PAPER 3, MODULE 21, TEXT

(A) Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Tutun Mukherjee University of Hyderabad

Paper Coordinator Dr. Neeru Tandon Kanpur University, Kanpur

Content Writer/Author Dr. Neeru Tandon Kanpur University, Kanpur

(CW)

Content Reviewer (CR) Dr Supriya Shukla CSJMU

Language Editor (LE) Dr. Ram Prakash Pradhan VSSD College, CSJMU Kanpur
(B) Description of Module

Item Description of module

Subject Name English literature

Paper name Nineteenth Century Literature

Module title Charles Dickens‟ GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Module ID 21

Pre-requisites The reader is expected to have familiarity with

the main trends of the Victorian age and its

literature.

Objectives To familiarize the reader with the text along

with giving a detailed analysis of the various

critical interpretations of the text Great

Expectations

Key words Pip, Great expectations, estella, convict,

legacy, marriage, Joe, blacksmith, Prison

Module 21: Great Expectations

 21.0 The Upshot

 21.1: Introduction

 21.2 His Fictional oeuvre

 21.3: Charles Dickens as a Novelist

 21.4: Times when Great Expectations was written

 21.5 : Great Expectations: Introduction

 21.6: Great Expectations: Story

 21.7 : Setting of the novel

 21.8: Genre and Form of the Novel

 21.9 Plot and Structure of the Novel

 21.10: Literary Devices in Great Expectations

 21.11: Beginning and the Ending of the Novel

 21.12- Major Characters of the novel

 21.13 Minor characters of the novel

 21.14: Some interesting facts about Novel and the Novelist

21.0 The Upshot: The present module discusses Charles Dickens and his famous novel Great

Expectations. Introduction tells readers about Dickens‟s biography and his famous works. The

content further elaborates Dickens as a novelist. Reader will come to know its story line,

Chapter wise summary, Characters, Plot construction, his narrative style and main points about

the novel and the novelist. Some interesting facts about Dickens and his times make the study

interesting. Multiple choice questions and long questions are there to help the learner in knowing

the novelist and the novel. Some important quotes from the novels are inscribed to help the

scholars in understanding the ethos of the prescribed work. It is further supported by

Bibliography and Webliography.

21.1: Introduction: Charles Dickens:

It was during the Victorian Era that Dickens „crested the heights of fame and fortune, so much so

that, by the time of his death, he had become, and in many ways still remains, the second most

famous Victorian, after the Queen herself.‟

Known widely as a versatile English author, a novelist with a social cause and a journalist with a

reformative zeal, Charles John Huffam Dickens became a synonym for English literature of the

Victorian era. He was born on February 7, 1812, at Portsea on the southern coast of England, to

John and Elizabeth Dickens. Dickens was christened on 4th March 1812 at St Mary's church and

was named Charles, after his maternal grandfather, Charles Barrow; John, after his father, John

Dickens; and Huffham, after Christopher Huffam (the parish clerk misspelt the surname),who

was a London friend of his father.

Charles‟ father was a pay clerk in the navy office. Finances were a constant concern for the

family. In fact, when Charles was just four months old, family shifted to a very dingy and small

place in order to manage finances. When Charles was just twelve years old, his father was sent to

debtor‟s prison and due to this Charles started working as a child labour in a factory that handled

"blacking," or shoe polish. During this period the rest of the family moved to live near the prison,

leaving Charles to live alone. Three months later, his father was released from prison, and the

family returned to their previous home in Camden Town. Dickens‟s time at the blacking

warehouse influenced his later works of fiction, with the themes of child mistreatment, child

abuse and child labour repeated throughout his novels.

Charles returned to school when his father received an inheritance and was able to repay his

debts. But in 1827, at age fifteen, he was again forced to leave school and work as an office boy.

Soon he became a reporter and stenographer at the law courts of London. By 1832 he had
become a reporter for two London newspapers followed by another work to contribute a series of

impressions and sketches to other newspapers and magazines, signing some of them "Boz" and

his first book was published in 1836 as Sketches by Boz. On the strength of this success Charles

married Catherine Hogarth. They were happy and had ten children. But it was short lived and

Charles realized ,‟‟Poor Catherine and I are not made for each other, and there is no help for it. It

is not only that she makes me uneasy and unhappy, but that I make her so too—and much more

so.”

