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Page Contents
Main characters
Plot summary (complete)
Themes
Notes and Quotes (more complete descriptions)
THEMES
-Pip's Growth and Development
CHARACTERS
-Miss Havisham
-Joe Gargery
-Mrs. Joe Gargery
-Dolge Orlick
-Abel Magwitch
SYMBOLS
-Jaggers' Hands
MORE LITERARY TERMS
OTHER
-Endings
Did you read the book? I know that the plot is a little complicated, even if you did. Here is a summary.
Main Characters:
Philip Pirrip, i.e. Pip
Joe Gargery and wife (blacksmith and Pip's sister)
Mr. Pumblechook (uncle)
Biddy (Pip's teacher, later married Joe)
Magwitch (the convict, later Provis, Pip's benefactor)
Miss Havisham (eccentric old woman)
Estella (her protégé, daughter to Magwitch and Molly)
Compeyson (tries to kill Magwitch and Pip)
Orlick (hired by Mrs. Joe, then by Miss Havisham, then Compeyson to kill Pip)
Jaggers (lawyer to Miss Havisham and Magwitch)
Wemmick (his clerk)
Molly (Jaggers' housekeeper, Magwitch's wife and Estella's mother)
Herbert Pocket (a relative of Miss Havisham, Pip's friend in London)
Bentley Drummle (a rich man who marries Estella and then dies)
Wopsle (parish clerk, actor, Pip's friend)
Startop (Pip's friend)
Trabb (the tailor) and his boy (who rescues Pip from Orlick)
Plot Summary
The book opens with a young boy, nicknamed Pip, who is an orphan living with his abusive sister her and submissive husband Joe Gargery. He is surprised in a church cemetery by a convict, who threatens to kill him and then asks Pip to steal him some food and a file. Later, Pip meets Miss Havisham, a half-crazy rich woman who lives in crumbling Stasis Manor with Estella and has not left the house since her wedding day, when he fiance never showed up (this left her a little crazy). Her only purpose in life is to get revenge on men, and she trains young girls to break their hearts. Pip is used as a toy to train Estella to do just this. Pip spends many months at Stasis Manor amusing Miss Havisham and longing for Estella, who tells him that he is coarse and common. Pip vows to become a gentleman worthy of Estella, and is apprenticed to Joe by Miss Havisham. Biddy teaches him to read.
One day Joe and Pip meet a stranger in a bar. Pip sees that he knows the convict. He gives money to Pip but leaves before they can return it. Soon after Jaggers arrives to take Pip away from his present sphere of life to pursue great expectations in London. This is the end of the first stage.
Pip meets Wemmick, Jaggers' clerk, in London. He is very different at work than at home, where he lives in a castle with "the Aged P" (his father). Jaggers' too has a secret- he has been keeping Molly in his house as his housekeeper since he got her acquitted of murder charges. He also put Estella in Miss Havisham's care when Magwitch was deported. Pip learns from Herbert Pocket, a pale-faced gentleman he fought in Miss Havisham's yard as a boy, all of Miss Havisham's sad past. Herbert lives with Pip and helps him spend his money, also teaching him to be a gentleman. Pip goes to school with Herbert's father, and there he meets Bentley Drummle, a young man whom Jaggers calls the Spider. The Spider preys on Estella, who marries him for his money. Pip's other friends are just as superficial and loud. Pip has a good time in London, wasting money and being selfish, but that does not belong in the plot! Miss Havisham sees what a horrible life Estella will lead, and asks Pip to forgive her. She tries to commit suicide but Pip saves her, and later she dies.
One day Pip's world is turned upside down when a strange man who calls himself Provis shows up. Pip finds out that Magwitch was deported to Australia, where he made his fortune and sent it all to Pip. Pip is shocked and horrified to find that a convict and not Miss Havisham is his benefactor. Magwitch tells Pip that Estella is his daughter by Molly, who is now employed by Jaggers. Magwitch is in grave danger because if he is caught he will be hanged. Compeyson, his old partner in crime and Miss Havisham's deserter, is following him trying to inform the police on him. Pip, Wemmick and Herbert attempt to smuggle him out of the country but Compeyson finds them, followed by the police. Compeyson hires Orlick to kidnap and kill Pip, but he is rescued by Herbert and the Avenger (his servant). Magwitch drowns Compeyson, Pip is injured and Magwitch is arrested. He later dies in a prison hospital, and his fortune is relinquished to the Crown.
Now Pip is no longer rich, and he returns home to marry Biddy only to find her marrying Joe. Wemmick sets him up a partnership with Herbert in a counting house, and he makes his money by honest work.
Pip returns to Stasis Manor, and finds a little girl there that looks like Estella. Estella has returned to the ruins of her childhood with her young daughter, Estella also. Drummle has beaten and ill-used her and was kicked by a horse that he had treated badly and killed. Pip and Estella marry.
In another version, Pip is walking down the street one day with little Pip, his nephew by Joe and Biddy (nephew in law, maybe?). He meets Estella in a carriage, and she is very sad. She has married a doctor and they live off her fortune.
Did you remember all of that? That's the plot in a nutshell- I hope it helps you!
Themes
QuickList
love
gentlemen
money
the corrupting power of wealth
double lives (appearances can be deceiving)
growing up
death
expectations
(Note: This list is designed to be concise. See Notes and Quotes for more information.)
LOVE
Pip is tormented by Estella. She has been taught not to love, but to break hearts. Miss Havisham was devastated when her fiance (Compeyson, see above) left her on her wedding day. Only Biddy and Joe are happy.
GENTLEMEN
Pip wants to be a gentleman. Herbert Pocket is a real gentleman and is an honest hard worker. Drummle is false, as is Uncle Pumblechook.
