Chapters 1-4
Main Plot Events
Ch 1
·                Pip is introduced—an orphan
·                Pip meets a scary but sympathetic convict at the cemetery
·                First of many coincidences
Ch 2
·                Joe Gargery and Mrs. Joe are introduced
·                Pip’s dilemma is clear
Ch 3
·                Pip takes a pork pie, brandy, and a file to the convict
·                Pip meets a second convict
·                The relationship between the first and second convicts is unclear
Ch 4
·                It’s Christmas eve—everyone’s preparing for a special dinner
·                The adults (except Joe) treat Pip as ungrateful (24)
·                Joe continues to look after Pip
·                The Savoury pork pie
                  Handcuffs

•Characterization
·                Pip--an orphan
·                The first convict

What does Dickens’s description of the first convict tell us about him? 

How does Dickens contrast the convict with Pip? 

Yet how are the two characters similar?   

Characterization
·                Joe
What is the nature of the relationship between Pip and Joe?

 

•      Mrs. Joe

·                Uncle Pumblechook
·                Mr. Wopsle
·                Mr. and Mrs. Hubble

 

Chapters 5-7

Main Plot Events

Ch5

–Pip witnesses the two convicts arguing; there is a hint of some details of their dispute.  What information do we have? (34-5)

–The first convict protects Pip before going onto the prision ship (38)

Ch 6

–Pip feels guilty for not telling Joe the truth.  Introduces theme of Courage vs. Cowardice

Ch 7

–Pip shows his effort to become educated.

–Joe reveals his family history (45) and relates this to his relationship with Mrs. Joe (48)

–The chapter ends with news of Pip’s invitation  from the mysterious Miss Havisham “to play.” (50)                 

 

Chapters 5-7

Character

•       The first convict

–     He protects Pip by lyn about how he got the pie and file.

•       Joe--marked by his simplicity and decency

–     Simplicity--uneducated

–     Decency

•     Forgives the convict (38)

•     Forgives his father—had a good heart (46)

•     Forgives Mrs. Joe (48)

•       Pip--struggles with cowardice (doesn’t tell Joe what happened, afraid Joe will judge him)

 

Chapters 5-7

Theme

•      Courage vs. Cowardice

•      Pip’s intelligence vs. Joe’s goodness

 

 

Discussion Questions/

Comments

•      Is Joe a strong of weak character?  What do we make of him letting Mrs. Joe walk all over him and Pip?

 

•      What has more value--intelligence or honor?

 

 

Chapters 8-10

Main Plot Events

Ch. 8:  Pip Visits Miss Havisham

–Satis House is described and named (53).  The symbol of the rank garden(62a)

–Pip meets “the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall ever see”  What is her story?

–Pip is charmed by Estella and embarrassed by his commonness.

–Pip sees a strange vision in the window (62).

Ch 9:  Pip Returns After the Important Day

–Pip lies about what happened at Miss Havisham’s

–Joe reprimands Pip:  Lying will not make you uncommon.

–Pip realizes the importance of the day.

Ch 10:  Education and the Stranger

–Pip tries to become educated to become uncommon.  The educational setting is described (72).  Biddy helps.

–There is an unwanted connection from the convict

 

 

Chapters 8-10

Character

       Miss Havisham

                  What do we know of her story?

–     the description of her room, the dress, the clocks

–     Her heart (57)

–     Her comment to Estella (58)             

       Estella

                  Pretty and proud

       Pip

                  feels common (59)

                  sensitivity; he cries (61)

       Joe

                  reprimands Pip:  (69-70)

       The Convict

                  makes  a connection with Pip through the stranger--gives Pip money

 

 

Imagery/Motifs

 

Prisons

Gardens/Vegetation

 

Chapters 8-10

Discussion Questions/Comments

“If you can’t get to be oncommon through going straight, you’ll never get to do it through going crooked.  So don’t tell no more on’ em, Pip, and live well and die happy.”  True?  Does lying fail?  Is it on the path

 

What has caused Pip’s change in the way he sees himself?  Have you been concerned about the way others see you?

 

“This was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me.  But it is the same with any life.  Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been.  Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day” (70)

 

Can you think of such a day?

 

 

Chapters 11-13

Main Plot Events

Ch. 11

•We meet some of Miss Havisham’s toady (sychophant) cousins.

•Miss Havisham’s room, birthday cake is described

•Pip meets a burly man smelling of soap on the stairs (81).

•Pip beats up the pale young gentleman (88).

Ch 12

•Miss Hav murmurs to Estella:  “Break their hearts, my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy” (94)

•Pip confides in Biddy (95).

•Pip is to be apprenticed as a blacksmith.

Ch 13

•Miss Hav meets with Joe (and Pip) to pay the premium for Pip’s indenture/apprenticeship as a blacksmith.

•Pip, smitten by Estella, no longer desires to be a blacksmith (105).

 

 

Chapters 11-13

Character Development

Pip

•        Feels shameful of Joe and blacksmithing

Miss Havisham

•        Suffers the sychophants

•        Encourages Estella to break Pip’s heart

Estella

•        Lets Pip kiss her.  (What’s behind this?)

The toady cousins

•        Paying their dues to a rich relative

The pale young gentleman

•        Pathetic optimist

 

 

Chapters 11-13

Comments/Discussion Questions

 

How do you respond to Pip’s new found shame for blacksmithing?  What advice would you give him?

