great expectations short summary of each chapter

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• Great Expectations

Charles Dickens

• Literature Notes
• Great Expectations at a Glance
• Book Summary
• About Great Expectations
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Chapters 1-3
• Chapters 4-6
• Chapters 7-9
• Chapters 10-12
• Chapters 13-15
• Chapters 16-17
• Chapters 18-19
• Chapters 20-22
• Chapters 23-25
• Chapters 26-28
• Chapters 29-31
• Chapters 32-34
• Chapters 35-37
• Chapters 38-39
• Chapters 40-42
• Chapters 43-45
• Chapters 46-48
• Chapters 49-51
• Chapters 52-54
• Chapters 55-57
• Chapters 58-59
• Character Analysis
• Joe Gargery
• Miss Havisham
• Jaggers and Wemmick
• Character Map
• Charles Dickens Biography
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• Cite this Literature Note

Charles Dickens 's Great Expectations tells the story of Pip , an English orphan who rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also introduces one of the more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havisham . Charles Dickens set Great Expectations during the time that England was becoming a wealthy world power. Machines were making factories more productive, yet people lived in awful conditions, and such themes carry into the story.

Written by: Charles Dickens

Type of Work: serialized story turned novel

Genres: bildungsroman ; Victorian Literature; social commentary

First Published: December 1860-April 1861 in weekly installments to a magazine; July 1861 as a novel in 3 volumes; November 1862 as a whole novel

Setting: Early 1800s; London, England, and around the marshes of Kent

Main Characters : Pip ; Joe Gargery ; Magwitch ; Mrs. Joe ; Miss Havisham ; Estella ; Jaggers and Wemmick

Major Thematic Topics: good versus evil; moral redemption from sin; wealth and its equal power to help or corrupt; personal responsibility; awareness and acceptance of consequences from one's choices; abandonment; guilt; shame; desire; secrecy; gratitude; ambition; obsession/emotional manipulation versus real love; class structure and social rules; snobbery; child exploitation ; the corruption and problems of the educational and legal systems; the need for prison reform; religious attitudes of the time; the effect of the increasing trade and industrialization on people's lives; the Victorian work ethic (or lack thereof)

Motifs: sense of location; criminals; social expectations

Major Symbols: Miss Havisham's house; money

Movie Versions: Great Expectations (1946); Great Expectations (1999)

The three most important aspects of Great Expectations:

• Great Expectations is a bildungsroman , or coming-of-age novel. Other examples of this form include  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte,  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and  The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Great Expectations is unusual in that its main character, Pip, is often hard to sympathize with because of his snobbery and the resulting bad behavior he exhibits toward some of the other characters, like Joe Gargery.
• Like much of Charles Dickens's work, Great Expectations was first published in a popular magazine, in regular installments of a few chapters each . Many of the novel's chapters end with a lack of dramatic resolution, which was intended to encourage readers to buy the next installment.
• Over the years since the novel's publication, many critics have objected to its happy ending, with its implication that Pip and Estella will marry; these critics have said that such a conclusion is inconsistent with the characters as we have come to know them. In fact, Dickens originally wrote an ending in which Pip and Estella meet and then part forever after a few conciliatory words.

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Summary of Each Chapter of Great Expectations

This summary of each chapter of Great Expectations will help you trick your teacher into thinking that you’ve actually read each chapter of Great Expectations.

Great Expectations Chapter Summaries

Chapters 1-4

Chapter 1 – The novel begins at the church graveyard on Christmas Eve. Pip informs us that he is an orphan and lives in the marsh country. An escaped convict appears and threatens Pip. He commands Pip to bring him a file and vittles (food) or he’ll cut Pip’s throat.

Chapter 2 – Pip returns home and we meet his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, who’s raised Pip “by hand.” Mrs. Joe, as she is called, is an abusive guardian who bullies Pip and Joe. Joe, the town blacksmith and Pip’s only friend, informs Pip that Mrs. Joe has the tickler, a stick used to beat Pip when he’s been bad. Mrs. Joe returns and swats Pip several times. Pip runs to Joe for protection. They sit down to dinner and Pip, although hungry, does not eat so he can sneak food to the convict. Pip snags some food and sneaks into Joe’s forge to steal a file.

Chapter 3 – It’s Christmas morning. Pip awakes early and runs to the churchyard. On the way he spots another convict who tries to strike him. Pip runs. He meets the original convict and gives him food, drink, and a file. Pip tells the convict about the other convict. The chapter ends with the original convict filing his leg iron and Pip running back to his house.

Chapter 4 – The Gargerys have guests for Christmas: Mr. Wopsle, the church clerk; Uncle Pumblechook, an arrogant corn merchant; and Mr. and Mrs. Hubble. The guests harass Pip about being ungrateful. Mrs. Joe brings Pumblechook some brandy. He drinks it and chokes on it (Pip had replaced the brandy with tar water). Mrs. Joe fetches the pork pie, which is missing. Pip runs in fear. The door opens and a party of soldiers enter.

Chapters 5-8

Chapter 5 – The soldiers inform the Gargerys they are hunting an escaped convict and need a blacksmith to fix a pair of handcuffs. Joe obliges. Joe, Wopsle, and Pip accompany the soldiers on the hunt. They capture both convicts. The original convict confesses to stealing a pie from the blacksmith.

Chapter 6 – The Christmas feast ends and Pip is taken to bed, relieved of not being found out and feeling guilty for not telling Joe the truth.

Chapter 7 – Pip goes to school in the village. He writes a letter to Joe, who can’t read. Pip is determined to teach Joe. Joe narrates to Pip his background. Joe’s dad was a drunk who beat him. Joe had to work to support his mother and was never able to learn. Mrs. Joe enters and announces that Pip has been requested to play at Miss Havisham’s, an eccentric old lady who lives up town.

Chapter 8 – Pumblechook escorts Pip to Havisham’s house. Miss Havisham’s snooty, beautiful daughter lets him in and insults him. Pip marvels at the dark corridors and Miss Havisham’s appearance. She wears a wedding dress and sits in a candle lit room with all the clocks stopped at 8:40. Pip and Estella play cards. Estella insults him the entire time. Miss Havisham gives Estella permission to break Pip’s heart. Pip waits in the courtyard for lunch and cries. Estella brings him his lunch and insults him again.

Chapters 9-12

Chapter 9 – Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook pester Pip for details about his visit to Havisham’s. He lies. He tells Joe the truth later. Pip expresses his disappointment in being common. Joe teaches Pip that lying is no way to become uncommon. Chapter 10 – Pip, determined to become uncommon, asks Biddy to teach him. Biddy begins immediately. Pip fetches Joe at the Three Jolly Bargemen where Pip meets a strange man who rubs his leg, stirs his drink with a file, and hands Pip two pounds. Chapter 11 – Pip returns to Miss Havisham’s. He meets Sarah Pocket, Camilla, and Raymond, who flatter Miss Havisham in hopes of getting her money when she dies. Estella escorts Pip to Havisham’s room. Estella insults him and slaps him. Havisham has Pip walk her in circles in a room across the hall. The room contains a wedding cake covered in cobwebs. It will serve as Havisham’s tomb. Pip is let out, prowls about the courtyard, and meets a pale young gentleman who challenges Pip to a boxing match. Pip knocks him down three times and is declared the winner. As Pip exits, Estella lets him kiss her on the cheek. Chapter 12 – Pip returns to Havisham’s regularly. She requests that Pip return with Joe Gargery so he can be officially apprenticed to him.

