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Estella With Miss Havisham Again... Estella lives in the house of a woman named Mrs. Brandley, who was a friend of Miss Havisham's before her seclusion. Pip feels as if he haunts this house, for his spirit is always looking for Estella. Estella has many admirers these days, and though Pip goes to visit her in Richmond often, he still feels despair about the prospect that they'll ever be together. At Miss Havisham's request, Pip accompanies Estella back to Satis, and as at their last visit, Pip detects Miss Havisham's odd desire to see Estella make a wreck of him. What's different this time is that Estella confronts Miss Havisham and accuses the old woman of making her cruel and incapable of love. To every accusation Miss Havisham makes of Estella being "proud" or "hard," Estella responds by pushing the blame right back on her patroness, saying things like, "Who taught me to be hard?" Estella, defined like all people by her successes and failures, nonetheless feels like she's done nothing to really earn either: "'So,' said Estella, 'I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.'" Chapter 38, pg. 356 Pip is disturbed by all this, and he does not sleep at all during his first night at Satis. In the night, he hears Miss Havisham lurking about, moaning, making loops with a candle in her hand around her dreadful house. Topic Tracking: Love 9 More disturbing news on the topic of Estella hits Pip when, at a meeting of the Finches of the Grove, the dreadful Bentley Drummle announces that he has kept company with Estella. Pip throws a little fit and demands evidence, and the next day Drummle brings him a note in Estella's hand that says she's danced with Drummle several times. At a dance some time later, Pip confronts Estella and says she shouldn't hang around with such a despicable character as Bentley Drummle. Estella is irritated, though she says that while she "deceive[s] and entrap[s]" many men, including Drummle, this is not what she's doing to Pip. The chapter ends with a hint from Older Pip that something big is about to happen to in the story, that for young Pip, the roof is about to cave. RichmondThe suburb where Estella lives when she moves to London. |
A Stormy Night in the Temple... Pip is twenty-three now, and no longer under the tutelage of Mr. Pocket. He has no profession as of yet, and spends much of his time reading. He's reading one stormy night in the Temple, his and Herbert's new home, when there is a knock at the door. The visitor is a spooky-looking man, old but muscular, with long gray hair. Pip invites him in, and after the visitor says a few oblique and strange things, Pip has a flash of recognition--it's his convict. Things get far more spooky after the convict has a drink and breaks out into tears. He then makes the announcement that shocks Pip, the announcement that makes the roof cave, as Older Pip said it soon would. The convict confesses that he is Pip's benefactor, that he has toiled for years and sent all of his money to Pip, to make a gentleman of him. He has come to visit Pip under the penalty of death should he be discovered here by the authorities. This changes everything for Pip. No longer is he the darling of rich old Miss Havisham, but rather the project of a lowly criminal. Estella cannot be destined for him, and worst of all, he has been so condescending to Joe for so long, thinking that he's a gentleman when he's really only been supported by what seems like dirty money. Pip says: "I would not have gone back to Joe now, I would not have gone back to Biddy now, for any consideration: simply, I suppose, because my sense of my own worthless conduct to them was greater than every consideration. No wisdom on earth could have given me the comfort that I should have derived from their simplicity and fidelity; but I could never, never, never, undo what I had done." Chapter 39, pg. 376 Pip allows the convict to spend the night in Herbert's room, Herbert being away on business. The storms and the new knowledge keep Pip in a miserable state of despair and fear, so much so that he locks the convict in the room. Pip falls asleep in a chair, his great expectations seemingly crushed now for good. A Lurker on the Stairs... Pip awakes from his nap filled with anxiety about hiding the convict. In fact, these logistical details keep Pip from thinking too hard about his own situation, about the completely new spin his life has taken as a result of the convict's news. In the midst of his preparations, Pip bumps into what he thinks is a man on the dark stairs and runs off to get the night watchman, who says that the convict did indeed arrive with company. If this was the man on the stairs, however, he has disappeared into the stormy darkness. When questioned, the convict is vague about whether he did or did not come alone. At breakfast, the convict ravages his food and generally acts like a man who's lived in jail all his life. As Pip watches in horror, the convict, who says his name is Provis, or Magwitch, also says that he intends to stay with Pip for good. He'll disguise himself and do whatever is necessary to live out his days with the fine gentleman he's created with his hard-earned money. It's decided that Pip will, at least temporarily, pretend that Provis is his uncle. Topic Tracking: Identity 9 Pip leaves Provis with strict instructions to stay inside and goes out, first to find Provis a room at a boarding house and then to see Jaggers. The lawyer seems to sense Pip's news immediately, though he works very hard to keep it unspoken. Provis, because of his criminal record, is not supposed to enter England again (he can be hung for it), so Jaggers talks as if Magwitch is still in "New South Wales." The lawyer does make it clear, however, that Magwitch's story is true, that the convict really is Pip's benefactor. Pip orders new and dignified clothes for the convict, but the jailbird shines through these new feathers, and Pip is certain he'll be discovered. He's terrible, in many ways, for Pip to look at: " The imaginary student pursued by the misshapen creature he had impiously made, was not more wretched than I, pursued by the creature who had made me, and recoiling from him with a stronger repulsion, the more he admired me and the fonder he was of me." Chapter 40, pg. 392 Worse yet, Herbert is due to return from his business and after five days pass, he walks through the door. Pip introduces Provis as "a visitor," and Provis immediately produces his grimy pocket Bible, and demands that Herbert swear on it. Herbert alone can be told the full and true story. |
