Great Expectations

Dickens, in the 19th century, published his novels, and those of other writers, as episodes in magazines;
this meant lots of people could afford to buy them. It also meant that those who liked the story, and could
afford to, would buy the complete book when this was published later. For those who could not read, or
could not read well, there were public readings; Dickens “performed” extracts from his works to large and
enthusiastic audiences.

Dickens is still widely read, although not all his stories and novels are popular. Oliver Twist and A
Christmas Carol are far better known today than Martin Chuzzlewit and Barnaby Rudge. Great
Expectations is unusual because it is considered by leading scholars to be a work of genius, but is also very
widely-read by ordinary people.

What is good about Dickens is his all-round strength: there is a huge range of characters, all well-drawn;
places and other details are described vividly where necessary to the story and omitted where irrelevant;
dialogue is lively and varied (though prone to comic exaggeration); mood and atmosphere are convincingly
conveyed, while the plotting of the novels is faultless. Dickens is a great lover of verbal irony: he uses
words in such a way that he seems to be saying the opposite of what he really means; he expects the reader
to understand this from the tone or the details of what he is saying. At a deep level, Dickens is very serious
about his subjects, but on the surface, he is often ironical, sarcastic or whimsical.

Great Expectations

Genre: Bildungsroman

Pip is both the narrator of Great Expectations and its chief protagonist. His perspective both determines
what we see and how we see it. The novel follows Pip from the age of about eight to his mid-thirties and
qualifies as a bildungsroman ('Bildungsroman' is a German word. Translated into English, it describes 'a
novel about the intellectual and emotional formation of its protagonist).

Great Expectations is divided into three parts corresponding to the phases of Pip's life. The first stage
covers his childhood, during which he is 'brought up by hand' by his older sister, his parents having died.
The second covers his apprenticeship in London, from his mid-teens to his coming of age, at which time he
also comes into his mysterious inheritance, of which he has such great expectations (hence the novel's
name). The third part of the novel shows Pip getting a better grip on who he is and who he wants to be,
from his mid-twenties to his mid-thirties. It also covers how those 'great expectations' are - and are not -
fulfilled.

Though Great Expectations is categorized as a Bildungsroman, Dickens modifies the novel's tone for
dramatic effect. At various points throughout the narrative, different genres may seem to predominate. Pip's
childhood is written realistically, while elements of the gothic reflect his own fright, and elements of satire
reflect his innocent perception of the ridiculous. Later in the novel, the tone becomes darker, as Pip sees
more of the world and its injustices. Because Great Expectations incorporates elements of many popular
Victorian genres, but although characteristics of multiple genres of fiction are present, ''Great Expectations
forms a remarkably coherent and compelling whole.

Time in the novel. Pip is about seven at the beginning of the story. He would be apprenticed at
fourteen and goes to London at about eighteen. He comes of age in Ch. 36 (we learn that Herbert is eight
months older and that Pip's birthday is in November), and is twenty-three in the final part of the novel, save
for the last chapter which is eleven years later. In each of the novel's three parts, except Ch. 59, time passes
more slowly, or, to state this another way, the narrative is more detailed.

The novel begins some time around 1810 (Great Expectations was published in 1861). We cannot date
the action precisely, but such things as the mode of transport indicate a fairly early time (there is no
reference to railways, for example). Three exact dates can be given, however. In Chapter 40, Pip refers to
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and in Chapter 46 he learns how to “shoot” the Old London Bridge. Shelley's
novel was published in 1818, while the bridge was demolished in 1831. In both chapters, Pip is twenty-
three; the novel begins fourteen years earlier. And in Chapter 36 (Pip's coming of age) Wemmick refers to
Waterloo Bridge (built 1817). Thus the earliest date for the first meeting with Magwitch is 1805, and the
latest date 1817.

The setting. The setting starts in the countryside, where Pip was raised. It moves to London where he
pursues his goal to be a refined gentleman. Both are symbolic of his journey and life lessons.