Summary of Each Chapter of Great Expectations:  Chapters 13-16

Chapter 13 – Joe accompanies Pip to Miss Havisham’s. Joe looks and acts ridiculous. He marvels at Miss Havisham’s eccentricities. Joe does not answer Havisham directly, but gives his answers to Pip. Estella looks on scornfully. Miss Havisham gives Joe 25-guineas for becoming Pip’s apprentice. Chapter 14 – Pip begins his apprenticeship. He hates it. He stays only out of loyalty and love to Joe. Chapter 15 – Pip continues his instruction of Joe. Joe proves to be an extremely dull student and learns little. Pip requests a half holiday so he can visit Estella. Orlick finds out and wants a half holiday too. Joe grants it. Mrs. Joe, eavesdropping, curses Joe for wasting wages. Orlick and Mrs. Joe get in an argument. Joe beats up Orlick. Pip goes to Miss Havisham’s and discovers Estella has gone to school in France. Pip returns home and learns that Mrs. Joe has been struck in the back of the head and is lying unconscious. Chapter 16 – The crime is not solved, although Pip suspects Orlick. Biddy is hired to take care of Mrs. Joe. Mrs. Joe communicates by writing and requests the presence of Orlick. Pip does not know why.

Chapters 17-21

Chapter 17 – Pip continues his apprenticeship. He tells Biddy of his desire to be a gentleman and his love for Estella. Chapter 18 – Four years into Pip’s apprenticeship, he and Joe are visited by Mr. Jaggers at the Three Jolly Bargemen. Jaggers informs Pip that he is to be educated as a gentleman and shall inherit a large sum of money. He instructs Pip to come to his office in London the next week and gives Pip money to buy clothes. Chapter 19 – Pip prepares for his departure. He buys a suit and visits Miss Havisham. Pip acts boorishly toward Biddy and accuses her of pride. Pip departs for London. Chapter 20 – Pip arrives at Jagger’s office in Little Britain. Jaggers arrives followed by clients and wannabe clients. Jaggers informs Pip about his living arrangements at Barnard’s Inn. Wemmick, Jaggers’ clerk, escorts Pip to his new home. Chapter 21 – Pip is disappointed with his living arrangements and considers London “overrated.” His roommate at Barnard’s Inn is Herbert Pocket, the same pale young gentleman who Pip boxed at Miss Havisham’s.

Chapters: 22-27

Chapter 22 – Herbert Pocket, formerly the pale young gentleman, tells Pip the story of Miss Havisham. She was a proud heiress. Her half brother wasted his inheritance. The two hated each other. Miss Havisham got engaged and received money from Miss Havisham. Havisham’s fiancee encouraged her to buy the brewery from her half brother for an outrageous price. Matthew Pocket tried to persuade Miss Havisham to be careful. She disowned him. Miss Havisham received a letter at 8:40, the morning of her wedding, at which time the clocks remain.

Chapter 23 – Pip meets Mr. Pocket, his tutor, and other students. Chapter 24 – Wemmick invites Pip over for dinner and mentions Jagger’s housekeeper as being a tamed beast. Chapter 25 – Pip ventures to Wemmick’s house, where he meets Wemmick’s aged father. Wemmick shows himself to be completely different at home than he is at work. Chapter 26 – Jaggers invites Pip and his fellow students for dinner. Jaggers admires Bentley Drummle, whom Pip hates. Chapter 27 – Pip receives a letter from Biddy announcing a visit from Joe. Joe’s visit is not desired by Pip, who is becoming a snob. The awkward visit ends with Joe telling Pip that Miss Havisham wishes to see him and that Estella has come home.

Summary of Each Chapter of Great Expectations: Chapters 28-35

Chapter 28 – Pip resolves to go to his town and stay at Joe’s so he can visit Estella. He rationalizes and stays at the Blue Boar without even seeing Joe. On the same coach as Pip are two convicts, one of which gave Pip two 1-pound notes years ago at the Three Jolly Bargemen. Pip discovers the two notes were a gift from the first convict he met on the marshes as a child.

Chapter 29 -Pip visits Ms. Havisham and Estella. They go through the same exercise that Pip did as a child. Ms. Havisham asks Pip all sorts of questions regarding Estella’s beauty. Ms. Havisham encourages Pip to love Estella. As a result, Pip refuses to visit Joe because Estella wouldn’t approve of him.

Chapter 30 – Pip advises Jaggers to have Orlick removed as Havisham’s doorman, which he does promptly. He returns to Barnard’s inn and confesses to Herbert his love for Estella and his guilt at not visiting Joe.

Chapter 31 – Pip receives a letter from Estella asking him to meet her the next day.

Chapter 32 – Pip arrives hours early to meet Estella. Wemmick spots him and takes him on a tour of Newgate prison.

Chapter 33 – Pip returns, somewhat despondent after seeing the prison, and greets Estella, who treats Pip with disdain. Estella leads Pip to believe that there is an “arrangement” for the two.

Chapter 34 – Pip and Herbert chronicle their debts and devise a plan to eliminate them. Pip feels guilty about his treatment of Joe and Biddy. He receives a letter that Mrs. Joe has died.

Chapter 35 – Despite the lack of affection for his sister, Pip is emotional at her funeral. Pip vows to visit more often. Biddy is skeptical. Pip leaves, somewhat irritated by Biddy, but in retrospect acknowledging her wisdom.

Chapter 36 – Pip turns 21 and begins receiving an annual salary of 500 pounds. He anticipates learning about his benefactor, who he assumes is Miss Havisham. Jaggers tells him nothing.

Chapter 37 – Pip decides to help Herbert establish his business. Wemmick makes the arrangements.

Chapter 38 – Pip visits Estella at her London home where he continues to endure humiliation. He discovers that Bentley Drummle is courting Estella. Pip objects. He also witnesses a conflict between Estella and Miss Havisham, noticing that Estella is just as cold-hearted to her as she is to her suitors.

Chapter 39 – Pip’s benefactor arrives. It is not Miss Havisham as he supposed. It is the convict he met as a young boy on the marshes. Pip is devastated by the news. Despite his shock, Pip feels obligated to help the convict, Abel Magwitch or Provis, who will be hanged if discovered.

Chapter 40 – Pip trips over a man who was lurking on the stairwell, who disappears. Pip decides to call Magwitch Uncle Provis. Pip finds Provis’ manners embarrassing.

Chapter 41 – Herbert returns. The two devise a plan to get Magwitch out of the country. Pip decides to no longer take his money.

Chapter 42 – Magwitch narrates his life story. He sought revenge on the second convict for testifying against him and setting him up. The second convict, Compeyson, is the man who abandoned Miss Havisham on her wedding day.

Chapter 43 – Pip travels to Miss Havisham’s to see Estella. He encounters Bentley Drummle at the Blue Boar.

Summary of Each Chapter of Great Expectations: Chapters 44-50

Chapter 44 – Miss Havisham admits to Pip that she led him on falsely and takes pity on him. Estella reminds Pip that she had been honest from the start. She tells Pip that she will marry Bentley Drummle. Pip walks back to London. Upon arrival the doorman hands him a note from Wemmick telling him not to go home.

