CHARLES DICKENS

GREAT
EXPECTATIONS
Semester 5
Classic Fiction
Academic Year 2022-2023
Professor A. Benlamine
 CHAPTER 28
 P. 95: Wemmick sends Pip a note saying that
Magwitch is to be moved abroad very soon.
 The details, though not mentioned in the note,
are that they need to wait in the river Thames
for a steamer to take Magwitch (either to
France or Germany) where he would be safe.
Startop is recruited to row in Pip’s place, for the
latter’s fire injuries have not healed yet.
(Remember he heroically endeavoured to put
out the fire that caught Miss Havisham’s dress).
 P. 96: Pip receives an anonymous note
mentioning Magwitch and asking him to meet
the anonymous sender on the marshes near
his home village.
 Pip goes to the appointment, making Herbert
believe he is paying a visit to Miss Havisham.
“I left a note for Herbert, telling him that I had
decided to pay a short visit to Miss
Havisham”. P.96 middle
 Pip is is extremely oblivious of the danger
lurking behind the scene. He is very naïve.
 P. 97: His captor, Orlick, attacked and tied him
to a ladder. Pip was on the verge of death, but
he was rescued by Herbert and Startop. The
attacker escaped.
 P. 97 bottom: Orlick gives Pip the reasons for
the attack. Pip stood in his way to be in love
with Biddy. “It was you who always gave Orlick
a bad name to her”.
 Pip, according to Orlick, was also responsible
for being dismissed from work as a gate keeper
in Miss Havisham’s. “You cost me that job. You
did. Speak!”
 CHAPTER 29
 The three men are ready for Magwitch’s escape:
“The ship for Hamburg would start from London at
about 9:00 on Thursday morning”. P. 99
 Pp. 100-101: details of the big escape and how it
was thwarted in the last minute. Someone (most
probably Orlick) has informed the police of the four
men’s movements. ‘ “You have a returned convict
there’’, said the officer. That’s the man, wrapped in
the cloak. His name is Abel Magwitch, otherwise
Provis. I call on that man to give himself up; and
you to assist” ’ . P. 101 middle
 The ship accidentally ran into the little boat
carrying Pip, Startop, Herbert, and
Magwitch. The boat sank and they were
quickly rescued by mariners on the steamer.
Magwitch swam to the ship and was rescued
as well, but Compeyson, with whom he
fought on water, was most probably
drowned.
 Justice is done. (The idea that Divine justice
has prevailed).
 See also the fight between Compeyson and
 Compare Pip’s feelings now with his feelings
when Magwitch first appeared in his lodgings:
“I felt that my place was by Provis’s side as
long as he lived. For now my dislike for him
had melted away, and in him I only saw a man
who had meant to be my benefactor, and who
had felt warm and grateful towards me. I only
saw in him a much better man than I had been
to Joe”. P. 102 (The idea of gratitude
which he had learnt and nurtured as a boy)
 Now Pip feels he can learn morally from
Magwitch. His repugnance towards
Magwitch has now gone , and he sees
only his generosity, faithfulness, and
constancy. Notice Pip does not mention
here Magwitch’s wealth because it has
boiled down to nothing compared to these
values.
 CHAPTER 30
 P. 103: Herbert tells Pip that he must leave for
Cairo to take up a new post, and proposes that Pip
should join him there as a clerk. (life’s upheavals)
 Reference to the trial of Magwitch, p. 103.
Jaggers, on Pip’s request, has taken the case and
tries to get the trial postponed so that Magwitch
will die a normal death and not be hanged (there
was a noticeable decline in his health).
 Unfortunately, the request was not accepted by
the court.
 Pip also hopes that Magwitch dies before his
execution.
 P. 104: Pip continues his daily visits to
Magwitch and tells him, in a very touching
scene that his much-beloved daughter is alive,
and that she is a beautiful lady whom Pip
loves. “She is living now. She is a lady and
very beautiful. And I love her!” Magwitch
kisses Pip’s hand and dies. (Accomplishment
of Magwitch’s mission in life)
 Magwitch dies a happy man, and can rest in
peace in his grave now.
 CHAPTER 31
 P. 104: Pip is all by himself. He has fallen ill and,
in a dreamlike manner, he finds Joe by his side.
 Pip has serious cash flow problems as well. He is
in debt and cannot pay his rent. He risks
imprisonment if he doesn’t pay his landlord.
 Cf p. 106 bottom: “[ ]Joe had kept me out of
prison”.