Dickens became very attached to Catherine‟s sister Mary, and she died in his arms after a brief

illness in 1837. He portrayed her as a character in many of his books, and her death is

fictionalized as the death of Little Nell.["Thank God she died in my arms," he said, after her

death, "and the very last words she whispered were of me." Dickens took a ring from Mary's

lifeless finger, placed it on his own finger where it remained until the day he died. Such was the

effect of Mary's death on him that, for the first and only time in his life, he found himself unable

to write and the next installments of Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist failed to appear. In fact

Dickens and his wife, Catherine, had stayed at white weatherboard cottage which still exists

today and which was known as Collins's Farm. They remained there till Dickens felt strong

enough to come back to his writing schedule. In 1857 Charles and Catherine felt that living

together as husband and wife was not possible for them and they took separate bedrooms. In

June of 1858 Catherine and Charles were legally separated. In 1857 a middle-aged Charles

Dickens began an adulterous affair with a teenager, Ellen “Nelly” Ternan, that would end only

with his death

21.2 His Fictional oeuvre Dickens completed 14 novels and numerous shorter works of

fiction, including five Christmas books, among which A Christmas Carol stands out as a

masterpiece, regularly read and interpreted to this day.

The Pickwick Papers (1836-1837)

This novel by Dickens was a digressive story about the adventures of the gullible good-natured

Mr. Pickwick and his travelling cohorts. The streetwise Sam Weller, recruited along the way by

Pickwick, helps them to survive. Full of fun, capturing the high-spirited spirit of the young

Dickens, this work built on his earlier Sketches by Boz to throw him to fame and is still one of

the best-loved books in English Literature.

Oliver Twist (1837-1839)

With a serious theme, to expose the abuse and corruption suffered by children, this second major

work is nevertheless full of satirical humor. The orphan Oliver Twist manages to survive the

worst that the authorities and criminal fraternity put him through.

Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839)

A tale of how the young Nicholas Nickleby and his sister make good after they and their mother

are left penniless. Following a bad start Nicholas comes eventually to thrive is a story to appeal

the masses.

The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841)

This story, written for the magazine Master Humphrey's Clock, has a young girl, Little Nell and

a spiteful moneylender. Their flight exposes them to a variety of experiences and characters. The

death of Little Nell is among the best known scenes in the works of Dickens.
Barnaby Rudge (1841)

The first of Dickens's two historical novels, set in the period that led up to the Gordon Riots of

1780 against Roman Catholicism.

Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844)

Selfishness, as typified by the young Martin Chuzzlewit, and hypocrisy, as typified by Mr Seth

Pecksniff, who purports to be an architect, are among the themes of this work. This work

contains one of Dickens's great creations: the often intoxicated Mrs Sairey Gamp, a midwife,

sick nurse.

A Christmas Carol (1843)

The first of five Christmas books written by Dickens in the 1840s, this is one of the best known

and best loved of all his works. It tells of the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from a tight-

fisted curmudgeon to a generous and genial man. This is brought about by a haunting and visions

at Christmas that remind him of happier days, demonstrate the generous spirit of others in

adversity, and terrify him with dire prospects should he not change his ways.

Dombey and Son (1846-1848)

Pervading this work are the pride and cold-hearted obduracy of Mr Paul Dombey Senior, a

businessman. Following the death of his first wife, he invests all of his hopes in Paul, their only

son, neglecting their daughter, Florence. But the fragile boy dies. Dombey marries again, but

tenacious endurance and treachery obstruct his will, and he loses his fortune. Ultimately he was

supported by his daughter who helped him throughout.

David Copperfield (1848-1850)

This partially autobiographical story, narrated in the first person, is generally considered to be his

masterpiece.. Among a number of memorable characters is that of Mr Wilkins Micawber, who

look like Dickens's father in some respects.

Bleak House (1851-1853)

An elongated law case concerning the distribution of an estate, which brings wretchedness and

debris to the parties but great profit to the lawyers, is the foundation for this story. Esther

Summerson, a professional detective, Inspector Bucket are memorable characters. Story involves

a good many secrets, a murder and a number of investigators.

Hard Times (1854)

Hard Times is known as the shortest of Dickens's novels. As exemplified in the thoughts of

Thomas Gradgrind ,it is a tale of his rigid attitudes on the lives of his son and daughter.