Chapter 45 – Pip meets Wemick who has learned that Compeyson is pursuing Magwitch, who is staying at Clara’s house.

Chapter 46 – Pip visits Magwitch and feels for him. He discusses a plan for Magwitch’s escape.

Chapter 47 – Pip’s debts pile up as he refuses to spend Magwitch’s money. Pip and Herbert await a signal from Wemmick to transport Magwitch down river. In an effort to forget his problems, Pip goes to the theater. Mr. Wopsle notifies Pip that Compeyson was behind him during the performance.

Chapter 48 – Pip dines with Jaggers and notices his housekeeper Molly’s strong resemblance to Estella. Pip feels certain that Molly is Estella’s mother.

Chapter 49 – Pip visits Miss Havisham who apologizes to Pip. Pip wanders through the garden one last time. He returns as he sees Miss Havisham light herself on fire. Pip burns his hands saving her. Miss Havisham becomes an invalid.

Chapter 50 – Pip learns that Magwitch is Estella’s father.

Chapter 51 – Pip confronts Jaggers about Estella’s parentage. He admits Molly is Estella’s mother but had not realized Magwitch was the father.

Chapter 52 – Wemmick notifies Pip that Magwitch would be ready to move in two days. Pip receives a letter regarding Uncle Provis. It tells Pip to meet secretly in the marshes.

Chapter 53 – Orlick meets Pip on the marshes, ties him up, confesses he murdered Pip’s sister, admits an association with Compeyson, and accuses Pip of harming him. Just as Orlick is about to murder Pip, his friends rush in and save him.

Chapter 54 – Pip and Herbert accompany Magwitch on his escape. Just as they’re about to board a steamer for Germany, a rowboat appears. A man on board orders Magwitch’s arrest. The arresting officer is Compeyson, whom Magwitch attacks. They wrestle under water and are struck by the steamer. Compeyson drowns. Magwitch is badly hurt and arrested. Pip accompanies him.

Chapter 55 – Pip remains loyal to Magwitch even though the state has taken everything, including Pip’s money.

Chapter 56 – Pip remains loyal to Magwitch and visits him daily. Magwitch is sentenced to death. As he is dying, Pip tells Magwitch about Estella.

Chapter 57 – After Magwitch’s death, Pip becomes ill. Men come to arrest him for unpaid debts. Joe nurses Pip back to health and pays his debts. Pip learns that Joe knows how to read and write, of Havisham’s death, and that Orlick has been jailed for robbing Pumblechook.

Chapter 58 – Pip returns to his boyhood home. Satis house has been torn down. Pip arrives and discovers Joe and Biddy have been married. Pip accepts a job in Cairo with Herbert.

Chapter 59 – Pip returns from Cairo eleven years later and marries Estella, whose husband had treated her poorly and has died. Feel free to check out the following topics of this study guide for Great Expectations:

• Chapter by chapter summary of Great Expectations .
• Important Quotations from Great Expectations.
• Themes in Great Expectations .
• Characters in Great Expectations .
• Charles Dickens’ Writing Style.

Last Updated on March 7, 2014 by ELAAdmin

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Great Expectations

70 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

• Chapters 1-6
• Chapters 7-14
• Chapters 15-19
• Chapters 20-26
• Chapters 27-33
• Chapters 34-40
• Chapters 41-48
• Chapters 49-56
• Chapters 57-59
• Character Analysis
• Symbols & Motifs
• Important Quotes
• Essay Topics

Summary and Study Guide

Great Expectations is the 13th novel written by Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial in Dickens’s periodical, All the Year Round , Great Expectations, and Chapman and Hall published the novelized version in October of 1861. The novel is widely considered to be a classic example of the bildungsroman , or coming-of-age genre , and it has been adapted into numerous plays, films, and television series.

Plot Summary

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Great Expectations tells the story of an orphan named Philip Pirrip, or Pip. Pip lives with his tyrannical older sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery , and her gentle husband, a blacksmith named Joe Gargery. Joe is Pip’s closest friend.

Pip finds many ways to improve his life. He seeks further education from Biddy , a relation of his teacher’s. And he begins visiting the home of a wealthy, eccentric old spinster named Miss Havisham . At Miss Havisham’s, Pip falls in love with her adopted daughter, the haughty and beautiful Estella . Miss Havisham encourages this infatuation, but Estella does not reciprocate.

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When Pip comes of age, he begins working at the forge. There, he works with a violent man named Dolge Orlick . After an argument, Orlick attacks Pip’s sister, leaving her an invalid. Soon after, London lawyer Mr. Jaggers reveals that Pip has received a large inheritance from an anonymous benefactor, whom Pip suspects to be Miss Havisham. Pip becomes a London gentleman, studying under a tutor named Matthew Pocket. He rooms with Matthew’s son, Herbert, and the two become fast friends. Herbert reveals that a conman broke Miss Havisham’s heart, causing her eccentricities.

Pip begins to look down on his humble beginnings. He returns home after his sister’s death and realizes that he’s been neglecting Biddy and Joe. Back in London, a convict who Pip helped escape from prison at the novel’s open, returns. The convict, Abel Magwitch , reveals that he is Pip’s mysterious benefactor. Magwitch made a fortune in Australia and was so thankful to Pip for his kindness that he was determined to repay him. Magwitch is still on the run and reveals that he used to be partners with a conman named Compeyson. Pip and Herbert deduce that Compeyson is Miss Havisham’s former conman fiancé.

Pip confronts Miss Havisham about leading him on concerning Estella. He learns that Estella is engaged to marry his wealthy classmate, Bentley Drummle. Miss Havisham feels regret about raising Estella to be heartless and begs Pip for forgiveness. As Pip is leaving, Miss Havisham accidentally sets her dress on fire and is badly burned. She eventually dies from her injuries. Soon after, Orlick lures Pip to the marsh and attempts to bludgeon him with a stone hammer, but Herbert and the townspeople arrive, rescuing Pip.

To help Magwitch escape, Herbert and Pip row him down the River Thames. Compeyson and the police intercept them. As the police boat approaches, Magwitch lunges for Compeyson, and the two struggle in the river. Compeyson drowns, and the court sentences Magwitch to death. Pip loses his inheritance.

As he slips further into debt, Pip becomes very ill. Joe comes to London to nurse Pip and pay off some of his debts. Joe also brings news from home: the police arrested Orlick for robbery; Biddy has taught Joe to read; and Miss Havisham divided her will among Estella, Herbert’s father, and Pip. Pip returns home to marry Biddy, only to discover that Joe has married her. Pip decides to work with Herbert in Egypt.

After many years abroad, Pip returns to England. He visits the site of Miss Havisham’s demolished house. There, he finds a recently widowed Estella. Estella’s bitter marriage has made her a kinder person. The novel ends with Pip and Estella walking hand-in-hand. 

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Great Expectations

By charles dickens.

• Great Expectations Summary

Great Expectations is the story of Pip , an orphan boy adopted by a blacksmith's family, who has good luck and great expectations, and then loses both his luck and his expectations. Through this rise and fall, however, Pip learns how to find happiness. He learns the meaning of friendship and the meaning of love and, of course, becomes a better person for it.