 Biddy has sent Joe to nurse Pip. Someone has
informed them of his illness by letter. “Go to
him, without loss of time”. Bottom
 Joe tells Pip of Miss Havisham’s death. He
gives him details of her will: everything is
left to Estella, and some 4000 pounds to
Mathew Pocket on the basis of Pip’s good
appraisal of him. (recommendation of him)
 Here, towards the end of the novel, every
character gets his/her reward, whether good or
bad. Orlick is in jail after breaking into Mr
Pumblechook’s house and attacking its owner.
Miss Havisham’s other relatives have received
smaller legacies than the one given to Mathew
Pocket. Joe is no more illiterate. He can now
write and read. See “Biddy [] had evidently
taught him to write”. P. 105 top. Bentley
Drummle dies in a ridiculous and humiliating
way. He is kicked by one of his horses to death.
 To Pip’s great surprise, Joe has paid for all
his debts, and has left a receipt with a note
to Pip when he took the French leave. See
the note written by Joe on p. 105, middle
 This pushes Pip, after recovering from his
illness, to think of going to the village and
seek Joe’s forgiveness for the snobbishness
and disdain he has shown toward him when
he was a gentleman in London. See Pip’s
apology on p. 105 bottom. See also Joe and
Biddy’s apology on p. 106 bottom
 P. 106: Pip pays a short and unexpected visit to
the forge to see Biddy and Joe. “Flowers” and
“arm in arm” symbolise love and symbiosis
between Biddy and Joe. “They were both
delighted and proud to see me, and delighted that
I should have come by accident to make their day
complete”.
 Before Pip’s visit to the village, he was planning
to ask Biddy to be his wife. He even rehearsed
the short speech he intended to address to her in
this respect. This is mentioned in the full-fledged
version of the novel only.
 Part of the novel’s happy ending: Biddy
and Joe are newly-married. Pip says in
this respect: “I was glad I had not
breathed a word to Joe about my hoping
to marry Biddy. I congratulated them
warmly, and thanked them again and again
for all they have done for me”. P. 106
 CHAPTER 32
 
 Pip leaves for Cairo to take up his post with
Herbert. He has spent 11 years in Egypt
and his business was a great success. (Now
he can be proud of his financial success.)
 Dickens wants his readers to understand
that wealth and social status come
gradually, step by step, and we have to
work for them, not gain them or wait for
them to be granted to us.
 To illustrate this, when in Egypt, Pip
began his new career as a clerk with
Herbert first, then he became a partner in
the company, and finally he became a
successful businessman. This is how
wealth and social ranking are earned.
 One December, after 11 years of
absence, Pip returns to the old forge to
find a little baby named after him. A new
‘Pip’ was “sitting on my own little chair
looking at the fire”. Will history repeat
itself? “And we hoped he might grow a
little bit like you”, says Joe. (Of course
without the silly mistakes committed by
Pip when he moved from one social class
to another. (The idea of regeneration and
renewal in the novel)
 Pip pays a visit to Estella in Miss Havisham’s
old mansion house. He learns from her that she
was miserably unhappy in her marriage to
Drummle, who used to beat her, and that she
separated from him before his death. See p.
107 (Drummle was killed accidentally by a
horse which he mistreated.)
 She informs him that most of her property
was lost during marriage but the site of
Satis House is her last possession. P. 107
bottom
 How Pip sees Estella after 11 years of
separation: “The freshness of her beauty
was indeed gone, but its indescribable
loveliness remained”. P. 107 bottom
 They exchange words that express love
and devotion. It is a very moving last scene.
 Like Pip, Estella has learned from her
sufferings and now she sees life differently.
“Suffering has taught me to understand
what your heart used to be”. See also: “I
have been bent and broken, but –I hope into
a better shape. Be as good to me as you
were, and tell me we are friends”. P. 108
 In the last scene, Estella speaks as if she
thinks this is their final parting and asks Pip’s
forgiveness for her cruelty. Pip, on the
contrary, hopes for a happier outcome. “Glad
to part again, Estella? To me, parting is a
painful thing. To me, the memory of our last
parting has always been painful”. P. 108
 The novel’s happy ending: characterized by
reunion after separation, warmth after cold
feelings, marriage after rejection, and last but
not least, happiness after melancholy and
 The original ending did not sound as
happy as this one. It ended on separation
and every character has received the
appropriate retribution he or she
deserves. Here, there is a good deal of
hope and optimism in the phrase: “I saw
no shadow [sign] of another parting”.
This, at least, means they will be
reunited for the rest of their life.
Hopefully
THANK YOU