Little Dorrit (1855-1857)

Dickens is partly autobiographical reminding of his visits to his father in a debtors' prison in this

novel. The theme of imprisonment is very effectively portrayed. William Dorrit is locked up for

years in that prison, attended daily by his daughter, Little Dorrit. Her unacknowledged self-

sacrifice comes to the attention of Arthur Clennam, who helps bring about her father's release but

is himself imprisoned for a time when his business assumption fails. Little Dorrit, ultimately

finds gratification caring for Clennam and, following the loss of her father and the family

fortune, they marry.

A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

Another historical novel by Dickens, this novel recounts to the French Revolution, the two cities

being London and Paris. French-born Charles Darnay, settled in London, returns to Paris to help

save the life of his agent, but is finally himself sentenced to death. Sydney Carton took his place

and saved his life. Carton's words at the very end of the novel are widely familiar: „It is a far, far

better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever

known.‟

Great Expectations (1860-1861)

Story narrated in the first person by the narrator, Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, ts an interesting

account of his childhood under the care of a vicious sister and her clement husband, a

blacksmith, to living the life of a gentleman in London, funded by a mysterious benefactor. Miss

Havisham plays an important part in his life.

Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865)

Our Mutual Friend ,a model of his outstanding craftsmanship, tells about John Harmon who

disguised his identity till he has formed an opinion of Bella Wilfer, the woman he is supposed to

marry under the terms of his father's will. After a plethora of complications all turns out well in

the end.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was unfinished

at the time of Dickens's death. During October of 1869, at Gad‟s Hill Place, Dickens begins work

on The Mystery of Edwin Drood. On March 15, 1870 Dickens gives his final public reading. On
June 8, 1870 Dickens spends the day working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood. During dinner

he collapses and on June 9, 1870 he dies at Gad‟s Hill Place.

21.3: Charles Dickens as a Novelist Charles Dickens was the representative novelist of the

Victorian age. He is the writer of some great novels such as Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist,

Great Expectations, David Copperfield, and Bleak House in which his art of storytelling, comic

view of life, his enthusiasm for social reformation, social criticism, and use of humor have been

intensely epitomized.

His first novel was Pickwick Papers, the supreme comic novel in English language. Cambell, the

famous Lord Chief Justice, remarked that he would have been prouder of having

written Pickwick Papers than of all the honours he had earned at the Bar. His comedy is never

overlaid because it is an effortless expression of a comic view of life. Dickens seems to see

things differently in an entertaining manner, without any serious thought of plot or design.

As a novelist, Dickens is a social Chronicler. He is found to have introduced social novels in a

much broader sense. Dickens believed in the ethical and political potential of literature, and he

treated his fiction as a facilitator for debates about moral and social reform. In his novels of

social analysis Dickens became a candid critic of unreasonable economic and social conditions.

His social observations helped raise the collective cognizance of his readers. Dickens contributed

significantly to the emergence of public opinion, which was gaining an amassed impact on the

decisions of the experts. A number of legal reforms like a better administration of criminal
prisons, the abolition of the merciless imprisonment for debts, distillation of the Magistrates‟

courts, and the check on the capital punishment were influenced by his thoughts.

According to David Cecil, Dickens is "the most representative of Victorian novelists. Some will

contend that he is also the greatest. No doubt he lacks the profundity of George Eliot, the

consuming passion of the Bronte sisters, and the peculiar éclat of Thackeray, yet he surpasses

them all in his basic humanity, a childlike naïveté, and an amazingly fecund imagination.‟

Indeed, Dickens was not of his country alone but of the entire world.

Dickens and Social Reform:

Dickens stands for Art for society‟s sake. His art is art with a purpose. Dickens was not

limited to "aesthetic culture" or "Gothicism." His novels give clear note of humanitarianism. He

can be called one of the greatest social reformers of his time. Most of his novels have been built

around a particular social theme. For instance, „‟Bleak House attacks "the law's delays"; Nicholas

Nickleby, the abuses of charity schools and the sadism of school-masters; Hard Times, the pet

concepts of the then current "political economy"; Little Dornit, the inhumanities to which poor

debtors are often subjected; and so forth.‟‟ Nowhere does Dickens say that "all is right with the

world," but nowhere does he say either that "all is wrong with the world." He was a pragmatist as

well as a visionary.