The story starts in the misty marshes which is a significant setting in the novel. It creates a sinister
atmosphere and foreshadows imminent danger. It creates a sense of uncertainty. It is where he meets the
escaped convict at the start, and later, is where he is kidnapped and nearly killed by Orlick. In the country
house Pip grew up in two places, the forge, where his sister and husband lived and Satis House, where Pip
was sent to spend time with the upper class Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella. Satis House
is a gothic setting which reflects its owner’s situation. It is in ruins, like Miss Havisham. Since Miss
Havisham was jilted on her wedding day, she stopped the clocks and remains in her wedding gown with the
decaying feast of food around her. This setting represents Miss Havisham’s want to freeze time and her
wedding dress symbolizes her past. The decaying food represents her decay as she has become frail in her
old age. The iron bars, as you would see in a prison, symbolizes the feeling of being imprisoned. Pip is
imprisoned by his unattainable love for Estella and Miss Havisham is imprisoned in her destroyed life from
which she cannot move on. This, alongside the locked main gate and high surrounding walls, adds to the
feeling of imprisonment. Even Miss Havisham’s courtyard reflects her life and situation – overgrown and
tangled with weeds – neglected and not loved. It can also be seen as symbolizing a separation between the
upper and lower classes and the location of Pip's corruption by false values.
Another significant setting in the novel is Dickens portrayal of London. Upon arrival, Pip
thought London was unattractive and dirty, yet it is where the second, ‘exciting’ stage of Pip’s expectations
began. In London, where he lives after acquiring his wealth, he encounters the temptations of life as a
young man with too much money and too little to do. All in all, setting plays an extremely significant role
in Great Expectations and it is an aspect of the novel that determines the mood and tone, reflects the
situations and character personalities and contributes largely to the themes.
The last scene of the novel features another setting, the abandoned garden where Satis House used to
stand: it is thus an appropriate setting for the novel's final meeting between Pip and Estella, both are on
journeys of remembrance and both are now aware how they were damaged by what happened to them at
Satis House. It may also be the setting for Pip and Estella's final farewell as well as their final meeting in
the novel: much depends on how we interpret the novel's alternative endings. As they leave ‘the ruined
place' together, there is an echo of the story of the departure of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden,
especially as recounted by John Milton (1608-74) in the last lines of his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667-9;
1674):
Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them soon;
The World was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and providence their guide:
They hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
 (Paradise Lost, Book 12, lines 645-9)

THE TWO ENDINGS: Wilkie Collins, a close friend and author of The Woman in White, objected to the
not-happy ending Dickens first wrote for Great Expectations; Estella has remarried and Pip remains single.
Dickens then wrote a more conventional ending, which suggests that Pip and Estella will marry. Writing to
friends about the revised ending, Dickens seems positive: "I have put in as pretty a little piece of writing as
I could, and I have no doubt the story will be more acceptable through the alteration" and "Upon the whole
I think it is for the better."
The second ending has generally been published from Dickens's time to our own, so that it is the one
which most readers know. Critics have been arguing the merits of both endings since the novel's
publication. Dickens's friend and biographer, John Forster, felt the original ending was "more consistent
with the draft, as well as the natural working out of the tale." The writers George Gissing, George Bernard
Shaw, George Orwell, William Dean Howells, Edmund Wilson and Angus Wilson agreed with Forster's
preference. In modern criticism, the stronger arguments tend to support the second ending.

Arguments Favoring the Original Ending

 George Bernard Shaw: The novel "is too serious a book to be a trivially happy one. Its
beginning is unhappy; its middle is unhappy; and the conventional happy ending is an outrage on it."
 The second ending is an artistically indefensible and morally cheap about-face; its purpose is to
please a popular audience which expects a conventional happy ending (i.e., marriage).
 In the second ending, Pip gets more than he deserves. As a result, Dickens confuses the social
and moral meanings of the novel.
 Estella's conversion in the second ending is not only unconvincing but contradicts the logic of
the narrative and excuses the way Miss Havisham raised her. Miss Havisham does not need to be forgiven
or redeemed, since neither Pip nor Estella was really damaged.
 In the original ending, though Estelle is softened by her suffering, she remains the lady, with
the same characteristic superiority, who is perhaps slightly condescending to Pip.