 

 

 

Chapters 14-17

Main Plot Events

Ch. 14

•Pip’s shame of home continues

•Joe’s virtue (logical intelligence)

Ch 15

•Pip attempts to educate Joe.

•Dolge Orlick is introduced and described.

•Joe shows his physical strength in his fight with Orlick.

•Pip’s visit to Miss Hav contains in disappointment.

•Cliffhanger ending:  Mrs. Joe is beaten in the back of the head.

Ch 16

•Mrs. Joe is transformed.

•Biddy moves in.

Ch. 17

•Pip makes yearly visits to Miss Havisham.

•Biddy’s character is revealed; she offers common sense to Pip.

•Pip knows Estella makes him miserable but he can’t help it.

 

 

 

Chapters 14-17

Character Development

Pip

•        Struggle of the heart vs. the head

Joe

•        Compassion (for Pip, his father, Mrs. Joe, the convict)

•        Honor--lying is never justified

•        Common sense (intelligence)--advice to Pip

•        Physical strength--fight with Orlick

Orlick

•        Sloucher

•        Dark, mysterious brooder

Mrs. Joe

•        Will never rampage again

•        Sympathy?

Biddy

•        Common sense (129), decency, intelligence  (Why doesn’t Pip want her?)

 

 

 

Chapters 14-17

Comments/Discussion Questions

•        “It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” (106).

 

•        Joe and Biddy’s goodness.  Why does Pip want more than to be surrounded by these people?  How do you explain his blindness?

 

•        Respond to your feelings about Mrs. Joe’s misfortune?  Should we laugh?

 

•        How can we explain Pip’s struggle over his feelings for Estella and for Biddy?  What advice would you give him?

 

•        Can you recall a time when you wanted something that you knew really wasn’t the best thing for you?

 

 

Chapters 18-19

18

•            Jaggers is introduced as a shrewd, methodical (and annoying) mind

•            Jaggers tells Pip that he has “great expectations.”  There are two conditions.

1.     He must be called “Pip”

2.     He may not ask who his benefactor is.

•            Joe rejects any compensation for losing Pip.

•            There is some awkwardness now among Biddy and Joe.

 

Chapters 18-19

19

•            Pip goes to the marshes and remembers the convict:  he is dead to Pip now.

•            Pip argues with Biddy about Joe’s education.

•            Mr. Trabb and Pumblechook fall all over the newly rich Pip.

•            Miss Havisham is aware of Pip’s news.

•            Pip leaves home.

 

Characters

•       Jaggers

•       Pip

•       Joe

•       Miss Havisham

(and from the rest of Part 1)

•       The first convict

•       Estella

•       Biddy

•        Uncle Pumblechook

•        Dolge Orlick

•        Mrs. Joe

•        The second convict

 

End of Part 1

Themes

•      Guilt and Shame

•      What does it mean to be a gentleman?

–   Social class vs. virtue and honesty

–   (Pip’s movement vs. Joe’s stability)

•      Courage and Cowardice

 

 

Comments / Discussion Questions

 

Make your predictions from here.  Where do you suppose the story is going?

 

 

Chapters 20-22

 Main Plot Events

20

•            Pip arrives at Jaggers’s office, walks around the area while Jaggers is out.

•            He sees Jaggers at work, who is busy and bullies even his sandwich.

•            Pip is instructed to walk with Wemmick, the clerk, to his new lodging, Barnard’s Inn, where he will stay with meet young Mr. Pocket.

 

 

Chapters 20-22

 Main Plot Events

21

•              Wemmick is introduced; walks with Pip to Barnard’s Inn

•              Pip sees the first of his “great expectations,”  a fine place to live:  Barnard’s Inn.  Dingy.

•              Pip and Herbert Pocket recognize each other.

22

•              Herbert is presented as a genuinely amiable person, but unlikely ever to be successful or rich.

•              Pip learns more about Miss Havisham’s story (in addition to table manners).

•              Pip visits the crazy Pocket home, where the children are “tumbling up.”

 

 

Chapters 23-26

 Main Plot Events

Ch. 23:  An Evening at the Pockets

•             Some new characters are introduced

–          Mr. Matthew Pocket (the harried parent [the hair lift])

–          Mrs. Belinda Pocket (the duchess) 

•         (Dickens satirizes (1) parenting and (2) obsession with social status)

–          Flopsom and Millers

–          Bentley Drummle

–          Startop

–          Mrs. Coiler, the busybody neighbor

•             Rowing on the river

 

 

•        Chapters 23-26

Main Plot Events

Ch. 24:  Pip Decides to Stay with Herbert; He Learns More about Jaggers

•       Pip needs more money to be able to keep two lodgings; Jaggers complies (never laughs).

•       Wemmick describes portable property.

•       Wemmick to Pip:  Keep your eye on Jaggers’s housekeeper (“a wild beast tamed”).

•       Jaggers is seen practicing in the courtroom.

 

 

 

Chapters 23-26

Main Plot Events

Ch. 25:  Pip Describes Drummle, Startop and Camilla; He Visits the Castle of Wemmick (Walworth)

 

•       Drummle:  sulky, arrogant, idle, proud, niggardly, suspicious; sluggish complexion

•       Startop:  effeminate, delicate, Mama’s boy

•       Camilla, Mr. Pocket’s sister:  contemptuous of Pip

•       Pip is visits Wemmick’s “castle” and “the Aged.”