21.5 : Great Expectations: Introduction

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens thirteenth novel, is a bildungsroman depicting the story of

an orphan Pip. It is Dickens's second novel to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was

first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December
1860 to August 1861followed by its publication in Chapman and Hall (October 1861) in three

volumes.

Great Expectations is regarded as Dickens “grotesque tragicomic” conception. There are

moments of touching tragedy and sadness, such as young Pip in a cemetery surrounded by his

dead family, and Pip being mistreated by his only surviving relative, Mrs. Joe. At the same time,

there is relaxed comedy, such as when Mr. Pumblechook and Mr. Wopsle reconstruct their tales

of how the thief must have stolen the pork pie, when all the time, it was no thief but Pip. In spite

of some light mood, the darker moods dominate the text, with mystery and danger always

skulking. Miss Havisham presents a grotesque mystery, as does Jaggers‟ housekeeper Molly.

Towards the end of the novel, grave events and serious complications completely surround the

plot.

21.6: Great Expectations: Story- The novel starts out with one of the most significant events

of Philip Pirrip (Pip)‟s life when he is a young child. As he was sitting one evening, gazing at his

parents‟ tombstones, an absconded convict grabs Pip to bring food and a file. Even though Pip

follows his orders properly, the convict gets caught anyways. Pip returns to living the normal life

with his sister and her husband, Mrs and Mr. Joe Gargery in Kent, England. Soon, however, his

Uncle Pumblechook takes him to the Satis House where he meets the strange but wealthy Miss

Havisham and her beautiful adopted daughter Estella. Pip falls madly in everlasting love with

her. On the other hand Estella treats him with only disdain and intimidation. Soon Pip is trained

by his brother-in-law Joe to be a Blacksmith. Estella taunts him for being an ordinary person.

Then, Bitty a young girl, is appointed to take care of his bedridden sister. Pip learns many things

from her so that he can enhance his image in front of Estella.

Jagger, a lawyer by profession, forewarns Pip of a large sum of money that had transpired him
from a secret benefactor and suggests him to travel to London to complete his education and be a

“gentleman”. Pip, keeping Estella in his mind, is delighted at his affluence and believes that Miss

Havisham is his secret benefactor. Pip reaches London and comes in contact with two gentlemen

named Herbert Pocket and Wemmick while receiving a good education. Pip continues to long

after Estella but expresses disparagement for Joe. Pip becomes a real gentleman, successful,

wealthy and well respected over the years, gaining everything he had ever wished to be as a child

except at gaining the love of Estella. After a long period of time his former acquaintance, the

convict Magwitch, returns to Pip, dramatically announcing his identity as Pip‟s secret benefactor

all these years. Pip shows his utter disgust at this turn of events but agrees to help Magwitch

escape, as he is still wanted by the police. As time goes on, Pip begins to sincerely care for

Magwitch.

Another twist is discovered by Pip when he realizes Magwitch is the birth father of Estella and

that Miss Havisham had never wanted to encourage Estella‟s love for Pip but rather persuade her

to “break men‟s hearts”. Pip is utterly heart-broken when he hears of news that Estella had

married Bentley Drummle, a cruel upper-class gentleman. Pip visits Miss Havisham one last

time before her death where she asks for his forgiveness and he agrees despite all the pain that he

has suffered. Magwitch must escape before time runs out and so Pip and his friends sneak him

down the river to catch a ship but is ultimately caught by the police and Magwitch suffers severe

injuries .Pip returns to his regular lifestyle focusing on his career before returning many years

later to the Satis House where he had first met Estella. Once again, Estella and Pip meet in the

garden when Estella informs him of the death of her husband and the cruelty that Drummle had

treated her with over the years of their marriage. Pip recognizes that Estella‟s once stony and
vehement eyes have turned warm with benevolence as she asks for his forgiveness. He accepts

and they walk out of the garden hand in hand, while Pip believes that they will never be apart

ever again.

21.7 : Setting of the novel

Great Expectations can be divided into three stages in the life of Pip. The first stage presents Pip

as an orphan being raised by an unkind sister who resents him, and her husband, who offers him

kindness and love. Pip encounters a convict and helps him. His meeting with Estella and Miss

Havisham gives a new direction to his life. He receives a fortune and moves to London.