MONEY
Pip needs it to impress Estella. Some have it and use it to get their way- such as Drummle. Some use it but need power more, such as Jaggers. Some have it and use it to take power over others- such as Miss Havisham. Some have it and give it away- Magwitch.
THE CORRUPTING POWER OF WEALTH
Pip is corrupted by wealth. He forgets his family and the people that are important to him. He worries more about trying to impress people than being moral.
DOUBLE LIVES (APPEARANCES CAN BE DECIEVING)
Wemmick leads a double life. He is a hard accounting clerk at Jaggers' office, yet at home he lives in a castle with an aging parent that he takes care of and love. He is an excellent friend to Pip. Jaggers also leads a double life, as he is secure on the outside but really longs for respect and needs to impress. Pip pretends to be someone he's not while in London. Magwitch seems to be a cruel, violent convict but is really a kind and generous, simple honest person. Uncle Pumblechook is a hypocrite. Compeyson seems to be a gentleman, well learned and intelligent when he is a hardened criminal. Estella seems to be cold and heartless, but somewhere she finds it in her to become a real person.
GROWING UP
Pip learns a lot throughout the novel as he grows up and matures. So do Estella and Herbert, and Orlick as well. Pip and Estella learn from their mistakes, Orlick does not and thus their respective fates.
DEATH
Miss Havisham and the crumbling Stasis Manor are symbols of death throughout the book. Pip's parents are dead, so he must fight with the world. Jaggers and Wemmick work around death constantly and expose Pip to it. Estella is dead inside. Magwitch's death is a wake-up call to Pip that he must move into the world on his own.
EXPECTATIONS
Pip expects things to be one way and then finds out they are quite another. This is also true for Mrs. Joe- who did not know what she was getting into when she married him. Miss Havisham certainly thought her life was going to be one way and found it completely different- as did Estella. Magwitch had expectations for Pip that were too high to be met, and he also had expected a different life. Miss Havisham has expectations for Estella that could not possibly work.
NOTES AND QUOTES
Notes and Quotes are comprehensive, text-supported discussions of important themes, characters and symbols from the book. Keep scrolling down the page to find them. Here is an index:
THEMES
-Pip's Growth and Development
CHARACTERS
-Miss Havisham
-Joe Gargery
-Mrs. Joe Gargery
-Dolge Orlick
-Abel Magwitch
SYMBOLS
-Jaggers' Hands
MORE LITERARY TERMS
-Conflicts
-Plot Diagram
OTHER
-Endings
themes
Pip's Growth and Maturation
Pip learns a lot throughout the novel as he grows up and matures. So do Estella and Herbert, and Orlick as well. Pip and Estella learn from their mistakes, Orlick does not and thus their respective fates. Both Pip and Estella grow morally while they are growing up. Pip learns the true meaning of life, and Estella learns to have a heart. Orlick keeps making the same mistakes, and after he kills Mrs. Joe he tries to kill Pip and is arrested.
*The three stages of Pip's great expectations*
In the first stage, Pip meets Magwitch and is scared, and meets and visits with Miss Havisham. In this stage he is still a child, and is still bound to his present life (he is apprenticed to Joe). This stage ends when Jaggers shows up to take him out of his life and into a new life, as a young fellow of great expectations. Here Pip is still immature and inexperienced- he is always afraid that he will be punished and that if he does anything wrong he will somehow be found out.
The second stage involves Pip's adventures in London. There he meets new people, finds out what its like to have money, gets educated and learns to be a gentleman, and pawns after Estella. He still has ties to his other world, but not his family only Miss Havisham and Estella. He wastes his fortune and becomes a self-centered idle rich jerk. He experiences Jaggers utilitarianism and Wemmick's strange world, and he sees Estella fall to Drummle. He also begins to realize how poorly he has treated those that love him, especially Joe who takes care of him when he is sick. At the end of this stage he finds out about Magwitch, that Estella was not designed for him and Miss Havisham never intended to make him a gentleman.
In the third stage Pip has to deal with hiding Magwitch to protect him from the law. He also has to forgive Miss Havisham and keep her from trying to kill herself as a result of the grief she has had from what she has done. He ends up back in the place where he has started his journey, sees Magwitch kill Compeyson and escapes being killed by Orlick. He also watches how unfairly Magwitch is treated at his trial, holds his hand when he dies, and tells him about Estella. Then he loses all of his money and returns to an honest, earned lifestyle in a counting house- all great expectations lost. He finds out how unhappy Estella was with Drummle and. depending on the ending you read he either marries her or sees her married to a doctor.
*Pip's moral development*
Throughout Great Expectations, we are shown Pip's progress toward developing his own morality.
When the story opens, Pip is a skittish and uncertain little kid. He is frightened by Magwitch, so he steals him food and tools. Then he regrets it, but his morality at this point is more connected to getting caught- rather than seeing that he has done anything wrong, he fears he will be punished. He reacts the same way to his fight with Herbert.
Pip becomes selfish and priggish once he becomes a young man of great expectations. He does things only for himself, and he does not think of others that he should care about. He treats Joe terribly and is ashamed of him, and he only feels a little bad. At this point, Pip's morality is connected to how others feel about him. If others, such as Biddy, feel that he has done a bad thing, then he feels bad. Otherwise, he does not notice that he has hurt Joe.