•       Wemmick’s personal and professional lives are kept separate. Jaggers has never been to his home (207).

 

Chapters 23-26

Main Plot Events

Ch. 26:  Pip Dines with Jaggers, Sees the Housekeeper (Molly), Argues with Friends

 

•       Herbert, Drummle, and Startop join Pip for dinner.

•       Jaggers washes his hands.  (To be cleansed of whom?)

•       Jaggers shows an interest in Drummle.

•       Molly is described (Macbeth allusion (212); her wrists, hands (214))

•       News that Drummle leaves the Pockets a month later.

 

Chapters 23-26

New Characters: 

•      Matthew Pocket

•      Mrs. Pocket

•      Flopsom and Millers

•      Bentley Drummle

•      Startop

•      Camilla Pocket, Matthew’s cousin

•      “the Aged,” Wemmick’s father

•      Molly, Jaggers’s housekeeper

 

Character

 

Pay attention to the roles that minor characters have as foils for major characters.

–     Wemmick and Pip

–     Herbert Pocket and Pip

 

       Or the relationships between major characters:

–     Biddy and Estella

–     The Aged and Mrs. Joe

–     Miss Havisham and…

 

 

 

Chapters 27-30:  Main Plot Events

Ch 27

•              Pip is embarrassed by Joe’s arrival.

–          “So throughout life our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.” (218)

 

•              Pip has a servant (218), the Avenging Phantom (“Pepper”)

 

•              Joe reports that Miss Havisham wants Pip to visit as Estella is home at the moment.  Estella is still in the picture (223).

 

•              Joe leaves abruptly, knowing that he is out of place.  Pip recognizes Joe’s simple dignity (223,224)

 

 

Chapters 27-30:  Main Plot Events

Ch 28:  Pip travels home by coach to meet with Miss Havisham and see Estella

 

•              Pip comes up with excuses not to stay with Joe and Biddy, recognizes that he is a “self-swindler” (225)

 

•              Pip hears a conversation between two convicts, one of whom is the one from the Three Jolly Bargemen (228,229)

–           his  convict is a “lifer”

–           Confirms the readers and Pip’s suspicions that the one pound notes came from the first convict as gratitude.

 

•              Pip experiences a feeling of great dread and fear, recalling the first convict on the marsh.

 

•              At the Blue Boar, a local newspaper article announces Pumblechook as Pip’s earliest patron and founder of his fortunes (230-231).

 

 

Chapters 27-30:  Main Plot Events

Ch 29

•              Pip’s shares his feelings for Estella (232) and remarks on her inaccessibility (235)

 

•              Estella shares with Pip the truth about her heart (236)

 

•              Miss Havisham tells Pip to love Estella, but to Pip it sounds like a curse (240); a moment later she defines “real love.”

 

•               Jaggers gives choices:  Ten thousand times?  Twice? (241)

 

•               Jaggers and Estella have a strange interaction at dinner:  she looks over at him with interest, he appears to deliberately ignore her(242).

 

•               There is news that Estella will be moving to London shortly and that Pip should meet her coach

 

•               Pip lies in bed at night (244),

–           thinking of Estella and wondering when she would fall for him

–           Not once thinking of his insensitivity in staying away from Joe all the time.

 

Chapters 27-30:  Main Plot Events

Ch 30

•              Pip

–           tells Jaggers about Orlick, and Jaggers agrees to get rid of him, thus making Pip nervous.

–          is teased by Trabb’s boy on his way back to London.

–          back in London, sends an apology gift to Joe:  codfish and oysters

–          confesses his love of Estella  to Herbert, who already knows the obvious.

 

•              Herbert asks Pip if he can let go of Estella, since she may not be a part of the plan; Pip says, no, impossible.

 

•              Herbert announces his engagement to a woman named Clara.

 

•              The two friends decide to see Wopsle performing in Hamlet in London.

 

Chapters 27-30

Discussion Questions/Comments

•              “All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers.”

 

•              How is the reader to respond to Pip’s treatment of Joe in these chapters?  Is Joe’s humility/goodness character driven or author manipulated?

 

•              Compare your definition of love with Miss Havisham’s: 

“It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter--as I did.”

Is there something to this?

 

•              How do you explain Estella’s inability to love?  What future do you predict for Pip and Estella?

 

 

Chapters 31-35:  Main Plot Events

Ch 31

•              Mr. Wopsle (Waldengarver) plays Hamlet.

Ch 32

•              Pip waits for Estella

•              Wemmick

–          Doesn’t talk about his father at work (261)

–          Shows Pip Newgate (the prison)

–          A gardner walking among plants (262)

Ch 33

•              Pip takes Estella to Richmond, using the money designated for the trip.  “We are not free to follow our own devices, you and I (266)  To what extent is this true?

•              She tells him about Miss Havisham’s flatterers.

•             Pip is never happy with Estella--always miserable (272)

 

 

Chapters 31-35:  Main Plot Events

Ch 34

•             Pip expresses regret for having ever met Miss Havisham and rejecting his life at the forge (273)

•              Pip and Herbert have a club called the Finches of the Grove…and debts.