Arguments Favoring the Second Ending

 The second ending continues the imagery of the garden and the mist and is better written.
  The second ending continues the patterns of union and separation and reconciliation, the
connection of the past and the present, and Pip and Estella's meetings at Satis House.
 Pip and Estella are both orphans, even if Estella is only symbolically one. Their shared childhood
experiences related to having people other than their parents. The lovers deserve to be happy because they
have suffered deeply; their suffering has changed them so much that they are no longer the same people. It
is appropriate that Magwitch's daughter finds happiness with Pip.
 Martin Price argues that the mature Pip, with the saving humor of self-acceptance, finally sees
Estella as what she is; therefore, it seems appropriate she can return to him. "Each is a fantasist who has
grown into maturity; each is a fantasist that has dwindled into humanity."

There are a few critics who have taken a third position; the novel should stop before Estella's final
appearance. They note that Dickens, in his working notes on the novel, follows Pip's later career but does
not refer to Estella. Miss Havisham referred to Estella's marriage many chapters earlier, so that there is no
need to bring her up again; her fate is known.

The narrative voice. Pip as narrator

Pip is a character in the story whom we can study, as any other character; but his is the novel's narrative
voice. Dickens, in Great Expectations, shows enormous skill in his control of the narrative.

First, the reader should note how, without any great variation in Pip's own narrative style, a vast range
of characters is introduced. This is largely achieved by allowing these characters to speak for themselves.
Second, Pip is able to convey the viewpoint both of his younger self (from the simple child of the novel's
opening to the young prig of the middle chapters) and of the mature narrator: he is merciless in exposing
his faults, allowing them to appear by the honesty of his narration rather than passing judgement.

He does pass judgement on others for good (Joe, Biddy) or ill (Pumblechook, Orlick), but these
judgements do not seem to the reader to be simple personal likes or dislikes; they are convincing, because
they are borne out by the words and deeds of these characters. Thus Pip tells us of Herbert (Ch. 22), that he
has seen no one else who expresses more strongly “in every look and tone, a natural incapacity to do
anything secret and mean”. In Ch. 27, Dickens illustrates perfectly the gulf between the embarrassment of
the young prig at Joe's provincial speech and outlandish dress, and the adult Pip's understanding of the
moral stature of the man:
 “I had not been mistaken in my fancy that there was a simple dignity in him. The fashion of his dress
could no more come in its way, when he spoke these words, than it could come in its way in Heaven”.

Earlier (Ch. 19) Pip gives an account of a conversation with Biddy: he wishes her to educate Joe so as to
make him a more suitable companion to the gentleman, who plans to “remove” him “into a higher sphere”.
When Biddy retorts that Joe “may be too proud to let anyone take him out of a place that he is competent to
fill, and fills well and with respect” she is accused by Pip of envy. Pip (as narrator) has so presented the
conversation as to ensure the reader's disapproval of his own conduct and approval of Biddy as a person,
and in her view of Joe.

Dickens allows Pip to speak with a distinctive voice: the story telling is vivid, the sentences fluent and
varied and the honesty of the narrator is shown in his self-condemnation. The opening chapter is
remarkable for the switching from the child's state of mind to the explosive appearance of Magwitch. The
narrator perfectly conveys the child's ignorance: Pip notes that the man eats the bread but does not
understand why he should be so ravenous; later he asks Joe what a convict is: here he seems not to know
that Magwitch is a convict. As well as presenting the child's view of things, the adult narrator allows adult
observations about the young Pip's situation and those around him.These observations are often marked by
humour and irony; indeed Pip is allowed to share Dickens' eye for the comic in human behaviour, and the
novel abounds in memorable comic phrases.

Other voices: Pip may have a distinctive voice, but allows others to speak with their own voices in a
way which establishes character: Joe is uneducated but often most articulate, as when he observes of his
blacksmith father: “he hammered at me with a wigour only to be equalled by the wigour with which he
didn't hammer at his anvil”, The hypocritical Pumblechook, the cold Mrs. Joe, polite but plain-speaking
Biddy, the rough but kindly Magwitch, all these (and many more) have their characteristic voices.