When Magwitch reveals himself, Pip feels wronged. He accuses Miss Havisham of leading him on with Estella. He realizes, however, that they used him as he used them- and he was only misleading himself. In the beginning Pip is resentful of Magwitch and sullen about where his prospects come from. He does not heed Jaggers' or Wemmick's advice. He begins to realize that Magwitch is an honest and generous man that just wants the best for him. He first attempts to sneak him out of the country out of duty. Pip's morality is now tied to what he believes is right- his sense of right and wrong, though there, is based only on superficial impressions. He begins to do good things for people- get Matthew Pocket into Miss Havisham's will, set Herbert up in a business, etc.
When Pip is nearly killed several times- when saving Miss Havisham, when kidnapped by Orlick and in the river- and becomes very ill, his perception of life changes. He is by Magwitch's side as he dies not because he should be but because he wants to be. He feels as if Magwitch were his second father. When he loses his fortune, he repents. When Joe takes care of him, he is grateful. He accepts that Joe has married Biddy and Estella has married Drummle. He is prepared to live his life on his own terms, on his own sense of what is right and wrong. Pip has finally developed his own personality.
*Pip's moral development, continued*
The message Dickens is sending is that the people in our lives are important to us, and we do not always know how much or why. We should not do things just for personal gain, or at the harm of others. We should also be happy with what we have. Dickens asks the question- what if you had everything you ever wanted? How would you treat the people you love? Would your priorities change? Is it really what you wanted after all. We can see this through Pip's moral development throughout the novel.
When Pip is frightened by the convict and steals food, he feels guilty. When Estella calls him coarse and common, he feels ashamed. In both ways, Pip is willing to take action to reverse the situation. While he lies about the food, he goes to Biddy to learn to be more uncommon. Pip also feels guilty when he lies about Estella and Miss Havisham and when he fights with Estella.
When Pip is granted his expectations, he is still not granted Estella. He is involved in a stage of self-gratification- acting selfish, priggish and getting into horrible debt. Here he learns that his worst act can be to impress the person he most despises- Drummle. He hurts Joe's feelings. When Joe comes to take care of him, Magwitch returns and Estella marries Drummle, he changes.
Pip turns altruistic around the time Magwitch shows up. He suddenly is responsible for someone else. He takes care of Magwitch and tries to sneak him out of the country. He stays with him on his deathbed. Pip's altruistic actions intensify throughout the novel- he works to get Herbert into a partnership, he saves Miss Havisham from the fire, he tries to save Magwitch and he accepts the fact that his money is gone. Pip goes to work with Herbert, and marries Estella despite the way she treated him.
Quotes:
Our journey begins with Jaggers' revelation:
"Now, I return to this young fellow. And the communication I have got to make is, that he has great expectations."
Pip has many changes since then:
"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."
Estella is a catalyst:
" . . . You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since - on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or more impossible to be displaced by your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!"
Pip makes mistakes, but later sees them:
"We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one."
"I had neither the good sense nor the good feeling to know that this was all my fault, and that if I had been easier with Joe, Joe would have been easier with me. I felt impatient of him and out of temper with him; in which condition he heaped coals of fire on my head."
"In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong."
"So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise."
characters
MISS HAVISHAM
One of the strangest and most memorable characters in fiction, Miss Havisham's tragic story leads to her tragic life. But does she have a reason to feel sorry for herself? What is her function in the novel? All that and more:
Miss Havisham hates men, and that causes her to live alone and never love anyone. Because she was hurt once, she can never love again. She never wants to see visitors, and she only uses the people she does see. Her relatives are not allowed to see her ever, except once a year or so. And only little girls that she uses to make her revenge plan and little boys that she uses to teach them. I will try to find some quotes, but Herbert describes her as a lifelong recluse, and Pip can tell that from when he first sees her. When she asks him (and the world in general) to forgive her, I think that is important.
Her effect on people is quite clear- especially the effect she has on Herbert, Estella, and Pip. She sets the course of the novel by giving Pip Estella.
How she used Pip
She needed someone to train Estella to break hearts. She was using Estella to get her revenge on men, and Pip was her toy. She trained Estella to tease and be hard and harsh while flaunting her beauty. She man Pip love Estella when she was never meant for him, as Pip was only a lab rat.
Childhood
Her unhappiness stems from her experience with Compeyson later in life. She did have a rotten half brother, and from his story we do get an idea of what her childhood must have been like. Arthur was Miss Havisham's father's son with the cook.
Changes in Miss Havisham
In many ways Miss Havisham does change. In the beginning of the boot she is hellbent on revenge, because she was jilted on her wedding day by Compeyson. She takes little girls and makes sure that they have no heart, and then trains them to break the hearts of little boys. Miss Havisham does eventually realize what she has done to Estella. When she understands that it was as bad as what was done to her, she starts asking for forgiveness. She asks Pip and Estella to forgive her. She is dumbfounded and destroyed, beyond the point of repair, and she just kind of fades away.
The Complexity of her story- Miss Havisham and Magwitch
Magwitch was married to Molly and they had a daughter. Molly killed a woman (strangled her with her bare hands) and Jaggers managed to get her acquitted but then took her to be his housekeeper, and sent her daughter, Estella, to live with Miss Havisham. Magwitch had to go into hiding and lost track of his daughter. He caught up with Compeyson, a career criminal who had been responsible for scamming Miss Havisham with her brother Arthur, leaving her on their wedding day. Magwitch never knew that his daughter was living with Compeyson's ex-fiance. Compeyson set him up to take the fall for their illegal activities, smoothtalking the jury into believing that he- a gentleman- could never do it. Magwitch was then deported, but he escaped from the prison ship in the marsh and ran into Pip, scaring him into bringing him food and help. He owned up to stealing the supplies so that Pip would not be blamed, and he was sent to Australia. There he made a successful career as a sheep farmer and sent his money to Jaggers to give to Pip, not wanting Pip to know where the money came from. However he grew lonely, and had to return in disguise to see his dear boy as a gentleman. Compeyson learned that he was in London and followed him, hoping to tip the police off. He did that, and they all followed Pip, Herbert and Magwitch's boat on the river as they attempted to escape. Compeyson attacked Magwitch and both men fell overboard, Compeyson was drowned. Magwitch was tried for returning to England and he was sentenced to death, and his fortune was usurped by the crown. He died next to Pip before he could be executed, for the injuries sustained while fighting with Magwitch.