The story opens with the narrator, Pip, who introduces himself and describes a much younger Pip staring at the gravestones of his parents. This tiny, shivering bundle of a boy is suddenly terrified by a man dressed in a prison uniform. The man tells Pip that if he wants to live, he'll go down to his house and bring him back some food and a file for the shackle on his leg.

Pip runs home to his sister, Mrs. Joe Gragery, and his adoptive father, Joe Gragery. Mrs. Joe is a loud, angry, nagging woman who constantly reminds Pip and her husband Joe of the difficulties she has gone through to raise Pip and take care of the house. Pip finds solace from these rages in Joe, who is more his equal than a paternal figure, and they are united under a common oppression.

Pip steals food and a pork pie from the pantry shelf and a file from Joe's forge and brings them back to the escaped convict the next morning. Soon thereafter, Pip watches the man get caught by soldiers and the whole event soon disappears from his young mind.

Mrs. Joe comes home one evening, quite excited, and proclaims that Pip is going to "play" for Miss Havisham , "a rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house."

Pip is brought to Miss Havisham's place, a mansion called the "Satis House," where sunshine never enters. He meets a girl about his age, Estella , "who was very pretty and seemed very proud." Pip instantly falls in love with her and will love her the rest of the story. He then meets Miss Havisham, a willowy, yellowed old woman dressed in an old wedding gown. Miss Havisham seems most happy when Estella insults Pip's coarse hands and his thick boots as they play.

Pip is insulted, but thinks there is something wrong with him. He vows to change, to become uncommon, and to become a gentleman.

Pip continues to visit Estella and Miss Havisham for eight months and learns more about their strange life. Miss Havisham brings him into a great banquet hall where a table is set with food and large wedding cake. But the food and the cake are years old, untouched except by a vast array of rats, beetles and spiders which crawl freely through the room. Her relatives all come to see her on the same day of the year: her birthday and wedding day, the day when the cake was set out and the clocks were stopped many years before; i.e. the day Miss Havisham stopped living.

Pip begins to dream what life would be like if he were a gentleman and wealthy. This dream ends when Miss Havisham asks Pip to bring Joe to visit her, in order that he may start his indenture as a blacksmith. Miss Havisham gives Joe twenty five pounds for Pip's service to her and says good-bye.

Pip explains his misery to his readers: he is ashamed of his home, ashamed of his trade. He wants to be uncommon, he wants to be a gentleman. He wants to be a part of the environment that he had a small taste of at the Manor House.

Early in his indenture, Mrs. Joe is found lying unconscious, knocked senseless by some unknown assailant. She has suffered some serious brain damage, having lost much of voice, her hearing, and her memory. Furthermore, her "temper was greatly improved, and she was patient." To help with the housework and to take care of Mrs. Joe, Biddy , a young orphan friend of Pip's, moves into the house.

The years pass quickly. It is the fourth year of Pip's apprenticeship and he is sitting with Joe at the pub when they are approached by a stranger. Pip recognizes him, and his "smell of soap," as a man he had once run into at Miss Havisham's house years before.

Back at the house, the man, Jaggers , explains that Pip now has "great expectations." He is to be given a large monthly stipend, administered by Jaggers who is a lawyer. The benefactor, however, does not want to be known and is to remain a mystery.

Pip spends an uncomfortable evening with Biddy and Joe, then retires to bed. There, despite having all his dreams come true, he finds himself feeling very lonely. Pip visits Miss Havisham who hints subtly that she is his unknown sponsor.

Pip goes to live in London and meets Wemmick , Jagger's square-mouth clerk. Wemmick brings Pip to Bernard's Inn, where Pip will live for the next five years with Matthew Pocket 's son Herbert, a cheerful young gentleman that becomes one of Pip's best friends. From Herbert, Pips finds out that Miss Havisham adopted Estella and raised her to wreak revenge on the male gender by making them fall in love with her, and then breaking their hearts.

Pip is invited to dinner at Wemmick's whose slogan seems to be "Office is one thing, private life is another." Indeed, Wemmick has a fantastical private life. Although he lives in a small cottage, the cottage has been modified to look a bit like a castle, complete with moat, drawbridge, and a firing cannon.

The next day, Jaggers himself invites Pip and friends to dinner. Pip, on Wemmick's suggestion, looks carefully at Jagger's servant woman -- a "tigress" according to Wemmick. She is about forty, and seems to regard Jaggers with a mix of fear and duty.

Pip journeys back to the Satis House to see Miss Havisham and Estella, who is now older and so much more beautiful that he doesn't recognize her at first. Facing her now, he slips back "into the coarse and common voice" of his youth and she, in return, treats him like the boy he used to be. Pip sees something strikingly familiar in Estella's face. He can't quite place the look, but an expression on her face reminds him of someone.

Pip stays away from Joe and Biddy's house and the forge, but walks around town, enjoying the admiring looks he gets from his past neighbors.

Soon thereafter, a letter for Pip announces the death of Mrs. Joe Gragery. Pip returns home again to attend the funeral. Later, Joe and Pip sit comfortably by the fire like times of old. Biddy insinuates that Pip will not be returning soon as he promises and he leaves insulted. Back in London, Pip asks Wemmick for advice on how to give Herbert some of his yearly stipend anonymously.

Narrator Pip describes his relationship to Estella while she lived in the city: "I suffered every kind and degree of torture that Estella could cause me," he says. Pip finds out that Drummle , the most repulsive of his acquaintances, has begun courting Estella.

Years go by and Pip is still living the same wasteful life of a wealthy young man in the city. A rough sea-worn man of sixty comes to Pip's home on a stormy night soon after Pip's twenty-fourth birthday. Pip invites him in, treats him with courteous disdain, but then begins to recognize him as the convict that he fed in the marshes when he was a child. The man, Magwitch , reveals that he is Pip's benefactor. Since the day that Pip helped him, he swore to himself that every cent he earned would go to Pip.

"I've made a gentleman out of you," the man exclaims. Pip is horrified. All of his expectations are demolished. There is no grand design by Miss Havisham to make Pip happy and rich, living in harmonious marriage to Estella.

The convict tells Pip that he has come back to see him under threat of his life, since the law will execute him if they find him in England. Pip is disgusted with him, but wants to protect him and make sure he isn't found and put to death. Herbert and Pip decide that Pip will try and convince Magwitch to leave England with him.

Magwitch tells them the story of his life. From a very young age, he was alone and got into trouble. In one of his brief stints actually out of jail, Magwitch met a young well-to-do gentleman named Compeyson who had his hand in everything illegal: swindling, forgery, and other white collar crime. Compeyson recruited Magwitch to do his dirty work and landed Magwitch into trouble with the law. Magwitch hates the man. Herbert passes a note to Pip telling him that Compeyson was the name of the man who left Miss Havisham on her wedding day.

Pip goes back to Satis House and finds Miss Havisham and Estella in the same banquet room. Pip breaks down and confesses his love for Estella. Estella tells him straight that she is incapable of love -- she has warned him of as much before -- and she will soon be married to Drummle.

Back in London, Wemmick tells Pip things he has learned from the prisoners at Newgate. Pip is being watched, he says, and may be in some danger. As well, Compeyson has made his presence known in London. Wemmick has already warned Herbert as well. Heeding the warning, Herbert has hidden Magwitch in his fiancé Clara 's house.

