Great Expectations

[WARNING: This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens, published in 1861. It is also his penultimate completed novel. It’s an articulate but rather depressing coming-of-age [bildungsroman] novel, and depicts the growth and development of a young and [initially] rather naïve young orphan, Pip. It’s fully narrated in the first person, just like David Copperfield. Great Expectations is one of my favourite books; I’m not very fond of any of the characters, but it’s so well-written, and conveys Pip’s feelings so accurately, one can’t help but be caught up in Dickens’ storm of hopes and fears, friendship and betrayal, pain and rage, love and hate.  I was only thirteen the first time I read it, but I read it so thoroughly and thought about it for so long that I understood it well, even at that tender age when I knew nothing about the ways of the world.  I’ll do my best to do this book justice in this post, dear reader! Here goes!

The book is set in Kent and London in the mid-nineteenth century. On Christmas Eve, 1812, a quiet and thoughtful little orphan, Philip Pirrip [Pip], is accosted by an escaped convict in the village churchyard, while visiting the graves of his parents and siblings. Pip has been taken into custody by his violent older sister [she’s more than twenty years ahead of him] and her kind, gentle husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The convict succeeds in scaring the child into stealing food and a file. The next morning, while everyone is asleep, Pip returns with the promised file, a pie, and some brandy. Pip’s theft is almost discovered at dinner that evening; however, soldiers arrive at the smithy and ask Joe to repair some shackles. Joe and Pip accompany the soldiers to the marshes, where Pip recognises the convict who threatened him last night; the wretched man is locked in a fight with another escaped criminal. The soldiers recapture the two men, and the first convict confesses to stealing food from the smithy, without dragging Pip into this mess [unexpected kindness!]. Though he is badly shaken by this incident [obviously], it soon becomes little more than a distant memory.

A year passes by uneventfully. Enter Miss Havisham [one of the darkest and most graphic characters in all of literature. I do not like her at all, but Dickens has done a particularly good job with this woman. She’s so extremely unlikeable, and rather mysterious in the beginning; I always saw analysing her as a challenge]. She is a wealthy spinster who still wears her old wedding dress and lives as a recluse in a dilapidated mansion called “Satis House”; she asks Mr. Pumblechook, an acquaintance of hers and a relative of the Gargerys, to find a boy to visit her and amuse her [I know. Whimsical much?]. Pip reluctantly visits Miss Havisham, and is deeply attracted to her adopted daughter, Estella, a devastatingly beautiful but cold and aloof young lady. She treats Pip with hostility because of his big, rough hands and patched boots. Miss Havisham encourages Estella’s unpleasant behaviour toward Pip, who visits Miss Havisham every Tuesday, until he is old enough to learn a trade. He dislikes and fears the eccentric Miss Havisham, but has learned to [somewhat] hide his revulsion. Soon, he is apprenticed to Joe and sets about learning the trade of the blacksmith. However, having met Estella, Pip yearns to rise above his station.

Joe’s surly and obnoxious assistant, Dolge Orlick, is envious of Pip and hates Mrs Joe. Orlick himself is a slow man, while Pip is bright and quick, and learns the trade relatively easily. When Pip and Joe are away from the house, Mrs Joe is violently attacked, and sustains severe injuries to her head. It is suspected that Orlick is behind the attack [yes, he is]. Mrs Joe loses the ability to speak; now that her tongue no longer runs wild, she becomes a surprisingly soft and humble person, and Pip and his childhood friend, an orphaned girl called Biddy, devote themselves to taking care of her. [Biddy is a wonderful person. She’s a much better person than Miss High-And-Mighty Estella, but Estella is far more interesting as a character].