Here is a collection of quotes revealing Miss Havisham's character:
A RECLUSE, TRAPPED IN TIME
"Miss Havisham is described as a recluse, and a somewhat crazy old lady. "She was dressed in rich materials- satins, and lace, and silks- all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, but her hair was white . . . I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone." (Chapter 8)
WANTS REVENGE AGAINST ALL MEN
"Also, when we played at cards Miss Havisham would look on, with a miserly relish of Estella's moods, whatever they were. And sometimes, when her moods were so many and so contradictory of one another that I was puzzled what to say or do, Miss Havisham would embrace her with lavish fondness, murmuring something in her ear that sounded like, "Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!" (Chapter 12)
JOE GARGERY
Joe As an Important Character
Joe derives his strength by NOT changing throughout the novel. He is one of the only constants in the book, which is what makes him important as a character.
In the beginning of the story Joe is brought up "by hand" by Mrs. Joe, Pip's sister Georgiana. He is a simple, but kind and loving man who protects Pip in his heart if not physically. He is Pip's brother by marriage even though he is old enough to be his father. He is kind, sweet, simple, honest, good and caring. He allows Pip to go to London because he assumes it is the best thing for him. This is the same reason why he lets him to go to Miss Havisham's and lets her apprentice Pip to himself.
When Joe visits Pip in London, Pip treats him horribly. Pip does not understand beyond a barrel of oysters how important Joe is to his life. He is embarrassed to show him to his friends, and he really hurts his feelings. Pip is trying to leave everything behind to become something he is not. Joe understands this, and leaves him to realize his wrongs. He treats him with respect and calls his "sir", realizing that he has been raised beyond his old station in life. This kind of treatment makes Pip feel bad, realizing that in raising himself he has lowered Joe.
When Pip loses everything and becomes sick, Joe is there at his side without question. he helps him through it all despite everything. Joe does not care that Pip is no longer a rich gentleman. He does not care that Pip's benefactor was a convict. All that he knows is that Pip is sick and needs someone, so he is there.
Joe remains strong when his wife is injured and then dies. He protects her and helps her through it with the kind of unconditional love that only he displays throughout the novel. Biddy helps him through it, of course, and afterwards he marries her- which is what Georgiana would have wanted.
Joe's Family
Pip's sister wishes he had never been born and treats him accordingly, raising him "by hand" which means routinely beating him with a cane called "Tickler". She also hits her husband and abuses him. Joe is unable to help Pip, and although he is sweet and good he is also simple.
Pip and Joe's Relationship
Their relationship is interesting. Because Joe is Pip's sister's husband, he is more of a brother than a father figure. At the same time, he cannot protect Pip from his wife. He is even a little below Pip's level academically. Pip is ashamed of him somewhat. Later, he realizes that he was wrong, and tries to reconcile.
Joe in London
This is important, because when Pip feels guilty he regrets what he has become, and he has a moment of awakening. Here he is, a wealthy "gentleman" with no care in the world, and this sweet old man who helped raise him and protect him has come all the way to see how he is, and he is ashamed to see him! Shame on Pip for treating him that way! Pip realizes this of course, and when he is sick and Joe cares for him he has a new appreciation for the poor guy.
Quotes
"Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites. He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow -- a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness."
"Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man's a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Diwisions among such must come, and must be met as they come. If there's been any fault at all to-day, it's mine. You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet anywheres else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends. It ain't that I am proud, but that I want to be right, as you shall never see me no more in these clothes. I'm wrong in these clothes. I'm wrong out of the forge, the kitchen, or off th' meshes. You won't find half so much fault in me if you think of me in my forge dress, with my hammer in my hand, or even my pipe. You won't find half so much fault in me if, supposing as you should ever wish to see me, you come and put your head in at the forge window and see Joe the blacksmith, there, at the old anvil, in the old burnt apron, sticking to the old work. I'm awful dull, but I hope I've beat out something nigh the rights of this at last. And so GOD bless you, dear old Pip, old chap, GOD bless you!"
"I had neither the good sense nor the good feeling to know that this was all my fault, and that if I had been easier with Joe, Joe would have been easier with me. I felt impatient of him and out of temper with him; in which condition he heaped coals of fire on my head."
MRS. JOE (GEORGIANA)
Notes on Mrs. Joe
Mrs. Joe is a cruel and witchy woman. She regrets that Pip lived when all of her other siblings died, and she treats him accordingly, having been charged with his care. She beats Pip with "Tickler" and does not treat her husband very well either.
Given that, however, she does not get what she deserves. She is attacked by Orlick and her head injuries are so bad that she never recovers and then dies.
Quotes
HOUSEKEEPING
"Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself."
"Some medical beast had revived tar-water in those days as a fine medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard; having a belief in its virtues correspondent to its nastiness. At the best of times, so much of this elixir was administered to me as a choice restorative, that I was conscious of going about, smelling like a new fence."
OPINION OF PIP
"I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born, in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the dissuading arguments of my best friends".
"Drat that boy," interposed my sister, frowning at me over her work, "what a questioner he is. Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies."