Themes and motifs

There is great unity in this novel: it is principally about guilt and shame, and these ideas are reinforced
in many ways. Pip is made to feel guilty for being a child, yet has genuine cause for guilt in his dealings
with Magwitch. Pip feels shame at his lowly origin and pride in his sudden rise in fortunes; Pip's visit to
Satis House leads to his awareness of himself as coarse and common; he is ashamed of the limitations
imposed upon him by his social class; It is central to his understanding of Magwitch's essential goodness,
and his reconciliation with him, that he sees the common humanity of Estella and her convict father. To
idealize Estella and demonize Magwitch is recognized as an error of which Pip must repent. His acceptance
of Magwitch marks his redemption in the reader's eyes. Pip's shame at his origins fuels his desire to be a
“gentleman”, and the novel is very much about what makes a gentleman.

Pip is proud to take the inherited money (as he thinks) of his adoptive fairy godmother but has a horror
of his real benefactor. And yet Magwitch has, by hard work in an honest occupation, earned the wealth to
make a gentleman of his “boy”. Pip has, in fact, got exactly what he has wished for. When Pip meets
Magwitch his snobbish distaste for the convict (for which Magwitch does not at all blame him) is only
slightly restrained by recognition of what the man has risked for him. He does, to his credit, feel it his duty
to help Magwitch escape and resigns himself to being his companion. Finally fully cured of his snobbery.
In Great Expectations, Pip learns that being rich isn't as important as being true to yourself. Pip is an
orphan who dreams of being a gentleman, only to realize in the end that money isn't as important as one's
character. Dickens uses Pip's search for self to develop the theme of identity.

Loneliness is another important theme in the novel. Four of the main characters, including Pip and
Estella, are orphans, but each reacts differently to their alienation. Pip searches for love and friendship,
whereas Estella pushes people away.

Being a gentleman. In the novel we are introduced to two different ideas of what makes a gentleman.
One idea is that a gentleman is made what he is by his social status or class: this is measured in terms of his
understanding of rules of social etiquette (table manners and so on), habits of dress and speech and the
standing of his family; of course, wealth is important, too. Even a “poor” gentleman, such as Mr. Pocket
employs a number of servants. Early in the novel Pip forms this idea: meeting Estella makes him desperate
to be her social equal; at the same time he becomes ashamed of his honest master, and disgusted by the
recollection of his dealings with Magwitch.

A quite different standard is apparent to the reader from early in the novel, and eventually to Pip: that
being a true gentleman is a matter of virtue and honesty, of having a station in life which one can fill with
dignity.

Dickens exploits the ambiguity (having more than one meaning) of the term gentleman. By Dickens'
time, a new factor had entered this situation, which had hardly changed for centuries: the industrial
revolution and foreign trade had enabled men of very humble backgrounds to achieve immense wealth.
They might eventually retire, move to a part of the country where they were not known, buy a title, and
thus gain entry to the higher social circles. These were the nouveaux riches and might be disapproved by
the more “established” families. In Great Expectations we meet no one from the highest social ranks (no
aristocrats, for example). Bentley Drummle is from a landed family but is Mr. Drummle (he has no title,
though he is “next heir but one to a baronetcy”). We are told in Chapter 25 that Drummle's family is from
Somerset, but in Chapter 43 Pip speaks to him of “your Shropshire”, and Drummle does not correct him. It
is possible that Pip is deliberately inaccurate (to annoy his rival) but Dickens would certainly be aware of
the distance between the two counties.

Miss Havisham's fortune comes from the brewery (now disused) at Satis. Herbert notes astutely (Ch. 22)
that brewers, unlike trades people generally, are admitted to the circles of gentility: “I don't know why it
should be a crack thing to be a brewer; but...while you cannot possibly be genteel and bake, you may be as
genteel as never was and brew. You see it every day”. And while a gentleman “may not keep a public
house” yet “a public house may keep a gentleman.” This explanation both accounts for Miss Havisham's
(and thus Estella's) social standing and provides comment on the illogicality of Victorian notions of
gentility. Magwitch's crude idea of buying the position of gentleman would seem initially absurd to
Dickens' contemporary readers; and yet money has bought status for Estella (acceptable because her
criminal parents are not known).