Four years pass by in this fashion. Mr. Jaggers, a sharp, taciturn lawyer, informs Pip that he has been provided with money from an anonymous benefactor, so that he can “become a gentleman”. This gracious benefactor is assumed to be Miss Havisham. Pip, wishing to leave for London, decides to visit Miss Havisham one last time. At London, Pip takes up residence at Barnard’s Inn, and befriends Herbert Pocket, the jocular son of his tutor, Matthew Pocket, who is a cousin of Miss Havisham [and the only person, apart from Estella, whom the old lady remotely trusts]. Herbert and Pip have met once before—years before, when Herbert was rejected as a suitable companion for Estella. He knows a lot about Miss Havisham; he narrates to Pip the story of how Miss Havisham was cheated out of her inheritance and abandoned at the altar by her fiancé, turning her into a bitter, cruel woman who sees all men as her mortal enemies. [I was shocked by this story, and a fragment of pity for the broken-hearted Miss Havisham crept into my heart, but she doesn’t really deserve much sympathy. She even raised Estella to be a heartless monster. How can you prey on a young girl and control her life like that?]. Pip meets two other pupils—Bentley Drummle, a brutish rich brat, and a lad called Startop, who is agreeable.

Joe decides to visit Pip at Barnard’s Inn; Pip is ashamed of his brother-in-law’s coarse and uncultivated speech and manners. [That’s ungrateful of Pip. Joe raised him]. Through Joe, Pip learns that Estella will be at Satis House for a visit. When he returns to Satis House to meet Estella, he finds her favourably altered—she is less snobbish now, and much more mature. Pip finds himself unwilling to visit Joe, and returns to London, where he and Herbert exchange their romantic secrets: Pip is head-over-heels for Estella, while Herbert is engaged to a sweet, wise girl named Clara. Pip soon has occasion to meet Estella again—when she is sent to Richmond to be introduced into society.

Things don’t go very well for Pip from here—he doesn’t handle his money well and ends up running into debts, while Mrs Joe dies. He returns home for the funeral. When he comes of age at 21, his annual income is fixed at 500 pounds. Full of good intentions, he intends to help Herbert, who is in a tight spot himself, by anonymously securing him a position with the shipbroker, Clarriker’s. Pip encounters Estella again [they accidentally-on-purpose run into each other a lot, don’t they?] and takes her to Satis House, where she gets into an argument with Miss Havisham [Estella has been turned into such a cold, calculating girl that she can’t even love her benefactress and guardian. Love is a stranger to her. It’s Miss Havisham’s fault, of course, but Estella is still not someone who’s even remotely likeable—to me, at least]. In London, Pip notices Drummle’s attentions to Estella with growing alarm; when he tries to warn her of Drummle’s ruthless nature, she laughs at his fears and declares that she has no qualms about “entrapping” Drummle the way she has been taught.

Ah! Soon, dear reader, the mysterious benefactor’s identity will be revealed [it is not Miss Havisham]. A week after his twenty-third birthday, to his shock, Pip discovers that Abel Magwitch, the convict he encountered in the churchyard, is the one who has been helping him all this while. [Yes, let that sink in]. He was transported to New South Wales, and has gained enormous wealth after winning his freedom; however, he cannot return to England on pain of death. He is very grateful to the kind child who fed him on that forlorn day several years back, and has returned to England only for Pip. Pip is appalled, and stops taking money from him. Subsequently, he and Herbert devise a plan to help Magwitch escape from England. Sharing his history with Pip, Magwitch reveals that the criminal whom he fought in the churchyard that evening was none other than Compeyson, the fraudster who deserted Miss Havisham.