CHILD-REARING PRACTICES
"My sister, Mrs Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbors because she had brought me up `by hand`. Having at that time to find out for myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were both brought up by hand. She was not a good-looking woman, my sister; and I had a general impression that she must have made Joe Gargery marry her by hand."
DOLGE ORLICK
Who is Orlick? Why does he hate Pip so much? Who did he kill and why? What is his importance to the novel? Read to find out!
Orlick is Joe Gargery's journeyman blacksmith. He has a grudge against Mrs. Joe and attempts but fails to kill her. With Compeyson, he plots to murder Pip by drawing him to the limekiln, but his plan is foiled by Pip's friends.
Orlick's Character
Orlick did have some bad luck, and did not entirely escape justice. Orlick does go to jail, but for assaulting Pumblechook not for the other stuff he was involved in. Pip does get him dismissed from Miss Havisham, after all. When he attempted to kill Pip he was really just doing Compeyson's bidding. It is true that nothing ever happens to him, and he never gets caught for aiding and abetting or attempted murder.
Most of the stuff that Orlick does at the end is actually at Compeyson's bidding. Compeyson is a sly, smooth-talking crook who could just as easily have talked Orlick into doing things for him as he did Compeyson. Orlick hated Joe and his wife because he felt treated poorly by them, and he hated Pip for getting him dismissed from his position with Miss Havisham. Clearly, Orlick was involved in criminal activities and should have been punished. While Compeyson was drowned, Orlick seems to have gotten away. Whether we should sympathize with him because he had a hard life is not clear, because he definitely has murderous intentions.
Orlick's Revenge
Orlick attempts to get revenge on both Mrs. Joe and Pip. He cannot get revenge on Pip, because Pip has done nothing wrong to him. Pip also has friends that rescue him. He cannot even kill Mrs. Joe correctly, as she lives the attack as a vegetable. Basically, you know how well Mrs. Joe treated Pip- not very well. She beat Pip, she beat Joe, she might as well have beaten Orlick. At any rate, he felt that he was mistreated by her- he is a very unstable person, did you notice? His hatred of Pip is partly provoked by this, partly by his dismissal from Miss Havisham and partly by his joining Miss Havisham.
Orlick's Role
If you want to look at this from the point of the writer, Orlick is like Pip's alter-ego. He is there during Pip's worst moments, and in this way we can think of Orlick's role in the novel as Pip's wake-up call.
Quotes
Mrs. Joe describes him as a "great idle hulker"
"He pretended that his Christian name was Dolge -- a clear impossibility -- but he was a fellow of that obstinate disposition that I believe him to have been the prey of no delusion in this particular, but wilfully to have imposed that name upon the village as an affront to its understanding. He was a broad- shouldered loose-limbed swarthy fellow of great strength, never in a hurry, and always slouching. He never even seemed to come to his work on purpose, but would slouch in as if by mere accident; and when he went to the Jolly Bargemen to eat his dinner, or went away at night, he would slouch out, like Cain or the Wandering Jew as if he had no idea where he was going and no intention of ever coming back."
"He always slouched, locomotively, with his eyes on the ground; and, when accosted or otherwise required to raise them, he looked up in a half resentful, half puzzled way, as though the only thought he ever had, was, that it was rather an odd and injurious fact that he should never be thinking."
"I suppose he was about five-and-twenty, but he usually spoke of himself as an ancient person."
Why the need for revenge? The humiliating fight with Joe.
"Old Orlick felt that the situation admitted of nothing less than coming on, and was on his defense straightway; so, without so much as pulling off their singed and burnt aprons, they went at one another, like two giants. But, if any man in that neighborhood could stand up long against Joe, I never saw the man. Orlick, as if he had been of no more account than the pale young gentleman, was very soon among the coal-dust, and in no hurry to come out of it."
The attack on Mrs. Joe- who was it?
'The house seems to have been violently entered when Joe Gargery was out. Supposed by con- victs. Somebody has been attacked and hurt.'
Biddy: "Don't you see? It's him.! Orlick, without a doubt!"
He explains as he attempts to kill Pip
`I come upon her from behind, as I come upon you to-night. I giv' it her! I left her for dead, and if there had been a limekiln as nigh her as there is now nigh you, she shouldn't have come to life again. But it warn't Old Orlick as did it; it was you. You was favoured, and he was bullied and beat. Old Orlick bullied and beat, eh? Now you pays for it. You done it; now you pays for it.'
"Somehow or another I'll have him!"
Abel Magwitch
Abel Magwitch is the convict who frightened Pip as a boy in the first chapter of this book. He was deported and made a fortune in Australia that he secretly sent to Pip through Jaggers. Pip wants to help him because he feels obligated, given that Magwitch is his benefactor. Magwitch's story is long and complicated.
Plot Considerations
Magwitch's Complicated Life
Magwitch was married to Molly and they had a daughter. Molly killed a woman (strangled her with her bare hands) and Jaggers managed to get her acquitted but then took her to be his housekeeper, and sent her daughter, Estella, to live with Miss Havisham. Magwitch had to go into hiding and lost track of his daughter. He caught up with Compeyson, a career criminal who had been responsible for scamming Miss Havisham with her brother Arthur, leaving her on their wedding day. Magwitch never knew that his daughter was living with Compeyson's ex-fiancé. Compeyson set him up to take the fall for their illegal activities, smooth-talking the jury into believing that he- a gentleman- could never do it. Magwitch was then deported, but he escaped from the prison ship in the marsh and ran into Pip, scaring him into bringing him food and help. He owned up to stealing the supplies so that Pip would not be blamed, and he was sent to Australia. There he made a successful career as a sheep farmer and sent his money to Jaggers to give to Pip, not wanting Pip to know where the money came from. However he grew lonely, and had to return in disguise to see his dear boy as a gentleman. Compeyson learned that he was in London and followed him, hoping to tip the police off. He did that, and they all followed Pip, Herbert and Magwitch's boat on the river as they attempted to escape. Compeyson attacked Magwitch and both men fell overboard, Compeyson was drowned. Magwitch was tried for returning to England and he was sentenced to death, and his fortune was usurped by the crown. He died next to Pip before he could be executed, for the injuries sustained while fighting with Magwitch.
