Great Expectations Summary

Author: Charles Dickens

Type: Novel, Bildungsroman, Gothic Fiction, Graphic Novel, Autobiographical Fiction

Subject: The novel Great Expectations is mainly about the great expectations of a boy Pip.It has been divided into three parts that describe his three stages of life and his great expectation in those three stages.

Characters: Pip , Bayan Havisham, Estella, Magwitch , Bayan Joe Gargery

Wemmick, Bay Pumblechook, Bay Jaggers, Compeyson, Bentley Drummle, Biddy, Orlick, Herbert Pocket, Joe Gargery, Matthew Pocket, Arthur Havisham, Clara

Summary

Great Expectations” Summary
“Great Expectations” is a story about the life of a simple little boy, who lives through a poor childhood and into a rich adulthood, learning many lessons throughout this process. The book begins with the protagonist introducing himself:

Chapter I

“My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip”.

Pip is an honest and simple man, but he doesn’t find a place for himself in society. Even money and the rich gentleman’s life didn’t make him happy. Towards the end of the book, Pip will realize that his expectations and desires misled him and ruined his life: he loved a woman (Estella) who couldn’t return his feelings, and he was grateful to another woman (Miss Havisham) for becoming wealthy when in fact Miss Havisham did nothing for Pip and only encouraged Estella to hurt him even more. But for now, it is all in the distant future as the story is about to unfold.

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Pip is an orphan who is brought up in a dull family that consists of his abusive sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, who “had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself” (Chapter IV), and her husband, Joe Gargery, the blacksmith. Joe Gargery was a good simple man who treated Pip well:

Chapter II

“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…”.
One day, while visiting his parents’ grave, Pip meets an escaped convict and risks his own safety to bring him food and a saw to take off the shackles

After a while, Pip gets invited to visit the house of Miss Havisham also referred to as “Satis House” in the book.Miss Havisham is a wealthy and peculiar woman.Ever since some man robbed her and then fled on the day of their supposed marriage, she became lost, dull, and constantly unsatisfied with everything.She continued to wear her wedding dress and preserved everything in her dilapidated home the exact way it had been set up for the planned wedding.Miss Havisham invited Pip to her house because she wanted to find a companion for her foster daughter Estella.

Estella is an orphan brought up by Miss Havisham to despise and loathe all males that come near her: “Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!” (Chapter XII) this is one of the most famous quotes from “Great Expectations”. Estella was a beautiful girl brought up to be a lady, but her heart was cold and her morals were wicked.She humiliated Pip from the first time she was asked to play with him: “With this boy? Why, he is a common laboring boy!” (Chapter VIII) and has used every opportunity ever since to demonstrate how much she is better than him.

Pip comes to like Estella, but the more time he spends with her, the more he starts to hate himself his low status, his simple clothes, his blacksmithing apprenticeship that made his face dirty and his hands coarse (and was paid for by Miss Havisham). From the time he met Estella, for Pip great expectations were to be a gentleman and be admired by this polished girl and her mother.One day Pip finds out that somebody has hit his sister so hard that her brain gets badly damaged.Next to the place where she was attacked, people found broken shackles.Later, another orphan, Biddy, comes to live with Pip to take care of Mrs. Joe. Pip describes Biddy as a very ordinary girl:

Chapter VII

“… her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel”.
One of the most exciting things that happen in the summary of “Great Expectations” is when a well-known attorney from London, Mr. Jaggers, tells Pip that he has inherited a fortune and his life will change forever.Mr. Jaggers is a typical lawyer he is stubborn, rich, arrogant, and shady. He does not, surprisingly, reveal who the generous person to provide Pip with this fortune is:

Chapter XVIII

“… you are to understand, secondly, Mr. Pip, that the name of the person who is your liberal benefactor remains a profound secret, until the person chooses to reveal it”.
Pip, also shocked, does not even want to guess, as he already makes up his mind about the origin of the inheritance:

Chapter XVIII
“My dream was out; my wild fancy was surpassed by sober reality; Miss Havisham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale”.
Pip is warned not to try to guess or find out who his benefactor is such was the condition of acquiring the inheritance.

Pip is happy: he remains convinced that his secret benefactor is Miss Havisham, which he interprets to mean that she is likely preparing him to be a suitable husband for Estella.The boy gets new fancy clothes, people start to treat him differently, he moves to London, where he shares an apartment with Herbert Pocket, Bentley Drummle, and Startop, and he takes classes to become a real gentleman.Pip makes quick progress and is soon able to behave just like other high-class people.While connecting with prestigious British society, Pip grows more and more ashamed of his past.The boy actively tries to avoid Joe when he comes to visit, but when the news of his sister’s death comes, Pip visits her funeral and begins to feel sorry for being so distant with Joe and Biddy.Pip continues to spend time with Estella when they are both in London; he loves her, but the only feeling she exhibits towards him is contempt and cruelty. After a while, Estella develops a relationship with Pip’s friend Bentley Drummle (which was more of a relationship with his money and status, to be precise), and they get married.

At the same time, an encounter from the past re-introduces itself the convict Pip met in the graveyard years ago whose name is Abel Magwitch. It turns out Magwitch was the secret benefactor that made Pip rich after the incident in the graveyard he had escaped to Australia, made a fortune there, and asked Jaggers to take care of the boy as a sign of gratitude.Magwitch is a complex character who had gotten into trouble because of bad company and then got set up by a cunning companion of his.His character exemplifies how inhumane laws and unjust rules set by a cynic society, lead to the gradual degradation of a man. Magwitch tells Pip that he is being followed by another convict, his ex-partner, Compeyson, who was notorious for many illegal deals:

Chapter XLII

“… he’d been to a public boarding-school and had learning. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a dab at the ways of gentlefolks. He was good-looking too”.

By listening to his life story, the reader understands that Magwitch is the real father of Estella (her mother is Mr. Jaggers’ housekeeper), and Compeyson is the man who fooled Miss Havisham so many years ago.

Pip develops a plan to help Magwitch escape the country and Compeyson drowns in the pursuit of trying to catch Magwitch. Magwitch gets hurt and gets caught. He then gets sent to prison where he dies from his wounds.Pip had stopped taking Magwitch’s money some time ago, and now it has all gone to the benefit of the state anyway.Pip has accumulated debt and gets in trouble for being unable to repay it. When Pip’s health declines, Joe comes to take care of him and even pays off his debts.After recovering, Pip joins his friend Herbert, and Herbert’s wife Clara, to work at the Clarriner’s office in Cairo (Egypt Pip was the one to secure Herbert a position with the company back when he had money.

After being away for 11 years, Pip comes back and visits Joe. Joe had married Biddy and they had even named their son after Pip:

Chapter LIX

“We giv’ him the name of Pip for your sake, dear old chap and we hoped he might grow a little bit like you, and we think he do”.
Walking around the remains of the Satis House, Pip meets widowed Estella and the two head off to a new start…

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