1836. Despite fathering 10 children with Catherine they had an unhappy marriage and the two separated. His domestic troubles had no effect on Dickens literary reputation and his works remained widely read and renowned.

Dickens become very comfortable with his notoriety and often had readings for his public. Dickens reception in America has been referred to the ‘British invasion’ of its time. Dickens died in 1870 before finishing his final work The Mystery of Drood.

Characters:

Philip Pirrip (Pip) – An orphaned boy whose life the novel follows. Raised by an oppressive sister and her kind husband. Pip is introduced to his two loves, social status and Estella, and he longs to spend his days with both. A mysterious benefactor provides Pip the opportunity to achieve his great expectations. Pip realizes that money is not the door to happiness or Estella.

Estella – The star that Pip longs for. Cold and out of reach, Estella taunts and teases Pip, but promises and eventually gives him nothing. She, like Pip was an orphan.  Raised by Havisham , a woman scorned, she grows up to be shell of a woman void of compassion or love.

Mrs. Havisham – An eccentric old woman broken by a cruel fiancée who left her on the day of her wedding. For her time has stopped, almost literally. She lives her life in Satis House, the windows boarded up, the clocks stopped and her clothing left unchanged. Mrs. Havisham raises Estella to be a stone of a woman; her tool used to break the hearts of men. It is not until she is seriously burned and on her deathbed that she understands how cruelly she has lived her life.

Joe Gargery – Pip’s brother in law and best friend. Joe always faithful to Pip, asking for nothing in return represents everything that Pip is running from. As Pip rises in social status he sees a reminder of a simple life.

Abel Magwitch – The brutish convict who terrorizes Pip in the marshes at the beginning of the story. Touched by the generosity of Pip, Magwitch secretly becomes Pip’s benefator and helps him rise to the status of gentleman, a status that he could never attain.

Mrs. Joe Gargery (Sis) – Pip’s domineering sister, a foul woman who rules the house with a greedy heart and a quick temper. She yearns for a life beyond that of a blacksmith’s wife. Like Mrs. Havisham, it is not until she is on her deathbed that her heart begins to lose its cold chill.

Biddy – Pip’s first teacher, Biddy represents everything that Estella is not. This is why Pip is unable to fall in love with her. Biddy sees Pip’s simultaneous ascent in social stature and descent in moral fiber. Pip eventually dreams of a life with Biddy as his wife, however moves in with Joe when Mrs. Joe becomes an invalid and eventually becomes his wife.

Herbert Pocket – Pip first encounters Herbert at Satis House when they are children. Herbert challenges Pip to a fight and Pip makes short work of him. Herbert becomes Pip’s most important companion after his elevation into gentleman status.

Uncle Pumblechook – Pip’s arrogant uncle, a man obsessed with wealth and the life that it entails. He he introduced Pip to Mrs. Havisham and takes credit for Pip’s elevation even though he had nothing to do with it.

Mr. Jaggers – One of the most important criminal lawyers in London. He is secretly employed by Magwitch to act as trustee for Pip until he comes of age. Jaggers is a secretive man of principled character. He wears a thick almost impenetrable shell however he sometimes seems to care for Pip. Jaggars carries with him the scent of perfumed soap. He uses it to wash away the grime from his clients and to protect himself from being corrupted.

Mr. Wemmick – A man wearing two faces. At work he is seems to emulate Jaggars with a secretive cynical and sarcastic attitude. At home he is a tender man whom Pip often seeks for advice and support.

Compeyson – The other convict with Magwitch. He is the groom that swindled Mrs. Havisham and at one time Magwitch’s boss. He is responsible for Magwitch’s capture.

Orlick – A cruel man who thrives on the pain and suffering of others. Orlick essentially kills Mrs. Joe and nearly succeeds in the murder of Pip.