The second stage of Pip‟s life takes place in London where he becomes friends with Herbert

Pocket and Mr. Jaggers‟ clerk, Mr. Wemmick. He again meets Magwitch, his real benefactor.

This knowledge begins the change in Pip from ungrateful snobbery to the humility associated

with Joe and home.

The third stage in Pip‟s life solves all the remaining mysteries of the novel. Pip finds out that

Magwitch is the biological father of Estella. Magwitch dies in prison, and Pip becomes a clerk

in Cairo with Herbert. He returns 11 years later and finds Estella at the site of Satis House. The

more popular ending indicated that they stayed together.

21.8: Genre and Form of the Novel: Great Expectation contains the elements of a variety of

different literary genres like:

 Bildungsroman

 Tragi-comedy

 Melodrama and satire

  Romance

 Gothic novel

 Crime fiction

21.9 Plot and Structure of the Novel

Young Pip lives with his abusive sister and kind brother-in-law, Joe. Pip helps a convict .

Pip visits the wealthy Miss Havisham and falls in love with her adopted daughter Estella.

Pip becomes a blacksmith‟s apprentice, but wishes to be a gentleman so as to win over

Estella.

A mysterious benefactor grants him his wish.

Pip goes to London and gains whatever he wanted to become a gentleman.

He comes to know about Magwitch, the convict ,who is his benefactor.

Estella plans to marry another man.

Miss Havisham dies,

Pip discovers Estella is Magwitch‟s daughter.

Magwitch dies in prison.

Joe pays off Pip‟s debts, and Pip goes to Cairo to become a clerk.

Later he reconnects with a widowed, kinder Estella.

He believes that they are united forever.

21.10: Literary Devices in Great Expectations

Great Expectations is known for autobiographical elements, as it is written in first person but it

not an autobiography. It is a famous novel, a work of fiction having plot and characters. There is

a narrator, suspense, crime, cruelty, love and kindness too. Pip being both protagonist and

narrator narrates his story as a mistreated orphan. He has an ambition and tries his best to fulfill

that. Luck favours him as well and he reaches London. There is a twist in the plot when

Magwitch returns in his life. All loosly connected plot elements are set into motion and „the

protagonist‟s point of view joins those of the narrator and the reader.‟

TH EM ES · Ambition and the desire for self-improvement (social, economic, educational, and

moral); guilt, criminality, and innocence; maturation and the growth from childhood to

adulthood; the importance of affection, loyalty, and sympathy over social advancement and class

superiority; social class; the difficulty of maintaining superficial moral and social categories in a

constantly changing world

S UB JECTS :

 Crime and criminality;

 Disappointed expectations;

 The connection between weather or atmosphere and dramatic events;

 Doubles (two convicts, two secret benefactors, two invalids, etc.)

 S YMB O LS

 Satis House represents the upper-class world to which Pip longs to belong.

 The stopped clocks at Satis House symbolize Miss Havisham‟s attempt to stop time.

 Crime and Guilt were symbolized by many objects like: scaffolds, prisons, chains,

policemen, lawyers, courts, convicts, files etc.

 Bentley Drummle represents the weird whim and fancy of the upper class.

 Joe symbolizes integrity, morality, affection, dependability, and simple good nature;

 The marsh mists represent danger and opacity.

TO NE

Tone is comic, jovial, satirical, cynical, critical, emotional, gloomy, dramatic, ominous, Gothic

and compassionate.

21.12- Major Characters of the novel

Pip - The protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations, Pip begins the story as a young orphan

boy being raised by his sister and brother-in-law in the southeast of England. Pip is passionate,

romantic, and somewhat unrealistic at heart, and he tends to expect more for himself than is

reasonable. There are really two Pips in Great Expectations: Pip the narrator and Pip the

character. As a character, Pip‟s two most important traits are his infantile, dreamy idealism and

his distinctively good conscience.

Miss Havisham - Miss Havisham is the affluent, bizarre old woman who lives in a manor called

Satis House near Pip‟s village. She is hysterical and often seems unreasonable. We can find her
swooping around her house in a faded wedding dress, keeping a rotten feast on her table, and

surrounding herself with clocks stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Miss Havisham was ditched

by her fiancé minutes before her wedding, and now she has a typical hatred against all men. She

calculatingly raises Estella to be the instrument of her revenge to break men‟s hearts.

