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 marsh country of Kent, 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. Pip also has a powerful conscience, and he deeply wants to improve himself, both morally and socially. Read an in-depth analysis of Pip. Estella - Miss Havishams beautiful young ward, Estella is Pips unattainable dream throughout the novel. He loves her passionately, but, though she sometimes seems to consider him a friend, she is usually cold, cruel, and uninterested in him. As they grow up together, she repeatedly warns him that she has no heart. Read an in-depth analysis of Estella. Miss Havisham - Miss Havisham is the wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pips village. She is manic and often seems insane, flitting around her house in a faded wedding dress, keeping a decaying feast on her table, and surrounding herself with clocks stopped at twenty minutes to nine. As a young woman, Miss Havisham was jilted by her fianc minutes before her wedding, and now she has a vendetta against all men. She deliberately raises Estella to be the tool of her revenge, training her beautiful ward to break mens hearts. Read an in-depth analysis of Miss Havisham. Abel Magwitch (The Convict) - A fearsome criminal, Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. Pips kindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himself to making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. Behind the scenes, he becomes Pips secret benefactor, funding Pips education and opulent lifestyle in London through the lawyer Jaggers. Joe Gargery - Pips brother-in-law, the village blacksmith, Joe stays with his overbearing, abusive wife known as Mrs. Joesolely out of love for Pip. Joes quiet goodness makes him one of the few completely sympathetic characters in Great Expectations. Although he is uneducated and unrefined, he consistently acts for the benefit of those he loves and suffers in silence when Pip treats him coldly. Jaggers - The powerful, foreboding lawyer hired by Magwitch to supervise Pips 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 mech-anism to keep the criminal taint from corrupting him. 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 Pips best friend and key companion after Pips elevation to the status of gentleman. Herbert nicknames Pip Handel. He is the son of Matthew Pocket, Miss Havishams cousin, and hopes to become a merchant so that he can afford to marry Clara Barley. Wemmick - Jaggerss clerk and Pips 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. Biddy - A simple, kindhearted country girl, Biddy first befriends Pip when they attend school together. After Mrs. Joe is attacked and becomes an invalid, Biddy moves into Pips home to care for her. Throughout most of the novel, Biddy represents the opposite of Estella; she is plain, kind, moral, and of Pips own social class. Mr. Wopsle - The church clerk in Pips country town; Mr. Wopsles aunt is the local schoolteacher. Sometime after Pip becomes a gentleman, Mr. Wopsle moves to London and becomes an actor.

CHAPTER 1
As an infant, Philip Pirrip was unable to pronounce either his first name or his last; doing his best, he called himself Pip, and the name stuck. Now Pip, a young boy, is an orphan living in his sisters house in the marsh country in southeast England. One evening, Pip sits in the isolated village churchyard, staring at his parents tombstones. Suddenly, a horrific man, growling, dressed in rags, and with his leg in chains,

springs out from behind the gravestones and seizes Pip. This escaped convict questions Pip harshly and demands that Pip bring him food and a file with which he can saw away his leg irons. CHAPTER 8 Over breakfast the next morning, Pumblechook sternly grills Pip on multiplication problems. At ten, he is taken to Miss Havishams manor, Satis House. The gate is locked, and a small, very beautiful girl comes to open it. She is rude to Pumblechook and sends him away when she takes Pip inside. She leads him through the ornate, dark mansion to Miss Havishams candlelit room, where the skeletal old woman waits by her mirror, wearing a faded wedding dress, surrounded by clocks stopped at twenty minutes to nine. The girl leaves, and Miss Havisham orders Pip to play. He tells her earnestly that he is too affected by the newness and grandeur of the house to play. Miss Havisham forces him to call for the girl, whose name is Estella. Estella returns, and Miss Havisham orders her to play cards with Pip. Estella is cold and insulting, criticizing Pips low social class and his unrefined manners. Miss Havisham is morbidly delighted to see that Pip is nonetheless taken with the girl. Pip cries when he leaves Satis House. CHAPTER 17 Biddy moves in to help nurse Mrs. Joe. Pip visits Satis House again and notices how bleak it is without Estella. He walks with Biddy on Sunday and confides to her his dissatisfaction with his place in life. Although he seems to be attracted to Biddy, he tells her the secret of his love for Estella. When Biddy advises him to stay away from Estella, Pip is angry with her, but he still becomes very jealous when Orlick begins trying to flirt with her.