There is a paradox here: Miss Havisham with money for which she has not worked can do what is
impossible for Magwitch's honestly gained wealth.

Pip and Estella do manage the transition from one class to another successfully. Though Estella's status
as Miss Havisham's ward is known, her adoption in infancy seems to silence guesses about her origins.
Even as a child she seems a perfect lady, as she has the speech and bearing to complement her dress and
beauty. Her success is a challenge to those who believe “good breeding” to be essential to a lady or
gentleman. The opposite of this is Drummle who is favoured by background but stupid and brutal.

It was obvious even to the most conservative reader in Dickens' own day that social class and virtue did
not regularly overlap. This leads to the notion of a gentleman or lady as someone who acts with integrity,
who occupies with dignity his or her own proper place in society. Dickens quite clearly approves of social
mobility for those, like Pip, who have the means to achieve it. But he recognizes that this is more the
exception than the rule.
 Pip wants to be a gentleman so he can win Estella. His thinking of his expectations in romantic terms,
with Miss Havisham as fairy godmother, suggests that this is an immature and foolish notion. At the end of
the novel, we believe, Pip has become a true gentleman: he no longer cares for outward pretence, he is
reconciled to Joe and Biddy, he has abandoned his romantic delusions and he has worked for his (modest)
wealth. His new position he owes to the one virtuous use he made of Magwitch's money (setting up Herbert
in business).

The Estella of the final chapter is also a lady in a truer sense than the young snob or the callous
heartbreaker of earlier times.

Crime and punishment . Justice is complicated in Great Expectations. Oftentimes, the justice system
fails to punish the guilty, but life has a way of forcing these people to atone for their crimes and seek
forgiveness. These settings could be seen as reflecting the development of the novel

Just as obviously as Dickens examines issues of social class in Great Expectations, so he reveals an
interest in crime. As Magwitch appears in the novel's first pages, the reader understands what Pip only
observes: the man is an escaped convict who has suffered great hardship. She and Magwitch are connected
in more ways than in their being Pip's supposed and real benefactors. They are linked through Compeyson,
her suitor and Magwitch's mentor; Estella, his natural and her adoptive daughter, and through Jaggers, who
acts for both.

Characrets. Pip is shown both through his own portrayal of his younger self, and in his relationship
with others. In outline, he is, at the start of the novel, a kind and intelligent child, who lacks formal learning
but is aware of the humbug of Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe. He sees Joe's goodness, but mistakes his
simplicity for lack of wisdom. His ambition at this time is to avoid “Tickler” and in due course to become
Joe's apprentice. His introduction to Satis House gives him a glimpse of another world, to which he is
anxious to gain access socially. Its unattainability is embodied in Estella. He becomes unhappy with his lot
and only remains at the forge because Joe is so good to him.

The discovery of his “expectations” seems to give Pip reason for his shame at his origins, and he is swift
to place some distance between himself and his home village. He retains his fondness for Joe, but cannot
admit it openly, and is embarrassed by Joe in London. Pip confirms his snobbery by keeping a servant and
joining the “Finches of the Grove”. He exceeds his income and leads the impoverished Herbert into
extravagance. His smugness is shattered by the discovery that Magwitch is his patron; he has supposed
himself to be part of a grand design, leading to marriage with Estella.

His treatment of Magwitch is at first unpleasant, but he softens as he realizes what the man has risked to
see him. He still dislikes him, however. Magwitch's account of his hard life brings more sympathy, and Pip
begins to like his “uncle” by degrees. When the man falls ill, this turns to genuine affection, which issues in
practical comfort. Pip has become a much better man. He recognizes how ungrateful he has been to Joe and
is reconciled to him, first when Joe cares for him in London, and later when he returns to the forge on Joe's
weddingday. Pip atones for his past errors by hard work abroad, but is resigned to a life of bachelorhood:
his earlier notion of marrying Biddy would have been a mistake, and he is thankful he did not make the
proposal, as Joe would have doubtless given way to Pip. He can only ever marry one person, Estella:
without her, he is better single. When she is softened and humbled by her own harsh lessons in life, she
may be able to accept him.