•              Pip receives news that his sister, Mrs. Joe, has died.

Ch 35

•              Pip wants revenge on Orlick.

•              There is a comical funeral run by Mr. Trabb.

•              Biddy leaves to help Mrs. Hubble.

•             Mrs. Joe’s last words, with her arms around Joe:  “Joe              Pardon   Pip” (284)  What is meant by these last words?

 

 

Chapters 36-39:  Main Plot Events

Ch 36:  Pip Comes of Age

•              Pip becomes twenty-one and gets 500 pounds a year, no questions asked.

 

•              Pip still doesn’t know who his benefactor is or when the person will be revealed.

–            Jaggers cannot answer or help.  Pip assumes this means he disapproves of some part of Miss Havisham’s plans, perhaps out of jealousy for Estella.

 

•              Pip wants to invest some money in a friend (Herbert)

–           Wemmick’s “deliberate opinion in this office” is that investing “portable property in a friend” (292) is a waste of money. (His “opinion at Walworth” would be different.)

 

•              Jaggers invites himself to Pip’s for dinner; Pip recognizes Jaggers’s melancholy affect on people.

 

Chapters 36-39:  Main Plot Events

Ch 37:  Pip Goes to Walworth, Makes Plans to Help Herbert

•             Pip eats Sunday dinner at Wemmick’s castle.

–          He gets to know the Aged and Miss Skiffins, Wemmick’s fiancé.

–          Wemmick’s love for his home and family seems genuine

•             Pip wants to be Herbert’s hidden benefactor.

–          Miss Skiffins has an accountant brother who can help.

–          Wemmick works things out:

•           a merchant named Clarriker will be Herbert’s nominal employer

•          Herbert is very excited about his good fortune

•          Pip is happy that his “expectations had done some good.”

 

Chapters 36-39:  Main Plot Events

Ch 38:  Estella at Mrs. Brandley’s; She Quarrels with Miss Havisham at Satis; Drummle is a Suitor

•              Pip, at the Brandleys’, again laments the misery his lover for Estella causes him.

–           “I never had one hour’s happiness in her society” (302)

 

•              At Satis House Pip sees that Estella “was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on men” (304)

–           Pip believes it’s Miss Havisham’s plan to have Estella torment many men before eventually being given to him.

 

•              Estella fights with Miss Havisham.: 

–           Hav:  You cold, cold heart!

–           Estella:  I am what you have made me…What would you have?

–           Hav:  Love…  (to Pip)  Did I never give her love!… (to Estella) Would it be a weakness to return my love? (305,6)

 

•              Pip sees a strange ghostly vision of Miss Havisham, hears her “low cry” (308)

 

•              Pip learns that Bentley Drummle is one of Estella’s suitors.

•              Estella “traps all of them but (Pip)” (312)

 

Chapters 36-39:  Main Plot Events

Ch 39:  Pip (now twenty-three) has Moved to the Temple; Magwitch (Pip’s convict) returns

•                Pip’s convict returns to reveal himself to Pip as his benefactor.

–             “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip!  And I have never forgot it!” (317)

–             “Yes, Pip, dear boy, I’ve made a gentleman on you!  It’s me wot has done it!”  (320)

–             “I’m your second father” (321)

•                Magwitch has made a fortune in Australia, has returned to England illegally (under the death penalty) and must stay hidden or disguised.

 

•                Pip resents the news because

1.            he has lost Estella, whom he thought was part of the expectations;

2.            It ruins his own expectations of being nobly connected;

3.            He knows he can no longer go back to Joe and Biddy, since he is humiliated.

 

 

Chapters 36-39: Comments/ Discussion Questions

•                Compare Miss Havisham and Magwitch.  How are they alike?  Different?

–             How is Pip now similar to these two?

 

•                Make a list of the parents in the novel so far.  Similarities?  Differences?

 

•                Compare Wemmick’s castle and  Satis House.  The Aged and Miss Havisham.

 

•                What is the meaning of Estella’s daylight metaphor on page 307.

 

 

Chapters 36-39: Comments/ Discussion Questions

•                Now we can look at Magwitch and Havisham, and their creations, Pip and Estella.  What similarities and/ differences are there?

 

•                Wemmick’s castle vs. Satis House

 

•                What do you think about secret benefactors?  Is this plan of Pip’s to help Herbert at its heart disrespectful?

 

•                The meaning of Estella’s daylight metaphor on page 307.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love

 

 

 

Chapters 40-42 Main Plot Events

Ch 40

•                A suspicious coincidence:

1.            There was another man on the stairs that night, a lurker who flees without explaining to Pip his presence.

2.            Pip learns about a man who accompanied Magwitch when he came to the apartment buildings

 

•                Pip cannot see  (Provis) Magwitch’s goodness but rather is repulsed by his criminal past.  “I could not bring myself to bear the sight of him” (328).  “…repelled from him by an insurmountable aversion” (329)

 

•                Pip secures an apartment and clothes for Provis.

 

•                Magwitch shows his humble excitement at the gentleman he made of Pip.  “All I’ve got ain’t mine; it’s yourn” (331).

 

•                Jaggers understands that Magwitch is in London but refuses, according to the law, to acknowledge it.

 

•                Herbert returns from France and meets Magwitch in the final scene.