Magwitch's Capture
Pip and Herbert hired a boat to sneak Magwitch out of the country. They were going to meet a steamer at the ocean. Compeyson was following them, and called the police. While the police in a boat and Compeyson in a boat chased Pip and Herbert and Magwitch, Compeyson and Magwitch got into a tussle, and fell into the water. Compeyson drowned, Magwitch was captured and that was that. There was a trial, at which Magwitch was condemned to death. All of his money was usurped by the crown, leaving Pip broke and in debt. Magwitch died in Pip's arms before he could be hung. He explained his story to Pip, and Pip realized that he had a daughter and that daughter was Estella. Pip told Magwitch before he died that his daughter was well and rich. Magwitch died as happy as could be expected.
Pip's obligation to Magwitch
Pip expects Magwitch to want him to become a gentleman. Pip regrets what he has done in wasting away the money he was given when he sees how hard Magwitch has worked. Technically, Pip owes Magwitch nothing because he is pleased when he sees that Pip is well, is surrounded by luxury, has wealthy friends, and seems happy. Pip does not tell him how he has spent the years away, not wanting to disappoint him.
It is your opinion whether or not you think Pip owed Magwitch enough to hide him and then sneak him out of the country. He could have turned him away. But because of the experiences he did have, he learned how to be a better person and would have never done that. Pip is obliged in some ways to care for Magwitch, to help him, to refrain from hurting him (by not telling him what he has become) and to look after him like a father when he lies dying in the hospital and try to make his final time happy (by telling him about Estella).
Magwitch does return, and expects Pip to take him in. Pip does not know who the money is from, obviously, but when he finds out he realizes that he has not fulfilled his obligation, even though he did not know he had one -if that makes sense- and feels bad about it. He does try to make it up to him. Whether Pip likes it or not, or even if he does not realize it, Magwitch has taken on the role of a second father in his life, and he should be grateful.
Magwitch as a Catalyst for Pip's Growth
This is a good way to describe it. Magwitch comes into Pip's life when he is young and immature. At this stage, they are at similar levels of development. Pip is just a scared little boy, and Magwitch is just a rough outlaw. Both are not as developed as they could be. However when Magwitch gives Pip the money, Pip goes to London and grows up. There, he becomes a gentleman and is no longer a scared little kid.
Given Joe's maturity level, it can be determined that there is little hope for Pip's growth if he were to remain in his present life. However because Magwitch removes him from it, he has a chance to grow.
I am not implying that Pip's condition in London is that of a mature, grown man- far from it. But when Magwitch returns, he shocks Pip into realizing that he has been living a lie. He will never marry Estella, and Miss Havisham never intended to advance him. With this realization, and the loss of the money when Magwitch is caught, Pip stops living on borrowed time and returns to an honest life in a counting house- more a gentleman than he ever was when he had all the money he ever needed.
Due to Magwitch's generosity, Pip has his wish granted. Due to Magwitch's sentimentality, Pip has all that was granted taken away. He realizes that if all he ever really wished for had come true, and it had not made him a better person, there must be more to life than money and social status.
Similarities Between Joe and Magwitch
Joe and Magwitch were both instrumental in raising Pip. Joe protected and educated him as a child, Magwitch gave him the opportunity to grow up and become something. Both men are kind and generous, but also simple and uneducated. Pip is ashamed of both of them because he does not see that they fit into the new life he has created- he is above them. Yet both men forgive him when he hurts them and love him despite his faults.
QUOTATIONS
Magwitch's first appearance
"The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread."
Magwitch and Compeyson
The following quotation summarizes why Magwitch hated Compeyson:
". . . And when it come to character, warn't it Compeyson as had been to the school, and warn't it his schoolfellows as was in this position and in that, and warn't it him as had been know'd by witnesses in such clubs and societies, and nowt to his disadvantage? And warn't it me as had been tried afore, and as had been know'd up hill and down dale in Bridewells and Lock-Ups? And when it come to speech-making, warn't it Compeyson as could speak to 'em wi' his face dropping every now and then into his white pocket-handkercher - ah! and wi' verses in his speech, too - and warn't it me as could only say, 'Gentlemen, this man at my side is a most precious rascal'? And when the verdict come, warn't it Compeyson as was recommended to mercy on account of good character and bad company, and giving up all the information he could agen me, and warn't it me as got never a word but Guilty? . . . "
symbols
JAGGERS' HANDS
You caught on to a very important symbol- Jaggers attempts to get "uninvolved" even when he IS.