Estella - Miss Havisham‟s beautiful adopted daughter, Estella is Pip‟s inaccessible dream till

the end of the novel. Estella is cold, disparaging, and calculating. Though Pip considered her as

icon from the upper classes, Estella is actually even lower-born than Pip, being the daughter of

Magwitch, the convict. Miss Havisham, who annihilates her capability to express emotion and

interact normally, raises her to be like this. That‟s the reason that rather than marrying the

benevolent Pip, Estella marries the cruel aristocrat Drummle, who treats her harshly and makes

her life miserable. Pip used to love her passionately, but she is usually callous, harsh, and

unresponsive in him. Off and on she forewarns him that she has no heart. Towards the end after

being a widow she realizes Pip‟s passion for her and they come out „hand in hand‟.

Joe Gargery - Pip‟s brother-in-law, the village blacksmith, uneducated and unrefined, Joe stays

with his overbearing, abusive wife—known as Mrs. Joe—solely out of love for Pip. Joe‟s quiet

goodness makes him one of the few completely sympathetic characters in Great Expectations.

Mrs. Joe - Stern and arrogant Mrs Joe was Pip‟s sister and Joe‟s wife, known only as “Mrs.

Joe” throughout the novel. She keeps a spotless household and frequently threats her husband

and her brother with her cane, which she calls “Tickler.” She also forces them to drink a foul-

tasting concoction called tar-water. Mrs. Joe is petty and ambitious.

Abel Magwitch (“The Convict”) - A frightening criminal, Magwitch escapes from prison at the

beginning of Great Expectations and intimidates Pip in the cemetery. Pip‟s kindness, however,

makes a deep impression on him, and he consequently devotes himself to making a fortune and

using it to upraise Pip into a higher social class. He becomes Pip‟s secret benefactor, funding

Pip‟s education and luxurious lifestyle in London through the lawyer Jaggers.

Jaggers - The powerful, foreboding lawyer hired by Magwitch to supervise Pip‟s elevation to

the upper class. As one of the most important criminal lawyers in London, Jaggers is privy to

some dirty business; he consorts with vicious criminals, and even they are terrified of him. But

there is more to Jaggers than his impenetrable exterior. He often seems to care for Pip, and

before the novel begins he helps Miss Havisham to adopt the orphaned Estella. Jaggers smells

strongly of soap: he washes his hands obsessively as a psychological mechanism to keep the

criminal taint from corrupting him.

Biddy - A simple, kind hearted country girl, Biddy first befriends Pip when they attend school

together. After Mrs. Joe is attacked and becomes an invalid, Biddy moves into Pip‟s home to

care for her. Throughout most of the novel, Biddy represents the opposite of Estella; she is plain,

kind, moral, and of Pip‟s own social class.

Dolge Orlick - The day labourer in Joe‟s forge, Orlick is a stooping, uncultured embodiment of

evil. He is mischievous and discerning, hurting people simply because he enjoys it. He is

responsible for the attack on Mrs. Joe, and he later almost succeeds in his attempt to murder Pip.

Uncle Pumblechook - Pip‟s pompous, arrogant uncle. (He is actually Joe‟s uncle and, therefore,

Pip‟s “uncle-in-law,” but Pip and his sister both call him “Uncle Pumblechook.”) A merchant
obsessed with money, Pumblechook is responsible for arranging Pip‟s first meeting with Miss

Havisham.

Herbert Pocket - Pip first meets Herbert Pocket in the garden of Satis House, when, as a pale

young gentleman, Herbert challenges him to a fight. Years later, they meet again in London, and

Herbert becomes Pip‟s best friend and key companion after Pip‟s elevation to the status of

gentleman. Herbert nicknames Pip “Handel.” He is the son of Matthew Pocket, Miss Havisham‟s

cousin, and hopes to become a merchant so that he can afford to marry Clara Barley.

Wemmick - Jaggers‟s clerk and Pip‟s friend, Wemmick is one of the strangest characters

in Great Expectations. At work, he is hard, cynical, sarcastic, and obsessed with “portable

property”; at home in Walworth, he is jovial, wry, and a tender caretaker of his “Aged Parent.”