Pip has dinner with Jaggers and Wemmick at Jaggers' home. During the dinner, Pip finally realizes the similarities between Estella and Jaggers' servant woman. Jaggers' servant woman is Estella's mother!

On their way home together, Wemmick tells the story of Jaggers' servant woman. It was Jaggers' first big break-through case, the case that made him. He was defending this woman in a case where she was accused of killing another woman by strangulation. The woman was also said to have killed her own child, a girl, at about the same time as the murder.

Miss Havisham asks Pip to come visit her. He finds her again sitting by the fire, but this time she looks very lonely. Pip tells her how he was giving some of his money to help Herbert with his future, but now must stop since he himself is no longer taking money from his benefactor. Miss Havisham wants to help, and she gives Pip nine hundred pounds to help Herbert out. She then asks Pip for forgiveness. Pip tells her she is already forgiven and that he needs too much forgiving himself not to be able to forgive others.

Pip goes for a walk around the garden then comes back to find Miss Havisham on fire! Pip puts the fire out, burning himself badly in the process. The doctors come and announce that she will live.

Pip goes home and Herbert takes care of his burns. Herbert has been spending some time with Magwitch at Clara's and has been told the whole Magwitch story. Magwitch was the husband of Jaggers' servant woman, the Tigress. The woman had come to Magwitch on the day she murdered the other woman and told him she was going to kill their child and that Magwitch would never see her. And Magwitch never did. Pip puts is all together and tells Herbert that Magwitch is Estella's father.

It is time to escape with Magwitch. Herbert and Pip get up the next morning and start rowing down the river, picking up Magwitch at the preappointed time. They are within a few feet of a steamer that they hope to board when another boat pulls alongside to stop them. In the confusion, Pip sees Compeyson leading the other boat, but the steamer is on top of them. The steamer crushes Pip's boat, Compeyson and Magwitch disappear under water, and Pip and Herbert find themselves in a police boat of sorts. Magwitch finally comes up from the water. He and Compeyson wrestled for a while, but Magwitch had let him go and he is presumably drowned. Once again, Magwitch is shackled and arrested.

Magwitch is in jail and quite ill. Pip attends to the ailing Magwitch daily in prison. Pip whispers to him one day that the daughter he thought was dead is quite alive. "She is a lady and very beautiful," Pip says. "And I love her." Magwitch gives up the ghost.

Pip falls into a fever for nearly a month. Creditors and Joe fall in and out of his dreams and his reality. Finally, he regains his senses and sees that, indeed, Joe has been there the whole time, nursing him back to health. Joe tells him that Miss Havisham died during his illness, that she left Estella nearly all, and Matthew Pocket a great deal. Joe slips away one morning leaving only a note. Pip discovers that Joe has paid off all his debtors.

Pip is committed to returning to Joe, asking for forgiveness for everything he has done, and to ask Biddy to marry him. Pip goes to Joe and indeed finds happiness -- but the happiness is Joe and Biddy's. It is their wedding day. Pip wishes them well, truly, and asks them for their forgiveness in all his actions. They happily give it.

Pip goes to work for Herbert's' firm and lives with the now married Clara and Herbert. Within a year, he becomes a partner. He pays off his debts and works hard.

Eleven years later, Pip returns from his work overseas. He visits Joe and Biddy and meets their son, a little Pip, sitting by the fire with Joe just like Pip himself did years ago. Pip tells Biddy that he is quite the settled old bachelor, living with Clara and Herbert and he thinks he will never marry. Nevertheless, he goes to the Satis House that night to think once again of the girl who got away. And there he meets Estella. Drummle treated her roughly and recently died. She tells Pip that she has learned the feeling of heartbreak the hard way and now seeks his forgiveness for what she did to him. The two walk out of the garden hand in hand, and Pip "saw the shadow of no parting from her."

Great Expectations Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Great Expectations is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

discuss pip as both a narrator and a character, how are different aspects of his personality revealed by his telling of his story?

Great Expectations is really a coming of age story. It is essentially a bildungsroman where we watch Pip develop from boy to a man. As protagonist and narrator we see first hand how Pip changes. There are two Pips to observe through his journey....

Great Expectations, Paper 1, English Language

Lines 13-21 in which chapter of the novel, Great Expectations?

Which detail from the Great Expectations excerpt shows that the house the narrator Pip is visiting belongs to a wealthy owner?

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Study Guide for Great Expectations

Great Expectations is Dickens' thirteenth novel, completed in 1861. The GradeSaver study guide on Great Expectations contains a biography of Charles Dickens, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Great Expectations
• Great Expectations Video
• Character List
• Part I, Chapters 1-10 (1-10) Summary and Analysis

Essays for Great Expectations

Great Expectations is a book by Charles Dickens completed in 1861. Great Expectations literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Great Expectations.

• Pip's Unrealistic Expectations in Dickens' Great Expectations
• Pip's Influences In Great Expectations
• The Essence of Pip
• Constructing Identity in Great Expectations
• Great Expectations: In the Name of Profit

Lesson Plan for Great Expectations

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Great Expectations
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Great Expectations Bibliography

E-Text of Great Expectations

Great Expectations is considered one of the most balanced of Dickens' novels. The Great Expectations e-text contains the full text of Great Expectations.

• Chapters 1-5
• Chapters 6-10
• Chapters 11-15
• Chapters 16-20
• Chapters 21-25

Wikipedia Entries for Great Expectations

• Introduction
• Plot summary
• The creative process
• Publication history

Great Expectations

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More on Great Expectations

What is Great Expectations about? All we're saying is: Don't chase the one that got away. Read our Great Expectations chapter summaries for more.

Introduction See All

Summary see all, themes see all.

• Society and Class
• Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
• Lies and Deceit
• Contrasting Regions
• Criminality

Characters See All

• Joe Gargery
• Miss Havisham
• Abel Magwitch
• Estella Havisham
• Mr. Jaggers
• Mr. Wemmick
• Herbert Pocket
• Mrs. Joe Gargery
• Bentley Drummle
• Arthur Havisham
• Matthew Pocket
• Belinda Pocket
• Other Pockets
• The Avenger
• Trabb’s Boy
• Mr. Pumblechook
• Clara Barley
• Miss Skiffins

Analysis See All

• What’s Up With the Title?
• What’s Up With the Ending?
• Tough-o-Meter
• Writing Style
• Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
• Narrator Point of View
• Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis: Voyage and Return
• Plot Analysis
• Three Act Plot Analysis

Quotes See All

• For Teachers

Great Expectations Summary

A six-year-old boy named Pip lives on the English marshes with his sister (Mrs. Joe Gargery) and his sister's husband (Mr. Joe Gargery). His sister is about as bossy and mean as most older sisters are—but his brother-in-law Joe is pretty much the best thing that's happened to Pip.

One Christmas Eve, Pip meets a scary, escaped convict in a churchyard. Pip steals food from Mrs. Joe so that the convict won't starve (and also so that the convict won't rip his guts out). Soon after, in apparently unrelated events, Pip gets asked to play at Miss Havisham's, the creepy lady who lives down the street. And we mean creepy: her mansion is covered in moss; she still wears the wedding dress she was wearing when she was jilted at the altar decades ago; and the whole place is crawling with bugs. It's like Beauty and the Beast , only without the singing tableware.