Bentley Drummel – A man of wealth whom Pip becomes acquainted with during tutoring lessons at the Pocket residence. Drummel’s sense of self-superiority, as misplaced as it may be, leads him to act cruelly to anyone and everyone. Despite Pip’s constant pleadings, Estella marries Bentley and lives a life of regret for her choice and constant beatings from the hands of her husband.

Plot Summary:

Great Expectations is the story of a young boy, Pip, and the rise, fall and eventual rise again into a peaceful, life of settled happiness. The story begins with Pip as a young boy living with his heavy-handed sister and brother in law. One day when he is playing out in the Marshes he happens upon a fearful convict who escaped from a barge with another convict that in comparison made him look like and angel. The convict threatens Pip to come back the following day with ‘gifts’ of food, drink and a file so he can remove his leg irons. Pip helps the convict and gets his first taste of guilt in the process.

Conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses man or boy, but when, in the case of a boy, that secret burden co-operates with another secret burden down the leg of his trousers, it is a great punishment.

Despite Pip’s assistance, the convict is captured by the authorities and sent back to the barge. He never discloses Pip’s identity as the boy who helped him to escape his leg irons. Pip likewise never discloses that he was an aide to the escaped offender.

Pip continues living his simple life with Joe and his sister. Although Joe was a father figure to young Pip, they should more appropriately be labeled best friends. Pip grows to admire Joe’s honest and pure nature.

Young as I was, I believe that I dated a new admiration of Joe from that night. .. afterwards at quiet times when I sat looking at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart.

This sense of admiration was short lived as Pip’s Uncle Pumblechook arranged for Pip to spend time at Mrs. Havisham’s rich Satis House. It was here, spending days with an eccentric, dowager and her beautiful adopted daughter, Estella, that the seeds for Pip’s great expectations were planted. Mrs. Havisham is introduced as a decaying old woman dressed in the tattered remains of the wedding dress that she never rightfully used. For her, the clocks stopped (literally) as did her life at twenty minutes to 9 many years before.

Mrs. Havisham is pleased to hear Estalla insult Pip’s rough hands and thick boots as the little girl is nothing more than a tool to break the hearts of all men. Despite Estella’s contemptuous, cold demeanor, Pip falls in love with her beauty and begins to pine for her love. Pip’s first visit to Satis House not only marks Pip’s first touch of love’s bitter sweet love, but also Pip’s first feelings of disdain for Joe and his simple life.

…how common Estella would consider Joe, a mere blacksmith: how thick his boots and how coarse his hands. I though how Joe and my sister were then sitting in the kitchen, and how Miss Havisham and Estella never sat in a kitchen, but were far above the level of such common things.

One day during a regular visit to Satis house Pip meets a young boy in the courtyard. Pip is challenged to fight that soon becomes more of a beating than anything else. Pip lacks the finesse of his competitor, however his fighting prowess is far superiors. This is the first time that Pip is on par with any member of the high social status.

He got heavily bruised, for I am sorry to record that the more I hit him the harder I hit him.

Estella watched as Pip pummeled on the other boy and rewarded him with a kiss -- Pip’s first kiss. Throughout their eight months of visits, Mrs. Havisham fuels Pip’s burning desire for Estella. Although she has shown some compassion for Pip she remains skittish and warns that she is incapable of love. Pip nevertheless remains faithful to his heart and is hopeful until one day Mrs. Havisham ends their visits and gives him papers which allow him to work as a blacksmith apprentice with Joe.

Pip works for four years as an apprentice, but never forgets Satis House or Estella. The strong taste for something more than a common life never fades and thus he is greatly dissatisfied with the conditions of his life.

I…had a strong conviction on me that I should never like Joe’s trade. I had liked it once, but once was not now.

Pip continually obsessed upon Estella and what she would think had she seen him through the window of the forge.

After that, when we went in to supper, the place and the meal would have a more homely look than ever, and I would feel more ashamed of home than ever…

Pip began to take school lessons from young Biddy, a common girl and friend of Pip. Pip recognizes that Biddy was better than Estella in all respects, however he confided that he could never be in love with her.

