Great Expectations

Summary of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pixabay

Great Expectations follows the story of Pip, an orphan who lives with his sister and her husband in Kent, England. The story begins with Pip looking at the tombstones of his parents when an escaped convict grabs Pip and orders him to get a file and food. Pip does as he is told, but the convict is captured anyway.

A few days later, Uncle Pumblechook takes Pip to play at Satis House where the dowager Miss Havisham lives. She is wealthy and a bit odd. She always wears an old wedding dress and all the clocks in her home are stopped. While visiting Miss Havisham, Pip meets Estella, who is cold towards him. Pip finds her extraordinarily beautiful and falls in love with her. He dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so he can marry Estella with Miss Havisham’s help. Rather, she helps him become a laborer at his family’s business.

Pip is now an apprentice to his brother-in-law Joe, a blacksmith. Pip does not enjoy working in the forge and tries to educate himself with the help of Biddy. One day, Orlick, Joe’s mean laborer, attacks Mrs. Joe (Pip’s sister) and she is left mute and invalid.

One day, Jaggers, a lawyer, comes to tell Pip he has been given a large fortune from a secret benefactor. Pip must go to London immediately and begin his gentleman’s education. Pip believes Miss Havisham is the benefactor and that Miss Havisham is planning to marry Pip and Estella.

While in London, Pip becomes friends with Herbert Pocket, a gentleman, and Wemmick, Jaggers’s law clerk. Pip shows disdain toward everyone in his previous life except for Estella. Herbert’s father, Matthew Pocket, begins to help Pip act more like a gentleman. Pip has decided that as soon as he turns twenty-one and receives an income, he will aid Herbert in entering into business.

Pip and Herbert live freely in London without caution. Orlick, the laborer who attacked Pip’s sister, appears once more as Miss Havisham’s porter but is quickly fired by Jaggers once Jaggers learns about Orlick’s past. Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe, dies. When Pip returns home he feels grief. One night back in London, Magwitch, the convict from the beginning of the story, appears in Pip’s room. He reveals to Pip that he made a fortune in Australia and has decided to dedicate the money towards Pip’s education to become a gentleman.

Pip is not pleased but feels he must help Magwitch escape once more as he is being pursued by his former partner in crime, Compeyson, and the police. Compeyson, it turns out, was the man who left Miss Havisham at the altar. It becomes more complicated for Pip when he learns that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter. Estella, who was raised by Miss Havisham, was taught by Havisham how to break the hearts of men as revenge. Pip was Estella’s first victim.

Pip begins to care for Magwitch as Estella marries Bentley Drummle, an upperclassman. Miss Havisham begs Pip for forgiveness when he comes to visit her at Satis House. Later on in the day, Miss Havisham leans over the lit fireplace and catches on fire. She does not die but becomes invalid. During her remaining time alive, she continues to beg Pip for forgiveness.

It is finally time for Magwitch’s escape. Pip, before the escape, is mysteriously lured to the marshes for a meeting, which is where Orlick tries to kill Pip. Herbert and friends arrive to save Pip and they continue on their journey to help Magwitch flee. Magwitch is to sneak downriver on a small boat, but he is discovered by the police and Compeyson. Compeyson and Magwitch fight, and Magwitch manages to drown Compeyson. For his crime, Magwitch is sentenced to death, leaving Pip without a fortune. Magwitch dies peacefully knowing that his death sentence is God’s way of showing him forgiveness.

Pip becomes ill, so Joe comes to care for him. They are reconciled and Joe has a lot of news for Pip. Orlick is in jail for robbing Uncle Pumblechook, Miss Havisham is dead and left her fortune to the Pocket family, and Joe has learned how to read and write from Biddy and has married her. Pip had planned to marry Biddy, so his plans were ruined.

Pip and Herbert go abroad to work as merchants and only return many years later. Estella is sitting in the garden of the Satis House. She is a widow and was not treated nicely by her late husband. Estella, Pip discovers, is no longer cold but sad and kind. They walk out of the garden hand in hand with Pip vowing never to leave her side.

Important Characters in Great Expectations

Below is a table summarising the main characters.

Analysis of Great Expectations with Quotes

Let’s take a closer look at the text.

Genre and Writing Style

Great Expectations is a defining example of the Bildungsroman genre.

In Great Expectations, Dickens follows Pip from his infancy until adulthood. As Pip ages throughout the novel, his reaction to certain situations and his understanding of the world evolves. He begins the novel with unrealistic dreams and romantic notions of improving his social and moral status by becoming a gentleman. He despises Joe for his common ways. However, by the end of the novel, we see Pip view his life more humbly and he has a much more nuanced idea of what true happiness means.

Dickens wrote Great Expectations in the first-person point of view so we can see how Pip matures throughout the novel. Dickens also uses a great deal of irony in the novel establishing a dry sense of humor that contrasts with the sad tone of the text. An example of irony is when Pip believes Miss Havisham to be his rich benefactor when in fact it was the convict Magwitch. Dickens, who is known for long wordy sentences, also used a lot of descriptive words to reveal the character traits of the characters.

Below is an excerpt from the text that displays Dickens’s writing style.

In this excerpt, Pip is describing Miss Havisham, who sits all day in her home wearing the same wedding dress she wore the day she was left at the altar. Notice the “I” statements and the descriptions of Miss Havisham. From these descriptions, we learn that Miss Havisham is reclusive and never sets foot outside.

Great Expectations: Major Themes

Here are the main themes of the text. Can you think of others?

Self Improvement

Pip’s greatest ambition throughout the novel is to raise his social and moral position in society. Pip believes that if he is educated and a gentleman, he will be respectable in society with greater morals. With the help of Biddy, he learns to read and write and with a benefactor, Pip goes to London to become a gentleman. He believes that once he is a gentleman he will be happy, moral, and able to marry the cold Estella.

However, Pip does not find happiness through his improvement in status and is not any more moral than he was as a poor orphan. Characters (such as Joe) who are uneducated and part of the working class prove that regardless of one’s social status, morality comes from within and not through external factors.

Social Class

Social class is a key theme in Great Expectations just as it was in Victorian society. Every social class is present in the novel.

• Magwitch is in the lowest, criminal class.
• Joe is a common laborer in the lower class.
• Uncle Pumblechook is middle class.
• Miss Havisham belongs to the upper class.

Pip believes that improving one’s social class improves one’s morality. However, Pip realizes slowly that one’s morality is not dependent on social class but is rather dependent on what a person has on the inside. Morality is found in good deeds, a kind heart, and affection. Those in the lower classes, Joe and Magwitch for example, have high inner worth and are kind and giving. This relates to Pip’s journey of self-improvement throughout the novel.

An example of social class can be found in Chapter 19. Pip visits the tailor Mr. Trabb. Once Mr. Trabb learns that Pip has money, he begins to treat him kindly, almost in an exaggerated manner. However, when Mr. Trabb’s assistant comes in, Mr. Trabb acts cruelly towards the assistant, which shows that people motivated by social class and wealth are not as moral as those who are kind without an expectation of a reward.

The Meaning of Great Expectations

Charles Dickens sends a strong message in his defining novel. As Pip matures, his ideas about morality and society evolve. By the end of the novel, Pip learns a huge lesson. He learns to see the world from a new perspective. He sheds his desire to improve his morality and happiness through the improvement of his social class or wealth. Rather, Pip acknowledges that improvement in morality and happiness is a lifelong journey that involves treating others well from the kindness of his heart.