The novel's revised and ambiguous ending suggests that she and Pip will stay together. This outline
does little justice to a subtle and complex portrait; we know Pip as fully as we might know many a real
person. We also discover how the adult Pip judges his earlier conduct for good or ill. He is an attractive
character, but foolish in youth. His honesty as narrator is such that he leaves no stone unturned in
presenting the case against himself.

Estella and Biddy. Apart from Clara, whom Pip does not meet until late in the novel, Biddy and Estella
are the only young women Pip seems to know. He considers both as possible partners, but for very
different motives. At first, it seems that, in her circumstances and background, Biddy is much the more
suitable, but it becomes clear eventually that Estella's experience almost exactly matches Pip's own. Biddy,
like Joe, is somewhat idealized. She is also used rather schematically for purposes of contrast with Estella.
For much of the novel she almost serves as the voice of Pip's conscience, and certainly she expresses the
reader's view against Pip's false judgements.

Biddy is a village girl, slightly older than Pip, like him an orphan and “brought up by hand”. While she
lives with her grandmother, she is industrious but unkempt. When she comes to the forge, she quickly
becomes clean and tidy. She is presented to the reader as a pretty and obliging girl. For this Pip likes her,
but she cannot exercise the power over him of the haughty and distant Estella. “She was not beautiful - she
was common and could not be like Estella - but she was pleasant and wholesome.”
 Though she is “not over-particular” for herself, she does stand up for Joe, when Pip suggests a scheme
for his education and “improvement” (Chapter 19). Biddy is remarkable for her ability to learn everything -
a virtue arising from her disadvantaged start in life. As well as acquiring housekeeping skills and basic
literacy, she is “theoretically as good a blacksmith” as Pip in his apprenticeship. When she comes to the
forge, she quickly alters its domestic character.

Biddy makes good use of every opportunity to better herself, and achieves a typical and respectable
progress, rising from the ragged orphan we first meet, to an educated woman, village schoolmistress,
model housewife and mother, married to a respectable craftsman of reasonable means. This would be as
much as any woman of the village could reasonably hope for, and Biddy is more than happy with her lot.
Her ambitions are modest, but she achieves them; they are contrasted with the impossible longings of Pip.

Biddy is warm as the forge she makes her home, but Estella is as cold as her adoptive home at Satis.
Dickens' educated readers would know the meaning of her name though the young Pip, who knows no
Latin, makes the comparison for himself, as her light comes “along the dark passage like a star”. Like a
star, she is cold and distant; like a star she is a point by which Pip steers the course of his life. She signals
her haughtiness in her addressing Pip repeatedly as “boy” and ridiculing his speech and “thick boots”. The
one show of affection, when she allows Pip to kiss her, is a reward for his knocking down Herbert.

Even Miss Havisham, having brought her up to be proud and insulting, is alarmed by her own creation
as she reproaches Estella for being cold to her (Ch. 38). When Estella goes to Richmond, she makes Pip her
friend and confidant; she likes him and wishes to spare him the torment she intends for others.

She does not think it possible that she will ever love, and so does not ever entertain the idea of Pip's
courtship; as a friend she repeatedly warns him off. We regard a woman without feeling, who torments
others, with disapproval, but Estella is not a selfish femme fatale. Her defective emotions are the result of
Miss Havisham's cruel experiment. Estella has obeyed her adoptive mother perfectly.. The Estella of the
final chapter, chastened by her experience of marriage to Drummle, seems at last prepared to admit Pip to a
closer relationship, the course of which is left open to the reader's guesses.

Biddy suggests that she does not deserve Pip's love. In fact, given that she is outwardly cold and
haughty, Dickens makes her surprisingly sympathetic. It is also partly due to her true origins, her parents
are the lowest of the low, socially, and yet she has risen to the pinnacle of elegant society.