 

 

Chapters 40-42 Main Plot Events

Ch 41

•                Pip decides not to take any more money from Magwitch, seeing the support as a stain.  “Think of him!  Look at him!” (341)

1.            BUT Pip cannot forsake Magwitch’s help for fear that Magwitch will get violent if his dream of making Pip a gentleman is shattered

2.            ALSO, Pip doesn’t want Magwitch to get caught by police and thus put to death

 

•                Pip’s dilemma:  How to rid himself of Magwitch without getting him (1) angry or (2) caught by the police.

–             Herbert recommends they try to get Magwitch out of the country, planning some story to tell him about his being in danger of being found out.

 

•                Pip and Herbert resolve to ask Magwitch about the second convict the next morning, which they do.

 

Chapters 40-42 Main Plot Events

Ch 42

•              Magwitch tells Pip and Herbert his story.

–           “In jail and out of jail, in jail and out of jail, in jail and out of jail.  There, you’ve got it.  That’s my life pretty much” (345)

 

–           The second convict is named Compeyson, a smooth-talking swindler and forger who uses Magwitch and then gets a lighter sentence at their trial (seven years to fourteen years).

•          After the trial, they were on the same prison ship, the scene of Pip’s first encounter with Magwitch; Magwitch got life for his attempted escape.

 

–           Compeyson, some years before, cooked up a swindle with Arthur to rob a rich lady.

 

•          Arthur goes crazy imagining this lady in white, as a fantom, coming after him; dies of fright (348-9).

 

•          Herbert puts it together:  Miss Havisham’s brother’s name was Arthur, and thus Compeyson is the one who jilted Miss Havisham.

 

–           Magwitch briefly mentions he had a wife (349).

 

Chapters 40-42 Discussion Questions

•                     “You mean that you can’t accept--”

                  “How can I?…Think of him!  Look at him!”

–          How is this statement by Pip ironic?  What do you make of Pip’s revulsion of Magwitch?

 

•              “Herbert received me with open arms, and I had never felt before so blessedly what it is to have a friend” (340). 

–          Can you relate to the feelings of friendship Pip expresses for Herbert?

 

•              Is Magwitch exploiting Pip the same way that Miss Havisham is exploiting Estella?  How are their goals similar?  Different?   What about Pip’s plan for Herbert?

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 43

•              Pip is certain that if Compeyson knows that Magwitch has returned, he will be sure to inform the police, in order to be rid of Magitch’s threat.

 

•              Pip resolves to tell Estella about the connection with Compeyson and Miss Havisham..

–          When he learns at Richmond that Estella has gone home to Satis House without Pip’s company, he heads home to the country.

 

•              Pip sees Drummle in town and comically spars with him over Estella’s affection.

–          “As he pretended not to see me, I pretended not to see him” (354).

–          “Here Mr. Drummle looked at his boots and I looked at mine, and then  Mr. Drummle looked at my boots and I looked at his” (355).

 

•              Drummle announces his plan to dine with Estella that evening at Satis House.

 

•              Outside the inn, Drummle gets some help from a man who slouches like Orlick.

 

•              Pip heads to Satis House, which he wishes he’d never entered, never seen.

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 44

•             Pip, in Miss Havisham’s room, also feels jilted (by both Estella and Miss Havisham).

–          “With all that ruin at my feet and about me, it seemed a natural place for me, that day” (359).

–          “I am as unhappy as you can ever have meant me to be” (359).

 

•             Pip announces that he has found out who his patron is, but he cannot mention his name.

•             Miss Havisham confesses that she led Pip on about being his benefactor.

–          “Who am I, for God’s sake, that I should be kind” (360).

 

•             Pip defends his friends, Matthew and Herbert, as being decent and not interested in her money.

–          Pip asks Miss Havisham to take up Herbert’s patronage at Clarriker’s.

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 44, continued

•              Pip openly confesses his love to Estella, who is “unmoved.”

–           Estella:  “You address nothing in my breast, you touch nothing there…It is in the nature formed within me” (363).

 

–           “You cannot love him, Estella.”

         “What have I told you?” (363)

 

•              Pip learns that Estella plans to marry Drummle and he fervently discourages her.

–           “Such a mean brute, such a stupid brute! (364)

 

–           Pip:  “God bless you, God forgive you” (365)  (Reread this handsome passage on pgs. 364-365)

 

–           Estella’s mind is made up; that’s the end of that.

 

–           Miss Havisham looks on, with her hand on her heart, with “pity and remorse” (365)  What does this suggest?

 

•              Upon returning home, at the gate, Pip receives a note in Wemmick’s handwriting:  DON’T GO HOME.”

 

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 45

•             Pip stays in a small inn, spends the night preoccupied with “DON’T GO HOME.”

–            “What a doleful night!  How anxious, how dismal, how long!” (367)

•             Pip speaks to Wemmick--at Walworth--who carefully (370) infers that Magwitch is being watched.

–          “…had been watched and might be watched again” (370)

–          Pip toasts the Aged’s sausage.

•             Pip gets the gist that it’s Compeyson who is the one watching.

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 45, continued

•               Wemmick has gotten Herbert to move Magwitch (“Tom, Jack or Richard”) to a safe place, the home of Herbert’s girlfriend, Clara.