The only good thing about the mansion is Estella, Miss Havisham's adopted daughter. Estella is cold and snobby, but man is she pretty. Pip keeps getting invited back to play with her, and he develops quite the little crush on her. This crush turns into a big crush, and that big crush turns into full-blown, all-consuming L-O-V-E, even though there's no way that orphan Pip can ever have a chance with Estella, the adopted child of the richest lady in town.

When Pip is old enough to be put to work—you know, early teens or so—he starts an apprenticeship at his brother-in-law's smithy, thanks to Miss Havisham's financial support. You'd think he'd be thrilled (fire, swinging heavy things around), but he hates it: all he wants is to become a gentleman and marry Estella.

Then, surprise! He comes into fortune by means of a mysterious and undisclosed benefactor, says goodbye to his family, and heads to London to become a gentleman. And it's pretty sweet at first. Mr. Jaggers, Pip's caretaker, is one of the biggest and baddest lawyers in town. Pip also gets a new BFF named Herbert Pocket, the son of Miss Havisham's cousin.

Herbert shows Pip around town, and they have a busy city life: dinner parties in castles with moats, encounters with strange housekeepers, trips to the theater, etc. Two teeny problems: he spends way too much money, and whenever he goes home he's ashamed of Joe. Meanwhile, Estella, who's been off touring the world, comes back to London and is even more gorgeous than ever.

On his 21st birthday, Jaggers gives Pip a huge 500-pound annual allowance, which he uses to help Herbert get a job. Aw, good friend! This goes on for a couple of years—Pip is a man about town; Estella keeps rejecting him—until, on his 23rd birthday, a stranger shows up. The stranger is Pip's benefactor. The stranger is… the convict that Pip helped when he was only six years old!

Here are the deets : the con's name is Abel Magwitch/Provis. The courts exiled him to New South Wales under strict orders never, ever to return to England, so not only is Pip super bummed to find out that his benefactor isn't Miss Havisham after all, as he's assumed, but a criminal—he's also harboring a convict. Obviously, Pip decides that he's got to get Magwitch out of the country, but not before Pip rescues Miss Havisham from a fire that burns down her house and eventually kills her.

Pip devises a plan to get Magwitch out of the country, but he's uneasy—and with good reason: just as they get ready to make their great escape, Estella goes and marries Pip's nemesis and Pip is almost thrown into a limekiln by a hometown bully who claims to know about Magwitch. And then the two are ratted out by Magwitch's nemesis Compeyson, who is, coincidentally, Miss Havisham's ex-lover. Magwitch is thrown in jail and dies, but not before Pip tells him the shocking truth: Estella is his daughter.

After these traumatic events, Pip gets really sick, and Joe comes to the rescue. As soon as Pip recovers, however, Joe leaves him in the middle of the night, having paid off all of Pip's debts. Obviously, Pip follows him home, intending to ask for Joe's forgiveness and to propose marriage to his childhood friend, Biddy. Upon arriving home, however, he finds that Joe and Biddy have just married, which is… a little weird, if you ask us. He says he's sorry he's been such a butthead , and then he moves to Cairo.

For eleven years, Pip works at Herbert's shipping company in Cairo, sending money back to Joe and Biddy. He finally returns to England, and then has one of two different fates, depending on whether you read the original ending or the revised ending:

Original ending: Pip is hanging out in London a few years later with Joe and Biddy's son, baby Pip, when he runs into Estella. She's had a hard life: her husband was abusive, and when he died she married a poor doctor.

Rewritten ending: Pip visits Miss Havisham's house once more. Estella is walking the grounds, being all single, beautiful, and sad about having thrown Pip's love away. Aw. They're going to be together forever, you guys!

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Everything about “Great Expectations”: Themes, Plot, and Characters

“Great Expectations” is one of the last novels written by Charles Dickens in 1861. It is also one of his most popular creations and has been frequently staged in theatres and on movie screens. The text was written in Dickens’ “mature” years when the author critiqued the dishonest and lavish life many gentlemen of those times had led. The story has a gripping plot, but it’s rather grey, sad, and doesn’t end happily for most of its characters.

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Dickens has incorporated a lot of his own experiences and sorrows into the “Great Expectations” book. Initially, the writer wanted to end the novel in a tragic way, however, Dickens had always been wary of sad endings—his audience appreciated the happy endings much more than the philosophical misfortunes. That’s why he didn’t dare to end the story on a sad note, even though the whole plot was heading towards a calamity.

“Great Expectations” is a complex literature piece and if you are challenged to read it, but still need that essay, read further for plot overview and themes or simply use our essay writer service .

“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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Great Expectations Themes and Motives

Social class is a very important determinant of one’s position in the book. Both Estella and Pip were orphans, but the girl was brought up to praise her status and humiliate everybody who didn’t share the same status as her. Estella is a victim of class inequality, she is taught to despise people and even things:

Chapter VII “I played the game to an end with Estella, and she beggared me. She threw the cards down on the table when she had won them all, as if she despised them for having been won of me”.

At the same time, the writer shows how some people were doomed to live and die in lower-class life, they had no chance to make it up the social ladder because others would never accept them:

Chapter IV “In his working-clothes, Joe was a well-knit characteristic-looking blacksmith; in his holiday clothes, he was more like a scarecrow in good circumstances, than anything else”.

Ambition and self-improvement: Charles Dickens makes fun of the shallow ambitions people often have, which is seen in the characters in “Great Expectations” – they are ordinary, and many of them are poor financially and/or emotionally. Pip’s biggest desire is to be a gentleman and he doesn’t appreciate himself because of where he came from:

Chapter VIII “I was a common laboring-boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way”.

The young boy doesn’t strive for real self-improvement, he wants to have the image, the looks, and the respect—all of the superficial things.

Integrity and reputation: Being honest and sincere wasn’t worth much in those times. The characters were doing all the wrong things, but nobody stopped them. For example, Miss Havisham gladly accepts Pip’s gratitude even though she knows she isn’t the benefactor who paid for his lavish life in London. She later admits that she pretended to be the one who gave Pip money just to irritate her family.

Parents in the book are nothing more than empty vessels – they are absent from the lives of most characters, and those who assume parental duties do not perform them well. For example: “My sister… had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbors because she had brought me up “by hand” (Chapter II). Parents were supposed to put Pip in school, teach him to respect himself, and value others, but nobody was there to take care of him. Taking into account that Dickens wrote many children’s stories, you would assume that in “Great Expectations”, the author would try to discover the roots and causes of many childhood miseries and broken kids’ lives.

Justice is not evident, but an important theme in this book. What is “Great Expectations about? – It’s simply about getting what one deserves. The plot is unfair, that’s true. But the characters’ wishes and actions are also quite shallow and unjust. In the end, each of them has the opportunity to turn their life around, but choose to behave the way society expects them to.

Generosity : Pip didn’t experience much kindness or generosity in his life. The only person who treated him with respect was his sister’s husband Joe Gargery, whom he later starts to avoid once Pip becomes a gentleman. Magwitch makes Pip a gentleman to repay the “generosity” the boy demonstrated out of mere fear for his life; and Pip doesn't even appreciate Magwitch’s generosity. The boy really enjoyed the thought that Miss Havisham believed in him and sponsored him to become a gentleman. So when the young man finds out that she hadn’t actually invested in his education, and thus didn’t plan for Estella to marry him, Pip panics:

Chapter XXXIX “Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience, a sting for the greedy relations, a model with a mechanical heart to practise on when no other practice was at hand”.