Pip returns to Satis House, hoping to catch a glimpse of Estella. He accuses Miss Havisham of misleading him about his benefactor. She admits to doing so. Pip declares his undying love for Estella, only to be coldly rejected; she tells him of her plans to marry that bestial Drummle. Devastated, Pip returns to London, where Jaggers’ clerk, Wemmick [with whom Pip has struck up a close friendship] warns him that Compeyson is seeking him, having found out about his connection to Magwitch and Miss Havisham. Pip and Herbert continue planning out Magwitch’s escape. A few days later, Pip is invited to Jaggers’ home for dinner; there, Wemmick reveals that Jaggers acquired his vicious-looking maidservant, Molly, several years ago, when he rescued her from the gallows [she was guilty of murder. Pip notices that she has several angry scars on the insides of her wrists]. He is both shaken and intrigued by this juicy piece of news. When he visits Miss Havisham again after a while, she tells him the story of how she adopted Estella. She is full of remorse [though the reason for her sudden change of heart is never revealed]. Prepare to be shocked—Estella is actually the child of Molly and Magwitch. As an infant, she was brought to Miss Havisham by Jaggers, and the spinster raised her to be an icy, gorgeous monster. [However, Miss Havisham herself knows nothing about Estella’s parentage; the above deduction is made by Pip, based off numerous facts he has gathered]. She asks Pip for his forgiveness, and informs him that Estella is now married.

She deeply regrets her manipulation of two promising youngsters. Though her sudden revelations shock and horrify Pip, he is not as bitter as I’d thought he’d be. Just as he is about to leave, Miss Havisham’s dress catches fire. Without hesitating, Pip saves her, sustaining injuries in the process. However, nothing can save Miss Havisham from her ultimate fate—death. She succumbs to her injuries soon. [I’d like your opinion here. How do you feel about her death?]. Pip confronts Jaggers with his deduction; Jaggers simply discourages Pip from investigating Estella’s parentage further. A few days before Magwitch’s great escape, Pip is suddenly attacked by Orlick [yes, the same guy who was thought to have assaulted Mrs Joe], who admits to having injured her. Just as he attempts to knock Pip down with a hammer, Herbert and Startop rush in and rescue Pip, restraining Orlick. The three of them then pick up Magwitch to row him to the steamboat for Hamburg, but alas! Their plans are foiled—they are intercepted by a police boat carrying Compeyson, who has offered to identify Magwitch. Magwitch and Compeyson get into a scuffle, and Compeyson is killed, while the grievously injured Magwitch is arrested.

Pip is painfully aware of the fact that Magwitch’s fortune will now go to the crown; however, Herbert, who is preparing to move to Cairo to manage Clarriker’s office there, offers Pip a position there. Pip regularly visits the hospitalised Magwitch as he awaits trial, and on Magwitch’s deathbed informs him that his daughter, Estella, is alive. After Herbert’s departure for Egypt, Pip falls seriously ill; he finds a devoted and tender nurse in Joe, the brother-in-law he used to be so ashamed of. Pip recovers steadily under Joe’s watchful care, and attempts to sincerely thank him, but the latter brushes it off. Realising that Biddy is worth ten of Estella, Pip proposes to her, only to discover that she has married Joe. [… Well, she wasn’t just going to sit around waiting for that prat named Pip forever, right? First come first served!]. Pip asks Joe to forgive him and, determined to make the most of his time by working hard, accepts Herbert’s warm-hearted offer and leaves for Cairo, where he lodges with Herbert and his wife Clara [that’s right, Herbert is married now]. The industrious and sharp-witted Pip quickly advances to the position of third-in-command; only then does Herbert learn that Pip paid for his position in the firm. His joy and gratitude know no bounds.

Pip works in Egypt for eleven years, after which he returns to England to visit Joe and Biddy [and their cute little son, Pip Jr.]. As you’ve probably noticed, Pip is irresistibly drawn to Satis House; the climax of the novel is no exception. When he visits the manor’s ruins, he encounters a much sadder and graver Estella—she has recently been widowed. Well, her married life was far from happy; Drummle proved to be abusive. She asks Pip to forgive her, assuring him that the rough-and-tumble of life has opened her eyes and heart. As Pip silently takes her hand and they leave the moonlit ruins, he declares that he sees “no shadow of another parting from her.” Two of the novel’s most well-drawn and poignantly depicted characters, brought together by a series of unfortunate events.

… I feel so accomplished after writing this! I do hope you enjoy reading this article, and I hope it strikes the chords of your heart!

See you next time!

Thank you!