…I was clear that Biddy was immeasurably better than Estella, and that the plain and hones working life to which I was born had nothing in it to be ashamed of … – when all in a moment some confounding remembrance of the Havisham days would fall upon me, like a destructive missile and scatter my wits again…

Biddy eventually comes to live with Joe and Mrs. Joe when Mrs Joe is visiously beaten by with the same leg iron that Pip helped the convict excape from so many years ago. Although Mrs. Joe is left an invalid her temper becomes more amiable and much easier to live with.

During the fourth year of Pip’s apprenticeship, he is approached by Mr. Jaggers, a powerful criminal attorney from London. Mr. Jaggers informs Pip that a mysterious benefactor has given him a large fortune. Pip is to leave at once for London and begin his journey to become a gentleman. Pip is warned by Mr. Jaggers not to inquire into the identity of his sponsor and remain as always, Pip.

Pip says farewell to his life in the marshes and leaves for London. While in London, he is tutored by Mathew Pocket and befriended by Mr. Pocket’s son Herbert. Pip and Herbert become best friends and Pip quickly melds into his new social sphere living an undisciplined life and accruing large debts. Nevertheless with some guidance by Mr. Wemmick, he grows into a fine gentleman, well above the common roots from which he came.

Pip assumes that his mysterious benefactor is Mrs. Havisham, trying to raise his status as a way to guarantee him a solid chance at winning Estalla’s hand and heart. He refuses to believe that the torment Estella has caused him to suffer could persist. Nevertheless his love remains unrequited.

Mrs. Joe dies while Pip is away in London and he returns home for the funeral. While at home Pip’s shame for Joe, his profession and his past reaches its peak. Pip leaves home promising Biddy to return often and look in on Joe. Neither of the two believe this in the least.
Meaniwhile Pip’s love for Estella continues to grow as does her contempt for any sort of  love, compassion or warmth. So unable is she to show any kind of love, Estella scorns even Mrs. Havisham.

“Speak the truth, you ingrate!” cried Miss Havisham…, “you are tired of me”
Estella looked at her with perfect composure, and again looked down at the fire. Her graceful figure and her beautiful face expressed a self-possessed indifference to the wild heat of the other that was almost cruel.
“You stock and stone!” exclaimed Miss Havisham. “You cold , cold heart!”
“What!” said Estella, preserving her attitude of indifference as she leaned against the great chimney –piece and only moving her eyes; “ do you reproach me for being cold?
“Are you not?” was the fierce retort.
“You should know, “ said Estella. “I am what you have made me. Take all the praise, take all the blame; take all the success, take all the failure; in short take me.”

It is at this point that Mrs. Havisham begins to become aware of the hateful, wasteful life she has lived.

Then one stormy night Pip learns the true identity of his benefactor. He is disgusted to discover that his wealth has come from the hands of Magwitch, the lowly convict he had helped so many years ago and not Mrs. Havisham. Magwitch informs Pip that he was so moved by Pip’s kind act that he decided to devote his life to help him fulfill the great expectations that Magwitch himself had no chance of attaining.

Pip feels dirty and disgraced to have been elevated by Magwitch. He becomes sadly aware that Mrs. Havisham had never intended him to be with Estella.

Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only fuffered in Satis House as a convenience, a string for the greedy relations, a model with a mechanical heart to practice on when no other practice was at hand… 

Pip is further broken when he thinks of how he has scorned the only family he really had.
But the sharpest and deepest pain of all – it was for the convict, guilty of I knew not what crimes, and liable to be taken out of those rooms where I sat thinking, and hanged at the Old Baily door, that I had deserted Joe.

Nevertheless, as the weeks pass Pip starts to see that Magwitch is a good man and a strong bond takes shape. A complicated mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that Compeyson , the second convict in the swamp, was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter.