Mr. Wopsle - The church clerk in Pip‟s country town; Mr. Wopsle‟s aunt is the local

schoolteacher.

21.13 Minor characters of the novel

1. Bentley Drummle

A sulking brute who eventually marries Estella then mistreats her.

2. Startop

A tenant of Mr. Pocket and a friend of Pip.

3. Molly

Jaggers‟ housekeeper. She was once accused of murder but acquitted. She turns out to be

Estella‟s mother.

4. Miss Skiffins

Wemmick‟s girlfriend and later, bride.

5. Clara

Herbert Pocket‟s girlfriend and later, bride.

6. Mrs. Brandley

The old widow with whom Estella lives in Richmond.

7. Mrs. Whimple

An elderly woman at whose house Pip and Herbert lodge Magwitch in order to hide him.

8. Compeyson

Magwitch's onetime partner in crime. It is his fault Magwitch is sentenced to prison. He

becomes an informant to the police and helps recapture Magwitch.

21.14: Some interesting facts about Novel and the Novelist

This Novel is not a diary; it can be termed as a memoir. It's Pip recalling his whole life's story at

once. By our calculations, Pip the narrator is about 57 when he tells this story.

The novel was published serially from 1860 to 1861. This just means that chapters usually end

without resolution;
Great Expectations is psychologically Dickens‟s most mature and realistic novel, although it

works through his usual system of displacements and dark doublings.

Loutish Orlick, Joe‟s other apprentice, for example, seems to function as Pip‟s alter ego when he

attacks his uncaring sister, Mrs. Joe.

It is also a novel that depicts the powerful influence of environment as well as of heredity:

Magwitch, the convict, and bitter Miss Havisham were themselves both abused and lonely as

children.

The novel is also hilariously funny in the characteristically Dickensian mode of excess.

AT A G LANCE:

FULL T ITL E · Great Expectations

AUTH O R · Charles Dickens

TYPE O F WO RK · Novel

G ENRES · Bildungsroman, social criticism, autobiographical fiction

LANG UAG E · English

TIM E AND PLACE WRIT T EN · London, 1860 -1861

DATE O F FIRS T PUB LIC AT IO N · Published serially in England from

December 1860 to August 1861 ; published in book form in England and America in 1861

PUB LIS H ER · Serialized in All the Year Round; published in England by Chapman & Hall;

published in America by Harper & Brothers

NARRATO R · Pip

CLIM AX · A sequence of climactic events occurs from Chapter 51 to Chapter 56: Miss

Havisham‟s burning in the fire, Orlick‟s attempt to murder Pip, and Pip‟s attempt to help

Magwitch escape London.

PRO TAG O NIS T · Pip

ANTAG O NIS T · Great Expectations does not contain a traditional single antagonist. Various

characters serve as figures against whom Pip must struggle at various times: Magwitch, Mrs. Joe,

Miss Havisham, Estella, Orlick, Bentley Drummle, and Compeyson. With the exception of the

last three, each of the novel‟s antagonists is redeemed before the end of the book.

S ETTING ( TIM E) · Mid-nineteenth century

S ETTING S ( PLAC E) · Kent and London, England

PO INT O F VI EW · First person

FALL ING ACTIO N · The period following Magwitch‟s capture in Chapter 54, including

Magwitch‟s death, Pip‟s reconciliation with Joe, and Pip‟s reunion with Estella eleven years later
TENS E · Past

FO RES H ADO WING · Great Expectations contains a great deal of foreshadowing. The

repeated references to the convict foreshadow his return;

 the second convict on the marsh foreshadows the revelation of Magwitch‟s conflict with

Compeyson;

 the man in the pub who gives Pip money foreshadows the revelation that Pip‟s fortune

comes from Magwitch;

 Miss Havisham‟s wedding dress and her bizarre surroundings foreshadow the revelation

of her past and her relationship with Estella;

 Pip‟s feeling that Estella reminds him of someone he knows foreshadows his discovery of

the truth of her parentage;

 the fact that Jaggers is a criminal lawyer foreshadows his involvement in Magwitch‟s

life;

 the weather often foreshadows dramatic events: a storm brewing generally means there

will be trouble ahead, as on the night of Magwitch‟s return.

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