1)
In the beginning of chapter 26
"My guardian was in his room, washing his hands with his scented soap"
"he would wash his hands, and wipe them and dry them all over this towel, whenever he came in from a police-court or dismissed a client from his room. When I and my friends repaired to him at six o'clock next day, he seemed to have been engaged on a case of a darker complexion than usual, for, we found him with his head butted into this closet, not only washing his hands, but laving his face and gargling his throat"
(this is symbolic, he is washing his hands of the matter)
"I found him in his dressing-room surrounded by his stock of boots, already hard at it, washing his hands of us." (chapter 26)
"What I suffered from, was the incompatibility between his cold presence and my feelings towards Estella. It was not that I knew I could never bear to speak to him about her, that I knew I could never bear to hear him creak his boots at her, that I knew I could never bear to see him wash his hands of her; it was, that my admiration should be within a foot or two of him-- it was, that my feelings should be in the same place with him -- that, was the agonizing circumstance" (chapter 29)
"As a necessary sequence, I asked him if he would favour us with his company, and he promptly accepted the invitation. But he insisted on walking home with me, in order that I might make no extra preparation for him, and first he had a letter or two to write, and (of course) had his hands to wash." (chapter 36)
More Literary Terms
Conflict in Great Expectations
There are internal conflicts in which characters battle with their own motivations and desires. They have conflicting needs or choices. Pip's first internal conflict stems from a very real external threat- he must choose whether to help the convict or not. Later, Pip faces the conflicts of lying, which manifests itself in his guilt. This continues and strengthens later in the story when he lies to his family about what goes on at Miss Havisham's house. Throughout the novel, Pip's greatest internal conflict continues to be guilt over some choice he makes. Ultimately, his guilt over choosing to take Magwitch's money without knowing where it came from leads him to realize that he had been selfish and cruel to someone who helped him. It took a great internal struggle that lasts for most of the novel for Pip to realize that he had to do the right thing.
Pip's struggle to learn right from wrong begins early. He is conflicted over his choices to lie and steal and his motivations, which are pure. Like most children, Pip has to learn the fine line between which of society's rules to accept. He makes the choice again when he breaks the law to sneak Magwitch out of the country. Pip does not always make moral choices. He takes money from an unknown benefactor (which may or may not be immoral) and then spurns the benefactor when he reveals himself. He lives a lifestyle that breeds corruption, and he corrupts others including honest Herbert while allowing himself to be corrupted. It is at this point that he gets into debt and denounces his family, especially Joe, out of shame.
*A special note- In the 1998 version of Great Expectations, most characters are continually wearing the color green throughout the movie. The color shows up in the background as well. As green has long been a recognized symbol of both greed and guilt, it is clear that green's prevalence in the movie is not an accident. See www.imdb.com for information on the movie.
Pip has an even greater internal conflict with love. He must decide whether or not he truly loves Estella. He cannot stand her, yet he cannot be away from her. Though she is clearly bad for him and, as she tells him, has no heart to give him, he is in love. Much of his internal pain comes from her presence, her spurning of him and his longing for her.
Pip experiences external conflicts with other characters and with society. He struggles with his sister, who physically and mentally abuses him, but he really does not care for her and she does not dramatically affect him. Most of his struggles are with Joe, whom he loves and cares for but is ashamed of because of his status. Pip feels a sense of entitlement once he gets money, and he pushes humble Joe away. Later, when Joe saves him and comforts him in his illness, he regrets the way he treated Joe. When he returns, fallen, and wants to marry Biddy he finds himself humbled when he learns Joe already has her. Here the secret rivalry with Joe, who is essentially Pip's brother (his brother-in-law actually), manifests itself to Pip. Pip also struggles with Biddy, because he does not want to accept her advice. He considers her sweet and good, but beneath him. When his own idea of his social role is reduced he returns to marry Biddy, but she has already married Joe.
Pip struggles with Estella throughout the book. She tells him as a child that he is plain and simple, coarse. She belittles everything from his boots to his vocabulary and treats him like a dog. Pip realizes that she is this way because Miss Havisham is teaching her, but he cannot draw himself away. He believes that she is his betrothed, and in fact is led by Miss Havisham to think so. As she grows older, Estella pushes away more and more. She explains to him one day when he asks if she remembers their childhood:
`You must know,' said Estella, condescending to me as a brilliant and beautiful woman might, `that I have no heart -- if that has anything to do with my memory.' (chapter 29)
Estella continues to taunt him as she tries for her own gains. She marries Drummle, a rival of Pip's (Pip's external conflicts with Drummle are secondary in the novel). Later, after he has died, she says that she will raise her child alone. In one version of the ending, she may marry Pip, but it would be a loveless marriage.
Miss Havisham is Pip's nemesis. She has had her heart broken (by Compeyson, Magwithch's former partner) and seeks to raise young girls so that theirs may not break also. To do this, she teaches them to break hearts instead. At a very young age, she goes for Pip's:
"'What do I touch?' `Your heart.' `Broken!' She uttered the word with an eager look, and with strong emphasis, and with a weird smile that had a kind of boast in it." (chapter 9)
Later, Miss Havisham regrets what she has done to Estella. As she explains to Pip:
"But as she grew, and promised to be very beautiful, I gradually did worse, and with my praises, and with my jewels, and with my teachings, and with this figure of myself always before her a warning to back and point my lessons, I stole her heart away and put ice in its place.' `Better,' I could not help saying, `to have left her a natural heart, even to be bruised or broken.' " (chapter 29)
From the first chapter, Pip has a conflict with Magwitch. He is afraid of him when he first meets him. When he learns that he has been taking his money, he is repulsed. When he learns of Magwitch's life, and how he has been ill used, he softens. He helps Magwitch try to escape England and when they are caught and Magwitch is dying, he tells him that Estella is a fine, successful woman.
Pip's conflict with Dolge Orlick cannot be forgotten. Orlick tries to flaunt him throughout the book and at one point tries to kill him.
Plot Diagram
Exposition
Setting: Marshes ("Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea" (ch 1)., London and surrounding communities. See list.
Characters: See list
Rising Action: see plot
Climax:
When Pip, Magwitch and Herbert attempt to escape England. Compeyson turns them in and they are caught. During the struggle Compeyson drowns, and Pip and Magwitch are injured. Magwitch dies in the hospital shortly afterward, and Pip is destitute.