–            Three good reasons for this Magwitch’s new hiding place:

1.         It’s out of the way.

2.         You can find out about Magwitch through Herbert.

3.         He’s near the water, easier for an escape by boat.

–            Advice to Pip:

•            “Don’t break cover too soon.  Lie close” (372)

•            “Don’t let anything happen to the portable property” (373)

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 46

•             At the home of Herbert Pocket’s girlfriend, Clara Barley, new characters are introduced:

–          Clara Barley, “pretty, slight dark-eyed girl of twenty (377)

•          “has no mother of her own” (377)

•          “a most charming girl…a captive fairy” (377)

–          Old Barley, Clara’s father, a bedridden, drunken former seaman, known for his “alarming growl” and pounding of the floor

–          Mrs. Whimple, housewife and mother-figure for Clara

 

 

Chapters 43-46 Main Plot Events

Ch 46, continued

•              Pip sees that Magwitch “was softened--indefinably, for I could not have said how, and could never afterwards recall how when I tried; but certainly” (379)

 

•              Pip tells Magwitch that his presence in England is known, that they must act to get him out of the country, with Pip accompanying him or following along closely.

 

•              When the time is right, they will take him to a larger ship by their own rowing

–           Pip and Herbert will row regularly, and Magwitch will signal when he sees them.

 

•              Magwitch’s new name:  Mr. Campbell

 

•              Pip:  “I was always full of fears for the rash man who was in hiding” (382)

 

 

Chapters 43-46

Invalid, insane parents again:

•            Havisham--Estella

•            The Aged--Wemmick

•           Old Barley--Clara

How have these people responded differently to their hardships?  How have the children responded?

 

 

 

 

Character Names

•              Pip

•              Estella

•              Havisham

•              Magwitch

•              Jaggers

•              Herbert Pocket

•              Clara Barley

•              Wemmick

•              Miss Skiffins

•              Joe

•              Biddy

•              Pumblechook

•              Wopsle

•              Trabb

 

Character Names

•              Pip-- a little thing, a pipsqueak

•              Estella

•              Havisham

•              Magwitch

•              Jaggers

•              Herbert Pocket

•              Clara Barley

•              Wemmick

•              Miss Skiffins

•              Joe

•              Biddy

•              Pumblechook

•              Wopsle

•              Trabb

 

Character Names

•              Pip-- a little thing, a pipsqueak

•              Estella--a star

•              Havisham

•              Magwitch

•              Jaggers

•              Herbert Pocket

•              Clara Barley

•              Wemmick

•              Miss Skiffins

•              Joe

•              Biddy

•              Pumblechook

•              Wopsle

•              Trabb

 

Character Names

•              Pip-- a little thing, a pipsqueak

•              Estella--a star

•              Havisham--her life is a sham, a lie

•              Magwitch

•              Jaggers

•              Herbert Pocket

•              Clara Barley

•              Wemmick

•              Miss Skiffins

•              Joe

•              Biddy

•              Pumblechook

•              Wopsle

•              Trabb

 

 

Chapters 47-50 Main Plot Events

Ch 47

•              Pip is in debt now, refusing to use his patron’s money.

–          Feels proud that he has not taken more of Magwitch’s money (383)  What do you make of this?

•              Pip is in a state of dread, “condemned to inaction and a state of constant restlessness and suspense” (384)

–          “It was an unhappy life that I lived” (383).

•              Pip goes to see Wopsle in a terrible peformance and finds out that Compeyson was sitting right behind him in the theater.

–           “Then, Mr. Pip, one of those two prisoners sat behind you tonight.  I saw him over your shoulder...The one who had been mauled” (388)

•              Pip resolves to get a hint from Wemmick about when they can begin their plan to get Magwitch out  of the country.

 

Chapters 47-50 Main Plot Events

Ch 48

•             Pip meets Jaggers by accident and has dinner with him and Wemmick.

–          Pip bests Jaggers in wordplay.

–          Wemmick displays his work-self  (391).

•          “the wrong twin  (394)

 

•             Pip learns that Miss Havisham wants to see him as soon as possible.

 

•             News that Drummle and Estella have married

–          There are two ways the marriage may go:  “A fellow like our friend the Spider either beats or cringes” (392)

 

•             Pip connects Molly to Estella.

–          “I had seen exactly such eyes and such hands…And I felt absolutely certain that this woman was Estella’s mother” (393).  Read this in class.

–          Pip hears Molly’s story from Wemmick

•          “Said to have been a girl” (394)

 

 

Chapters 47-50 Main Plot Events

Ch 49:  “What have I done!” 

•              Miss Havisham agrees to continue Pip’s support for Herbert.

•              Miss Havisham expresses remorse about Estella…

–          “What have I done!  What have I done!” (401) Read

–          “I stole her heart away and put ice in its place” (401)

–          “When she first came, I meant to save her from misery like mine” (405)

•              …and asks Pip for forgiveness.

–          “Take the pencil and write under my name, ‘I forgive her” (405)

•              A fire consumes Miss Havisham; Pip saves her and is injured himself (403,4).  Reread this passage.

–          Pip had just recalled the earlier vision of Miss Havisham hanging in the window just as he sees the fire.

 

 

Chapters 47-50 Main Plot Events

Ch 50:  Another Revelation!