Summary: Chapter 18 At the pub one evening, Pip sits in a crowd listening to Wopsle read the story of a murder trial from a newspaper. A stranger begins questioning Wopsle about the legal details of the case. Pip recognizes him as the large, dark man he met on the stairs at Miss Havishams (in Chapter 11). The stranger introduces himself as the lawyer Jaggers, and he goes home with Pip and Joe. Here, he explains that Pip will soon inherit a large fortune. His education as a gentleman will begin immediately. Pip will move to London and become a gentleman, he says, but the person who is giving him the fortune wishes to remain secret: Pip can never know the name of his benefactor. Pips fondest wish has been realized, and he assumes that his benefactor must be Miss Havishamafter all, he first met Jaggers at her house, and his takes Pip to London, where the country boy is amazed and displeased by the stench and the thronging crowds in such areas as Smithfield. Jaggers seems to be an important and powerful man: hordes of people wait outside his office, muttering his name among themselves. Pip meets Jaggerss cynical, wry clerk, Wemmick. Chapter 20 Pip arrives at Jaggers' office, located in a rundown business area of London. The lawyer is not there, so Pip waits in his office, a dark, dismal, airless room accented with odd things like an old rusty pistol, a sword in a scabbard, and two casts of swollen faces. Jaggers chair reminds Pip of a coffin. Unable to take the oppressiveness, Pip walks around the area, passing through the filth, fat, and foam of the Smithfield markets. He walks near Newgate Prison where a drunk minister of justice shows him the gallows, and into Bartholomew Close where many people are anxiously waiting for Jaggers. They hope to hire him or hear news of relatives' cases. Jaggers arrives and is condescending to all of them, dealing only with those who have paid their bills. Speaking to witnesses in his office he is careful not to hear, do, or say anything illegal, staying just within the law in all his dealings. Pip learns from Jaggers that he will be staying at Barnard Inn with Mr. Pocket's son until Monday, when they will go to Mr. Pocket's house. Pip is given an allowance and Jaggers tells him frankly that he will track Pip's spending to know when Pip is running up debts. He fully expects Pip will do this. His clerk, Wemmick, a dry man who wears many mourning rings from dead clients, takes him to Barnard Inn. Summary: Chapter 21 Wemmick introduces Pip to Herbert Pocket, the son of Pips tutor, with whom Pip will spend the night. Herbert and Pip take an immediate liking to one another; Herbert is cheerful and open, and Pip feels that his easy good nature is a contrast to his own awkward diffidence. Whereas Pips fortune has been made for him, Herbert is an impoverished gentleman who hopes to become a shipping merchant. They realize, surprised, that they have met before: Herbert is the pale young gentleman whom Pip fought in the garden at Satis House. SUMMARY