His whole world becomes broken, he feels humiliated, and decides to flee abroad.

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Great Expectations Chapter Summaries & Review

Chapters 1-4

Chapter 1 - The novel begins at the church graveyard on Christmas Eve. Pip informs us that he is an orphan and lives in the marsh country. An escaped convict appears and threatens Pip. He commands Pip to bring him a file and vittles (food) or he’ll cut Pip’s throat.

Chapter 2 - Pip returns home and we meet his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, who’s raised Pip “by hand.” Mrs. Joe, as she is called, is an abusive guardian who bullies Pip and Joe. Joe, the town blacksmith and Pip’s only friend, informs Pip that Mrs. Joe has the tickler, a stick used to beat Pip when he’s been bad. Mrs. Joe returns and swats Pip several times. Pip runs to Joe for protection. They sit down to dinner and Pip, although hungry, does not eat so he can sneak food to the convict. Pip snags some food and sneaks into Joe’s forge to steal a file.

Chapter 3 - It’s Christmas morning. Pip awakes early and runs to the churchyard. On the way he spots another convict who tries to strike him. Pip runs. He meets the original convict and gives him food, drink, and a file. Pip tells the convict about the other convict. The chapter ends with the original convict filing his leg iron and Pip running back to his house.

Chapter 4 - The Gargerys have guests for Christmas: Mr. Wopsle, the church clerk; Uncle Pumblechook, an arrogant corn merchant; and Mr. and Mrs. Hubble. The guests harass Pip about being ungrateful. Mrs. Joe brings Pumblechook some brandy. He drinks it and chokes on it (Pip had replaced the brandy with tar water). Mrs. Joe fetches the pork pie, which is missing. Pip runs in fear. The door opens and a party of soldiers enter.

Chapters 5-8

Chapter 5 - The soldiers inform the Gargerys they are hunting an escaped convict and need a blacksmith to fix a pair of handcuffs. Joe obliges. Joe, Wopsle, and Pip accompany the soldiers on the hunt. They capture both convicts. The original convict confesses to stealing a pie from the blacksmith.

Chapter 6 - The Christmas feast ends and Pip is taken to bed, relieved of not being found out and feeling guilty for not telling Joe the truth.

Chapter 7 - Pip goes to school in the village. He writes a letter to Joe, who can’t read. Pip is determined to teach Joe. Joe narrates to Pip his background. Joe’s dad was a drunk who beat him. Joe had to work to support his mother and was never able to learn. Mrs. Joe enters and announces that Pip has been requested to play at Miss Havisham’s, an eccentric old lady who lives up town.

Chapter 8 - Pumblechook escorts Pip to Havisham’s house. Miss Havisham’s snooty, beautiful daughter lets him in and insults him. Pip marvels at the dark corridors and Miss Havisham’s appearance. She wears a wedding dress and sits in a candle lit room with all the clocks stopped at 8:40. Pip and Estella play cards. Estella insults him the entire time. Miss Havisham gives Estella permission to break Pip’s heart. Pip waits in the courtyard for lunch and cries. Estella brings him his lunch and insults him again.

Chapters 9-12

Chapter 9 - Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook pester Pip for details about his visit to Havisham’s. He lies. He tells Joe the truth later. Pip expresses his disappointment in being common. Joe teaches Pip that lying is no way to become uncommon. ** Chapter 10** - Pip, determined to become uncommon, asks Biddy to teach him. Biddy begins immediately. Pip fetches Joe at the Three Jolly Bargemen where Pip meets a strange man who rubs his leg, stirs his drink with a file, and hands Pip two pounds. ** Chapter 11** - Pip returns to Miss Havisham’s. He meets Sarah Pocket, Camilla, and Raymond, who flatter Miss Havisham in hopes of getting her money when she dies. Estella escorts Pip to Havisham’s room. Estella insults him and slaps him. Havisham has Pip walk her in circles in a room across the hall. The room contains a wedding cake covered in cobwebs. It will serve as Havisham’s tomb. Pip is let out, prowls about the courtyard, and meets a pale young gentleman who challenges Pip to a boxing match. Pip knocks him down three times and is declared the winner. As Pip exits, Estella lets him kiss her on the cheek. ** Chapter 12** - Pip returns to Havisham’s regularly. She requests that Pip return with Joe Gargery so he can be officially apprenticed to him.

Chapters 13-16

Chapter 13 - Joe accompanies Pip to Miss Havisham’s. Joe looks and acts ridiculous. He marvels at Miss Havisham’s eccentricities. Joe does not answer Havisham directly, but gives his answers to Pip. Estella looks on scornfully. Miss Havisham gives Joe 25-guineas for becoming Pip’s apprentice. ** Chapter 14** - Pip begins his apprenticeship. He hates it. He stays only out of loyalty and love to Joe. ** Chapter 15** - Pip continues his instruction of Joe. Joe proves to be an extremely dull student and learns little. Pip requests a half holiday so he can visit Estella. Orlick finds out and wants a half holiday too. Joe grants it. Mrs. Joe, eavesdropping, curses Joe for wasting wages. Orlick and Mrs. Joe get in an argument. Joe beats up Orlick. Pip goes to Miss Havisham’s and discovers Estella has gone to school in France. Pip returns home and learns that Mrs. Joe has been struck in the back of the head and is lying unconscious. ** Chapter 16** - The crime is not solved, although Pip suspects Orlick. Biddy is hired to take care of Mrs. Joe. Mrs. Joe communicates by writing and requests the presence of Orlick. Pip does not know why.

Chapters 17-21

Chapter 17 - Pip continues his apprenticeship. He tells Biddy of his desire to be a gentleman and his love for Estella. ** Chapter 18** - Four years into Pip’s apprenticeship, he and Joe are visited by Mr. Jaggers at the Three Jolly Bargemen. Jaggers informs Pip that he is to be educated as a gentleman and shall inherit a large sum of money. He instructs Pip to come to his office in London the next week and gives Pip money to buy clothes. ** Chapter 19** - Pip prepares for his departure. He buys a suit and visits Miss Havisham. Pip acts boorishly toward Biddy and accuses her of pride. Pip departs for London. ** Chapter 20** - Pip arrives at Jagger’s office in Little Britain. Jaggers arrives followed by clients and wannabe clients. Jaggers informs Pip about his living arrangements at Barnard’s Inn. Wemmick, Jaggers’ clerk, escorts Pip to his new home. ** Chapter 21** - Pip is disappointed with his living arrangements and considers London “overrated.” His roommate at Barnard’s Inn is Herbert Pocket, the same pale young gentleman who Pip boxed at Miss Havisham’s.

Chapters: 22-27

Chapter 22 - Herbert Pocket, formerly the pale young gentleman, tells Pip the story of Miss Havisham. She was a proud heiress. Her half brother wasted his inheritance. The two hated each other. Miss Havisham got engaged and received money from Miss Havisham. Havisham’s fiancee encouraged her to buy the brewery from her half brother for an outrageous price. Matthew Pocket tried to persuade Miss Havisham to be careful. She disowned him. Miss Havisham received a letter at 8:40, the morning of her wedding, at which time the clocks remain.