•             Herbert gently nurses Pip, who has received burns on hand and arm.

 

•             Magwitch is Estella’s father.

–          Herbert tells Pip Magwitch’s story about his wife; Pip recognizes Molly’s story and puts it together.

•         “And the man we have in hiding down the river is Estella’s father” (410)

–         Magwitch doesn’t know that his daughter is still alive.

•         His wife threatened to “destroy” her.

 

–         What significance does this information have on the relationships of the characters and on the characters themselves?

 

 

Chapters 47-50 Main Points

•             Redemption and Forgiveness

–          Miss Havisham and Pip

–          Have other characters asked for forgiveness? Which characters still need to be forgiven?

–          How are her final words similar to Mrs. Joe’s (“Joe, Pardon, Pip”)

 

•             What is the symbolism of the fire consuming Miss Havisham?

 

•             What is the significance of Molly and Magwitch being Estella’s parents?

–          Estella’s origins

–          Pip and Estella’s relationship

 

•             Jaggers makes his reputation from at Molly’s trial.

–         Fingernails vs. brambles.

 

Chapters 51-53 Main Plot Events

Ch 51

•              Pip shares with Jaggers (and Wemmick) what he knows about Estella to confirm his story.

–           The casts are watching, as always.

 

•              Pip comments that he has refused financial help from Miss Havisham (and also Magwitch); he is becoming independent.

 

•              Jaggers did not know that Magwitch is the father.

–           “Even Mr. Jaggers started when I said those words” (413)

 

•              Jaggers tells the story of finding Estella a home, revealing his gentle, sympathetic side…

–           Wanted to save the little girl from getting trapped in the cycle of crime

–           Takes Molly in to keep down her “old wild violent nature” (416)

•              And cautions Pip to keep the secret (Who would benefit?)

 

•              Jaggers and Wemmick return to business as usual.

–           They are both weakened by exposures about them; the chapter ends with each of them yelling at a client to re-establish their normal positions in Little Britain.

 

 

Chapters 51-53 Main Plot Events

Ch 52

•              Pip learns that Clarriker is planning to send Herbert to a new office opening up in Egypt.

–           On supporting Herbert:  “It was the only good thing I had done, and the only completed thing I had done, since I was first apprised of my great expectations” (419)

 

•              Wemmick:  Wednesday is the day; there’s a steamer heading for Hamburg.  Startop will be the second oarsman.

 

•              Pip gets another strange letter--information about Provis.  He should come alone to the old marshes (where he first met Magwitch).

 

•              Pip, back home, now Monday night, checks on Miss Havisham; compares Pumblechook with Joe (423) (“The falser he, the truer Joe.”)

–          “Yet Joe, dear Joe, you never tell of it…you never complain.”

 

 

Chapters 51-53 Main Plot Events

Ch 53

•              Pip makes it to the sluice-house at the marshes; no one is inside at first, and then, “Now…I’ve got you!” (426)

 

•              Orlick confronts Pip, who has a noose around his neck.  He plans to burn him in the kiln.

–          On his job with Havisham:  “You cost me that place” (428).

–          On his feelings for Biddy:  “How dared you come betwixt me and a young woman I liked?”

–          He confesses to attacking Mrs. Joe.

–          He  was the other stranger on the stairs the night Magwitch arrived.

 

•              Pip is saved by Herbert, Startop, and Trabb’s Boy.

–          Pip had hurriedly dropped the letter for Herbert to see.

 

•              Pip, with his saviors, returns to London that night, tired and aching.  And then it’s Wednesday!

 

Chapters 51-53 Main Points

•             Jaggers’s sympathetic side is revealed.

 

•             Pip compares Pumblechook and Joe.  We’re reminded of Pip’s unfinished business regarding Joe.

 

•             Orlick knows about Magwitch.  How?

 

•             The plot moves toward the climax of Magwitch’s escape.

 

 

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Plot Events

Ch 54

•              Pip and Magwitch face uncertainty.

–          Pip is ready.

•          “Where I might go, what I might do, or when I might return were questions utterly unknown to me” (438).

–          Magwitch is resigned to what will happen.

•          “He was the least anxious of any of us” (440).

•          He is merely pleased to be “alonger my dear boy” (441).

•          “We can no more see the bottom of the next few hours than” what is in my hand from the muddy river (441).

•              The rowers row into the night, stop to eat and sleep; there is news of a threat

–          While rowing they sense that they are being followed.

–          Suspicion from “the jack” (one who performs odd jobs) that the other boats “was what they wasn’t” (445,) meaning Customs; two men are seen by Pip.

–          “a feeling we were caged and threatened” (445)

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Plot Events

Ch 54, continued

•              They are intercepted; Magwitch fights with Compeyson; the steamers leave; hope is lost.

–          Reread from bottom page 447, “You have a returned transport there” to get the fury of the moment.

–          Compeyson is drowned.

 

•              Magwitch’s money is lost.  Since it was in Magwitch’s hands at the time he was apprehended, the money goes to the Crown.

 

•              Pip’s feelings for Magwitch are resolved, and he comforts his benefactor.

–          “For now my repugnance to him had all melted away…I only saw in him a much better man than I had been to Joe” (450)

–          “I’ve seen my boy, and he can be a gentleman without me” (450). 