Resolution:
There are two versions (see endings). In both cases, Pip becomes his own man and is successful in Clarriker's shipping firm. In one he never marries, in the other ending it might be taken that he marries Estella.
other
THE DIFFERENT ENDINGS
Is the second ending appropriate or not?
Good question. I think that given the fact that Dickens intended for Pip and Estella to go their separate ways in the first place, the ending that you have described (where they are married) is inappropriate. There are several reasons for this. First of all, it is contradictory to the theme of the novel. Pip is supposed to realize that he was wrong in acting the way that he did toward those that loved him. He is supposed to return to an honest living and forget about the money. If he marries Estella, it is to close to a marriage for what he once had. He could have loved her genuinely, but I feel that Dickens intended for Pip to realize that he did not really love her but loved her money and her lifestyle. Estella also is to learn that she can be comfortable (if not happy) on her own, and because of what she has been through could likely never be happy in a mature relationship with Pip. His love for her is pure childish fantasy, and she needs to take some time to herself until one day she can marry for love and not money (as she did with Drummle) or simplicity (as she would with Pip). Dickens changed the ending because a friend suggested that it might be better for his readers to accept- a readership that was reeling from the storybook ending of David Copperfield and the symbolically happy ending of his last book, A Tale of Two Cities.
Is the second ending possible? Yes, there is evidence from the story to support it. Is it appropriate? You decide, but I do not believe so.
Which is the best ending?
I think the first ending is better because it is more believable, I think. It is also the one Dickens intended. You should see my post on the Oliver Twist SparkNote referring to this subject, because I included a quote from Dickens on why he chose to alter the ending. He claimed that his friend convinced him, and had good reasons for why Pip and Estella should be together. I would not state that the first ending is better just because it was Dickens' first choice, however, because he did change it.
I think that ending one is more believable because the whole premise of the book is that Pip and Estella cannot be happy together. Dickens spends the whole book talking about how she has no heart, how she leads him on, how she is miserable and marries for money- and then suddenly we are supposed to believe that she can change enough for them to live happily ever after together? If you ask me, ending #2 is just wishful thinking on Pip's part, and the marriage would probably end up like Paul and Edith's marriage in "Dombey and Son" (if you have not read that one, let me just tell you that it was NOT a happy marriage)! Pip is too immature regarding love, and regarding Estella, for their relationship to work. He grows up enough to realize that "they" will never be.
Another reason that the first ending is more believable is that Dickens does not give us any reason to even hope that Pip and Estella will be happy in their life together. He just sort of throws it suddenly at the reader without any real proof. Estella has just gotten out of a disastrous marriage, she has been hurt too many times, and she has a little daughter. She may be desperate, but is she that desperate?
You should note that there is another side to this argument. Estella is able to forget Miss Havisham's teachings. She does gain heart, and even in the original ending she shows affection for Pip combined with sorrow. She may have loved him all along, and have been actually hoping that whole time she was leading him to his ruin. It is also possible that Pip and Estella have been hurt so much by their hopelessly demented childhoods that neither of them will ever be able to love anyone else, and each other is all they will ever know. In this case, even if they do not live happily ever after, they will be together and that might mend some of the hurt of their childhood days.
You decide which argument you agree with most. You should also look at past messages, because this subject comes up A LOT! Look at the other pages to get some other viewpoints.
If you have questions or comments about what I said, feel free to post or e-mail me!
The Original Ending of Great Expectations
I was really surprised, because I looked at all of the online e-texts that I could find and none had the original ending! If you want to read it, try the version by Signet Publishing that's paperback, I am pretty sure it has it.
By the way, you were right about the carriage!
For now, here is what I have:
Here's why he changed it:
"You will be surprised," Dickens wrote to Forrester, "to hear that I have changed the end of Great Expectations from and after Pip's return to Joe's, and finding his little likeness there. Bulwer, who has been, as I think you know, extraordinarily taken by the book, so strongly urged it upon me, after reading the proofs, and supported his view with such good reasons, that I resolved to make the change...."
Here's what he changed:
There was no chapter 20, but the sentence which opens it ("For eleven years" altered to "eight years") followed the paragraph about his business partnership with Herbert and led to Biddy's question whether he is sure he does not fret for Estella ("I am sure and certain, Biddy" was altered to "O no- I think not Biddy". After that, this was the closing statement:
"It was two years more, before I saw herself. I had heard of her as leading a most unhappy life, and as being separated from her husband who had used her with great cruelty, and who had become quite renowned as a compound of pride, brutality and meanness. I had heard of the death of her husband (from an accident consequent of ill-treating a horse), and of her being again the Shropshire doctor, who, against her interest had once very manfully interposed, on an occasion when he was in professional attendance on Mr. Drummle, and had witnessed some outrageous treatment of her. I had heard that the Shropshire doctor was not rich, and they lived on her own personal fortune. I was in England again- in London, and walking along Piccadilly with little Pip- when a servant came running after me to ask would I step back to a lady in a carriage who wished to speak to me. It was a little pony carriage, which the lady was driving; and the lady and I looked sadly enough on one another. "I am greatly changed, I know; but I thought you would like to shake hands with Estella too, Pip. Lift up that pretty child and let me kiss it!" (She supposed the child, I think, to be my child). I was very glad afterwards to have such an 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."
Isn't that sad! Oh, well, NOW it's recorded.
Further Reading
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Further Information
Cite this page in MLA!
Tracy, Trinity. "Notes on Great Expectations." Dickens Made Simple. 2002. http://www.dickensmadesimple.com (date of access).