Estella marries Bentley Drummel, a brutish man whom Pip hated from their first meeting. Pip returns to Satis House where Miss. Havisham asks for forgiveness for the meaningless, hurtful life she has lived. In the process of contrition she falls into the fire. Badly burned, she is left an invalid.

Pip returns to London and enlists the help from Herbert and another companion in an attempt to smuggle Magwitch out of London before he is captured by the authorities and surely sentenced to death. During their escape attempt, however, Magwitch is pointed out by Compeyson and a struggle ensues in which Compeyson is killed and Magwitch, is taken into custody. Magwitch suffered serious injury during his battle with the authorities and died before his death sentence was carried out but not before Pip informed him that his daughter, Estella was alive and that he was in love with her.

Having lost his fortune, and his benefactor, and possibly his desire to continue Pip falls deathly ill. Joe comes to his aid and nurses him back to health. Their friendship rekindled and his health returned, Pip decides to return home, marry Biddy and live the life he should have been living had his great expectations not possessed him with such a fury.

On his return home, however, Pip finds Biddy already married to Joe. Pip recognizes his loss but is content for the happiness his two friends have found. He journeys abroad and works with Herbert in the mercantile trade. He returns many years later and reunites with Joe, Biddy and their son Pip.

In the original ending, Pip meets Estella on the street. Bentley has died and now lives happily with her new husband, a doctor. Pip leaves her happy that she has lifted herself above the person she was raised to be.

I was glad afterwards to have had the interview, for in her face and in her voice and in her touch, she gave me the assurance that suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham’s teaching, and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be.

Dickens later rewrote the ending. Pip visits Satis House and sees Estella. The two leave the garden hand in hand both finally having achieved their great expectations.

Themes

Love
Dickens illustrates with ease that in the struggle between the heart and the mind, the heart will always triumph. Love is an emotion that no thought process can control. Pip understands very early in their relationship that Estella is not the kind of woman she should fall for

I thought it would be very good for me if I could get (Estella) out of my head with all the rest of those remembrances and fancies, and I could go to work determined to relish what I had to do, and stick to it and make the best of it. I asked myself the questions whether I did not surely know that if Estella were beside me at that moment instead of Biddy, she would make me miserable? I was obliged to admit that I did know it for certainty, and I said to myself, “Pip, what a fool you are.” … Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy to-day and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain. … How could it be, then, that I did not like her much the better of the two?

When Pip finally realizes how miserable his expectations have made him, only then does he decide to go back to Biddy. He does not fell love for Biddy but rather a profound feeling of remorse and regret. His journey to become a gentleman left him with nothing but emptiness in his life and wished to gain back the contentedness he left behind when he first ventured into Satis House.

...I would tell (Biddy) how I had lost all I once hoped for, that I would remind her of our old confidences in my first unhappy time. Then I would say to her, “Biddy, I think you once liked me very well, when my errant heart, even while it strayed away from you was quieter and better with you than it has been since.

The Misplaced Importance Placed Upon Social Class

Social Class remains an important part of Great Expectations as it does in life. Likewise in both life as well as Dickens words, social status does not deserve the dues that it is given. We see from Pips rise and eventual fall that social status did not give him anything but wealth. It wasn’t until the end of the story when he loses his fortune that he realizes how muddled his great expectations were. Pip realizes that love, affection, and inner worth are far greater treasures that no amount of wealth can procure. This point is exemplified when we examine Magwitch and Drummel, polar opposites in terms of status and inner worth.

The fact that many characters do not recognize the importance of warmth and tenderness until it is too late also mirrors life. The desire for a Life is also mirrored in Dickens words. Miss Havisham ends her life realizing the importance of tenderness and begs for forgiveness from those she has transgressed. Mrs. Joe also becomes more amiable after her accident.

Dickens seems to suggest that weath and social elevation are motivating factors for many of our behaviors. However, in the waning hours of our life we are brought back to what is truly important – loyalty, affection, tenderness, and love both for ourselves and those with whom we come into contact.