Chapter 23 - Pip meets Mr. Pocket, his tutor, and other students. ** Chapter 24** - Wemmick invites Pip over for dinner and mentions Jagger’s housekeeper as being a tamed beast. ** Chapter 25** - Pip ventures to Wemmick’s house, where he meets Wemmick’s aged father. Wemmick shows himself to be completely different at home than he is at work. Chapter 26 - Jaggers invites Pip and his fellow students for dinner. Jaggers admires Bentley Drummle, whom Pip hates. ** Chapter 27** - Pip receives a letter from Biddy announcing a visit from Joe. Joe’s visit is not desired by Pip, who is becoming a snob. The awkward visit ends with Joe telling Pip that Miss Havisham wishes to see him and that Estella has come home.

Chapter 28 - Pip resolves to go to his town and stay at Joe’s so he can visit Estella. He rationalizes and stays at the Blue Boar without even seeing Joe. On the same coach as Pip are two convicts, one of which gave Pip two 1-pound notes years ago at the Three Jolly Bargemen. Pip discovers the two notes were a gift from the first convict he met on the marshes as a child.

Chapter 29 -Pip visits Ms. Havisham and Estella. They go through the same exercise that Pip did as a child. Ms. Havisham asks Pip all sorts of questions regarding Estella’s beauty. Ms. Havisham encourages Pip to love Estella. As a result, Pip refuses to visit Joe because Estella wouldn’t approve of him.

Chapter 30 - Pip advises Jaggers to have Orlick removed as Havisham’s doorman, which he does promptly. He returns to Barnard’s inn and confesses to Herbert his love for Estella and his guilt at not visiting Joe.

Chapter 31 - Pip receives a letter from Estella asking him to meet her the next day.

Chapter 32 - Pip arrives hours early to meet Estella. Wemmick spots him and takes him on a tour of Newgate prison.

Chapter 33 - Pip returns, somewhat despondent after seeing the prison, and greets Estella, who treats Pip with disdain. Estella leads Pip to believe that there is an “arrangement” for the two.

Chapter 34 - Pip and Herbert chronicle their debts and devise a plan to eliminate them. Pip feels guilty about his treatment of Joe and Biddy. He receives a letter that Mrs. Joe has died.

Chapter 35 - Despite the lack of affection for his sister, Pip is emotional at her funeral. Pip vows to visit more often. Biddy is skeptical. Pip leaves, somewhat irritated by Biddy, but in retrospect acknowledging her wisdom.

Chapter 36 - Pip turns 21 and begins receiving an annual salary of 500 pounds. He anticipates learning about his benefactor, who he assumes is Miss Havisham. Jaggers tells him nothing.

Chapter 37 - Pip decides to help Herbert establish his business. Wemmick makes the arrangements.

Chapter 38 - Pip visits Estella at her London home where he continues to endure humiliation. He discovers that Bentley Drummle is courting Estella. Pip objects. He also witnesses a conflict between Estella and Miss Havisham, noticing that Estella is just as cold-hearted to her as she is to her suitors.

Chapter 39 - Pip’s benefactor arrives. It is not Miss Havisham as he supposed. It is the convict he met as a young boy on the marshes. Pip is devastated by the news. Despite his shock, Pip feels obligated to help the convict, Abel Magwitch or Provis, who will be hanged if discovered.

Chapter 40 - Pip trips over a man who was lurking on the stairwell, who disappears. Pip decides to call Magwitch Uncle Provis. Pip finds Provis’ manners embarrassing.

Chapter 41 - Herbert returns. The two devise a plan to get Magwitch out of the country. Pip decides to no longer take his money.

Chapter 42 - Magwitch narrates his life story. He sought revenge on the second convict for testifying against him and setting him up. The second convict, Compeyson, is the man who abandoned Miss Havisham on her wedding day.

Chapter 43 - Pip travels to Miss Havisham’s to see Estella. He encounters Bentley Drummle at the Blue Boar.

Chapters 44-50

Chapter 44 - Miss Havisham admits to Pip that she led him on falsely and takes pity on him. Estella reminds Pip that she had been honest from the start. She tells Pip that she will marry Bentley Drummle. Pip walks back to London. Upon arrival the doorman hands him a note from Wemmick telling him not to go home.

Chapter 45 - Pip meets Wemick who has learned that Compeyson is pursuing Magwitch, who is staying at Clara’s house.

Chapter 46 - Pip visits Magwitch and feels for him. He discusses a plan for Magwitch’s escape.

Chapter 47 - Pip’s debts pile up as he refuses to spend Magwitch’s money. Pip and Herbert await a signal from Wemmick to transport Magwitch down river. In an effort to forget his problems, Pip goes to the theater. Mr. Wopsle notifies Pip that Compeyson was behind him during the performance.

Chapter 48 - Pip dines with Jaggers and notices his housekeeper Molly’s strong resemblance to Estella. Pip feels certain that Molly is Estella’s mother.

Chapter 49 - Pip visits Miss Havisham who apologizes to Pip. Pip wanders through the garden one last time. He returns as he sees Miss Havisham light herself on fire. Pip burns his hands saving her. Miss Havisham becomes an invalid.

Chapter 50 - Pip learns that Magwitch is Estella’s father.

Chapter 51 - Pip confronts Jaggers about Estella’s parentage. He admits Molly is Estella’s mother but had not realized Magwitch was the father.

Chapter 52 - Wemmick notifies Pip that Magwitch would be ready to move in two days. Pip receives a letter regarding Uncle Provis. It tells Pip to meet secretly in the marshes.

Chapter 53 - Orlick meets Pip on the marshes, ties him up, confesses he murdered Pip’s sister, admits an association with Compeyson, and accuses Pip of harming him. Just as Orlick is about to murder Pip, his friends rush in and save him.

Chapter 54 - Pip and Herbert accompany Magwitch on his escape. Just as they’re about to board a steamer for Germany, a rowboat appears. A man on board orders Magwitch’s arrest. The arresting officer is Compeyson, whom Magwitch attacks. They wrestle under water and are struck by the steamer. Compeyson drowns. Magwitch is badly hurt and arrested. Pip accompanies him.

Chapter 55 - Pip remains loyal to Magwitch even though the state has taken everything, including Pip’s money.

Chapter 56 - Pip remains loyal to Magwitch and visits him daily. Magwitch is sentenced to death. As he is dying, Pip tells Magwitch about Estella.

Chapter 57 - After Magwitch’s death, Pip becomes ill. Men come to arrest him for unpaid debts. Joe nurses Pip back to health and pays his debts. Pip learns that Joe knows how to read and write, of Havisham’s death, and that Orlick has been jailed for robbing Pumblechook.

Chapter 58 - Pip returns to his boyhood home. Satis house has been torn down. Pip arrives and discovers Joe and Biddy have been married. Pip then decides to move to Cairo to accept a job working with Herbert. He works as a clerk for Clarriker’s and Co.

Chapter 59 - Pip returns from Cairo eleven years later and marries Estella, whose husband had treated her poorly and has died.

This post is part of the series: Great Expectations

I trust you have great expectations for this study guide.

• Analysis of Quotes from Great Expectations
• Studying Great Expectations: Meet the Characters
• Great Expectations Chapter Summaries
• Understanding Great Expectations: Writing Elements of Charles Dickens
• Themes in Great Expectations