A six-year-old boy named Pip lives on the English marshes with his sister and his sisters husband, Joe. His sister is mean but his brother-in-law Joe is pretty much the best thing thats happened to Pip. One Christmas Eve, Pip meets a scary, escaped convict in a churchyard. Pip steals food from his bossy sister (Mrs. Joe Gargery) so that the convict wont starve (and also so that the convict wont rip his guts out). Soon after, Pip gets asked to play at Miss Havishams. Miss Havisham is a rich old lady who lives in a castle-mansion that is covered in vines, moss, and overgrown green things. Long ago she was jilted at the altar and since that very day, shes never taken her wedding dress off, nor has she changed a single thing about her castle. As you might expect, there are lots of bugs and things creeping around. Pip meets Estella, Miss Havishams adopted child. Estella is cold, snobby, and regal, but man is she pretty. She doesnt really talk to Pip, but Pip soon realizes that hes been asked to serve as Estellas playmate. Pip continues to go to Miss Havishams and continues to be snubbed by Estella. She grows on him. He develops a little crush. This crush turns into a big crush, and that big crush turns into full-blown, allconsuming L-O-V-E. We love what we cant have, and there is no way in h-e-double-hockey sticks that Pip, the orphan, can ever have a chance with Estella, the adopted child of the richest lady in town. When Pip is old enough (early teens), he begins an apprenticeship at his brother-in-law's smithy, thanks to Ms. Havishams financial support. He hates his new job, wanting more than anything to become a gentleman, mostly because he dreams of marrying Estella. Then, one day, Pip comes into fortune by means of a mysterious and undisclosed benefactor (youll never guess who it is!), says goodbye to his family, and says goodbye to Miss Havisham. He leaves for London to become a gentleman. This ends the first part of Pips expectations. London is pretty sweet at first, despite all of the grime. Mr. Jaggers, Pips caretaker, is one of the biggest and baddest lawyers in town. Criminals and their families hang out around Jaggers office just to be near his greatness. Pip also gets a new BFF named Herbert Pocket he is Miss Havishams cousins son. Herbert shows Pip around town and helps him learn how to be a gentleman, which is in short really hard. Pip's life in London is busy, full of dinner parties in castles with moats, encounters with strange housekeepers, trips to the theater, etc. He spends way too much money, so his debts just keep piling up. Occasionally, he takes a break from his London life and goes back home to visit Miss Havisham. He also returns home to attend his sisters funeral. Back at home, though, Pip is too ashamed of his brother-in-law Joe to want to hang out with him. Meanwhile, Estella is off touring the world and becoming a lady. Shes even more gorgeous than ever, and she moves to the London area so that she can be closer to eligible bachelors. On his 21st birthday, Jaggers gives Pip a 500-pound annual allowance (which would be a lot of money back then) and tells Pip that his benefactor will soon reveal himself. Pip decides to use this new money to help Herbert secure a job. Though he continues to long for Estella, she continues to deny Pip lovin. Then, one night on his 23rd birthday when its dark and stormy outside and Pip is thinking about Estella, a stranger arrives. This stranger is Pips benefactor. This stranger isthe CONVICT that Pip helped when he was only six years old! This ends the second part of Pips expectations. The convicts name is Abel Magwitch (but he goes by Provis in town). The courts had exiled him to New South Wales a long time ago under strict orders never, ever to return to England. Ruhroh. Pip doesnt feel so good about the whole benefactor thing anymore, and now hes harboring a convict. Double ruh-roh. After much hemming and hawing, Pip decides that he has to get Magwitch out of the country. They devise a plan to sneak onto a ship bound for Germany. Pip feels really uneasy all the time and his stomach is butterfly-city. He has the sneaky suspicion that hes being followed or watched. Just as they get ready to make their great escape, Estella goes and marries Pips nemesis and Pip is almost thrown into a limekiln by a hometown bully who claims to know about Magwitch. As you might have guessed, Pip and Magwitch's great escape isn't successful. They've been ratted out by Magwitchs nemesis, who is coincidentally, Miss Havishams ex-lover. Magwitch is thrown in jail, where he dies soon after being sentenced to the death penalty. Right before he dies, though, Pip tells Magwitch that Estella is his daughter. And that he's in love with Estella. Pip gets really sick, and Joe comes to the rescue. For a while, its like old times when Pip and Joe would hang out. As soon as Pip recovers, however, Joe leaves him in the middle of the night, having paid off all of Pips debts. A few days later, Pip returns home, intending to ask for Joes forgiveness and to propose marriage to his childhood friend, Biddy. Upon arriving home, however, he finds that Joe and Biddy have just married. He begs for their forgiveness at having been such a butthead, and then he moves to Cairo. Pip works in Cairo at Herberts shipping company for eleven years and eventually becomes a partner in the company. He sends money back to

Joe and Biddy. Eventually, Pip returns and meets Joe and Biddys son, Pip. Pip is totally enamored of baby Pip. What follows are two different endings: The original ending sees Pip hanging out in London one day a few years later with baby Pip. He runs into Estella, and he can see that time has changed her and that she has suffered much. He's heard that her husband was abusive, but that when he died, she married a poor doctor. In the rewritten ending, Pip visit Miss Havisham's house once more. There, he sees Estella walking the grounds. She is single, beautiful, and regretful of having thrown Pips love away. Pip knows that they will be together forevermore. The end.