–          Reread final paragraph on page 451

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Plot Events

Ch 55

•             Pip is alone again, a poor orphan

–          Loses money.  Since Magwitch was carrying the money, it goes to the state.

•          Pip has no legal claim to the money.  There was nothing in writing; he is not a relation.

•          (Compeyson was out for Magwitch’s money and Australian property.)

•          Wemmick:  “What I look at is the sacrifice of so much portable property…the portable property certainly could have been saved.  That’s the difference between the property and the owner, don’t you see?” (456)

–          Loses his London home.

•          “…I had no home anywhere” (455)

–          Loses Herbert to Egypt (the East) and to Clara.

•          Pip postpones a decision to join them and work.

–          Loses Wemmick.  “Halloa!  Here’s Miss Skiffins!  Let’s have a wedding.”

•          Wemmick takes his first day off in twelve years; invites Pip to take a walk with him.

•          (“altogether a Walworth sentiment” “not to be mentioned in Little Britain”  (459))

–          He is about to lose Magwitch.

–          (He has already lost Joe and Biddy, Estella, Jaggers, Miss Havisham)

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Plot Events

Ch 56

•             Magwitch waiting for trial (“a man who was tired out” (460))

–          (Compeyson’s death creates need for a new witness--an old prison guard from the ships.)

–          Injuries put Magwitch in the infirmary and give Pip more time with him.

•          “he wasted, and became slowly weaker and worse, day by day from the day when the prison door closed upon him” (460)

 

•             The trial

–          Magwitch is clearly guilty; accepts the death sentence along with thirty-two others.

–          “My Lord, I have received my sentence of death from the Almighty, but I bow to yours” (462)

–          Pip writes petitions to officials explaining Magwitch’s good effort and character.

 

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Plot Events

Ch 56, continued

•              Magwitch dies redeemed.

–           He hears others speak about his “desperate reputation” and appears “confident that I had seen some small redeeming touch in him” (461)

–           “You’ve never deserted me, dear boy” (464)

–           Pip loves him more since his misfortune than before.

–           His look is described as placid.

 

•              Last Words

–           Magwitch’s last spoken words:  “I don’t complain of none dear boy” (464)

–           The last words he hears:  “You had a child once, whom you loved and lost…She is living now.  She is a lady and very beautiful. And I love her!” (465)

–           Again, placid.

–           “O Lord, be merciful to him a sinner!” (465)

 

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Points/Discussion Questions

•              Magwitch’s attitude toward danger. 

–           “He had a notion of meeting danger half-way.  When it came upon him, he confronted it, but it must come before he troubled himself.”

–           “…and sometimes clapped me on the shoulder.  One would have supposed that it was I who was in danger, not he, and that he was reassuring me” (446)  (Gunard Hans)

What would account for such a disposition or attitude?

 

•              “I’ve seen my boy, and he can be a gentleman without me” (450).  How is this statement both not true and true?  (What does it mean to be a gentleman?)

 

•              What is the significance of Pip’s return to orphan-hood?  How does this make the novel symmetrical?  What else needs to happen?

 

•              Magwitch is redeemed and Pip expresses his love for him.  Does this satisfy the reader’s need for resolution?  Does it seem that the end of this subplot is too neatly crafted?

 

 

Chapters 54-56 Main Points/Discussion Questions, continued

•            Magwitch and Pip

–        “You’ve never deserted me, dear boy” (464)  How is the statement ironic and telling of the relationship between Pip and Magwitch?

 

•            Where to go from here?

–        Pip must return to the central relationships of the novel--his relationship with Joe, with himself, and with…

 

 

 

 

 

Chapters 57-59 Main Plot Events

Ch 57:  Renewal

•             Pip is ill and Joe nurses him back to health.

–          Spends some time in debtors’ prison.

–          Pip has guilt over Joe’s kindness:  “Look angry at me, Joe.  Strike me, Joe.  Tell me of my ingratitude.  Don’t be so good to me!” (468)

 

•             Joe and Pip renew their bond.

–          Joe is not interested in Pip’s London story:  “Then why go into subjects…which as betixt two sech must be for ever onnecessary?” (473)  What is Joe’s intention here?

–          “There was no change whatever in Joe.  Exactly what he had been in in my eyes then, he was in my eyes still; just as simply faithful, just as simply right” (472)

 

•             There is news of Orlick  (this subplot ends).

–          “Orlick’s in the country jail” (471)

 

•             Joe leaves, having paid off Pip’s debts.

–          “But Joe had paid it, and the receipt was in his name” (476).

 

•             Pip resolves to marry Biddy.

 

Chapters 57-59 Main Plot Events

Ch 58:  A Surprise and a New Direction

•             Coming into and going out of property--Pip is treated differently at the Blue Boar.

•             Joe and Biddy get married.

•             Pip asks for forgiveness.

•             Pip goes to Egypt.

 

Chapters 57-59 Main Plot Events

Ch 59:  Dual Conclusions

•             Joe and Biddy create Little Pip.

•             The debate over two endings

–          Pip meets Estella at Satis House

–          Pip meets Estella at Picadilly (in London)

 

 

Chapters 57-59 Main Points/Discussion Questions

Choose your ending.  Which do you prefer?  Which is more satisfying?

 

What is the significance of the illustrantion on the cover of your text, now that the book is finished? 

 

Final thoughts?