Change
Change comes through growth and personal enlightenment. It cannot be forced or contrived. Pip is thrown into a world that he is not ready for first by his sister and Uncle Pumblechook and then by Magwitch. He has neither the maturity nor the self awareness to survive such a drastic change and thus ultimately crashes. It is only after moving abroad that he can accommodate a change in social status. While working with Herbert he climbs the ladder of social and personal elevation on rungs of his past failures and successes.

Likewise, in his attempt to change Estella, Pip not only succeeds in having his heart broken, but he also has to watch he enter into an abusive marrieage. It is not until much later that Estella is able to become a person of self worth deserving of love. This change had to be made on her own accord.

(Her) suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham’s teaching, and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be.

Dissatisfaction of our own lives (The grass is always greener)
Pips character exemplifies people’s general sense of dissatisfaction with their own lives. Of course persons of lower standing look to the fortunes of others and yearn for the same kind of wealth. Pip’s eyes start to look more favorably upon those of wealth due to his sister’s burning adoration of those of higher standing. However, it isn’t until he visits Satis House for the first time that Pip sees what ‘the other half’ lives like and wishes to step out of and above his own social stratosphere. It is only with the aid of hindsight that Pip is able to see the subtle nobility and pleasure surrounding his own life.
Pip’s perspective, however, never remains focused on where he is even when great fortune befalls him and he achieves his great expectations. Indeed, as a gentleman, Pip often looks back to his more humble beginnings as a much more peaceful time and in the end yearns for his innocence lost.

Wemmick displays a seemingly contented life; however, he is forced to live two lives in order to maintain his perspective. One life is lived as a cynical, unfeeling man working with the vilest of criminals. His other life is lived with his aging father. Here he is a kind, generous and fanciful man. He is the embodiment of multi-personalities. He lives two lives in order to maintain a healthy balance.

The only two characters truly content with their lives are Biddy and Joe. Although Biddy is often frustrated by Pip’s lofty expectations and condescending attitude towards his life and the people in it, her spirit remains true throughout the tale. She and Joe both keep their perspectives centered on the world in which they live, the circumstances under their, albeit little, control. Their eyes do not wander into the realms of what others possess and what they lack; rather they only dwell upon the good fortunes with which they have been blessed. They never judge their own worth by the successes and failures of others. Indeed they judge their lives by their own actions. Their union will surely be rich, and healthy because they grow from within themselves to better themselves – their perspective neatly focused on what they have, each other.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Pip returns to the forge at the end of the story more at peace than he has ever been. This sense of peace is a result of the lessons learned on his journey to and crashes from his own great expectations. Do you think Pip would have been more at peace had he not taken the journey at all? Would he have gained any sense of nobility had he remained on the forge?

 

1. What, if anything, does Pip’s journey tell us about the need for social classes in society?

1. Dickens wrote two endings for his book. In the original ,Pip meets Estella remarried to a doctor. He is happy for her newfound happiness, but is left longing for his true love. In the published ending, Pip meets Estella at Satis House and both leave walking hand in hand as if they shall never leave each other again. Why do you think the author chose to change the ending from its original to the one published? Do you think Pip deserves such an ending?

 

1. How would the story have changed if Miss Havisham were Pip’s secret benefactor? Would Pip have fallen so low? Would he have ever risen so high?

1. As Pip’s character is elevated to gentleman status, he becomes less and less appealing as a person to the audience. His apparent condescension towards those from whom he has raised shows the corruptibility of the human nature. Pip starts out humble and full of hope; through his own devices he grows to be a man of great wealth but little worth; after a fall in social status he regains his own self worth.

 

Estella on the other hand, is raised to be a contemptible woman. At the hands of Miss. Havisham she becomes a loathsome woman breathing cruelty and spite on the world around her. Having been taught to despise love and feel no compassion, Estella through her own means raises above the world in which she was reared and becomes a person of great self worth.

Of the two, who is more heroic?