I Take Council With Herbert... Herbert is let in on Pip and the convict's secret, and the story astonishes him. The convict knows that he's "low," and tells Pip and Herbert not to worry, that he has no intentions of revealing himself as Pip's benefactor. Late in the night, Pip walks Provis back to his boarding house and returns to the Temple, to do some serious talking with his friend. Hebert is nothing but kind to Pip, though he is at first "too stunned to think" (396). Pip, finally facing his situation, realizes he is a young man, "...heavily in debt--very heavily for me, who [has] now no expectations--and I have been bred to no calling, and I am fit for nothing" (396). Furthermore, even if Pip could break free from Provis' money and live on his own, such a disappointment might infuriate the convict and no one wants to infuriate a convict, especially one like Provis, who's always got his jack-knife at the ready. Herbert and Pip decide that Provis must be smuggled out of England, and that Pip must follow. But for now, they need to learn a bit more about the convict, and it is resolved that they'll ask him some questions at breakfast. He Relates His Life and Adventures... The "short and handy" version of Provis' story, as he tells it to Pip and Herbert, is as follows: "In jail and out of jail. In jail and out of Jail. In jail and out of jail" (401). Magwitch has been a petty criminal all his life, employed in large part by a man named Compeyson. Magwitch hates Compeyson, whom he describes as a well-groomed forger and counterfitter with a heart of stone. Ultimately, the two criminals were tried for the same crime and Compeyson got a reduced sentence on account of his well-bred looks and manners. It was revenge for this injustice, Magwitch explains to Pip, that led him to beat up Compeyson many years back out on the marshes as Pip, Joe and the others sent out to search for the two escaped convicts watched. The convict continues ranting about Compeyson, telling a story that rings familiar: many years back Compeyson and a partner named Arthur were involved in a scheme to swindle a rich woman from her money. Afterwards, haunted by the spirit of this woman, "all in white," Arthur actually died of fright. As he's listening to the story, Herbert scribbles a note on the cover of a book, which he passes over to Pip. It says what any listener might conclude in this small world where no one is who they seem to be: "Young Havisham's name was Arthur. Compeyson is the man who professed to be Miss Havisham's lover" I Start On an Expedition... Pip resolves to visit both Estella and Miss Havisham, in case he must suddenly leave the country with Magwitch. When he goes to Richmond to see Estella, he's surprised to find that she has left for Miss Havisham's, a trip that she normally makes with Pip. His confusion turns quickly to anxiety when, upon his arrival at the marshes, he spots Bentley Drummle lurking around the Blue Boar. Drummle isn't from the marshes, and his only connection to the place, Pip realizes with dread, is Estella. The two young men ignore each other until it would be ridiculous to continue, and then fall into a spitty little conversation in front of the hotel fireplace. Drummle is insolent as always, and makes several haughty mentions of a particular "lady" to goad Pip on. At last, Drummle leaves the restaurant and Pip sets off for Satis, thinking now that he wishes he'd never even set foot in that dreary old house. I Speak to Miss Havisham... Pip finds Estella and Miss Havisham in their same old repose at Manor House, though he himself is no longer in the mood to visit the place and all of its weirdness without some protest. He's mad at Miss Havisham for deliberately leading him on for so many years, for cultivating the lie that she was his patron. He says, "It would have been cruel in Miss Havisham, horribly cruel, to practice on the susceptibility of a poor boy, and to torture me through all these years with a vain hope and an idle pursuit, if she had reflected on the gravity of what she did. But I think she did not." Chapter 44, pg. 421 The old woman denies nothing, though she doesn't show any regret, either. Determined to air all, Pip continues, saying that Miss Havisham needs to know that Herbert and Matthew Pocket are good men, and not the same money-grubbing sort as her other relatives. He also wants the old woman to take over the payments he's been making to help Herbert get started in the business world. Next, Pip turns to Estella and says that in case she hasn't noticed, he loves her and he has loved her for a long time. Pip doesn't seem to expect much from this confession and he doesn't get much from the hard-hearted Estella. Estella is still convinced she is incapable of love, and for a change of pace, since she really seems to care very little about her life, she'll marry Bentley Drummle. This news sets Pip into a new fit; he calls Drummle a brute and tells Estella that she will never leave his mind, for she is all and everything he sees in the world. Topic Tracking: Love 10 The two ladies, unimpressed by anything emotional, look at Pip like he's got a second head. Brokenhearted, he leaves Satis and walks all the way back to London. This takes all night, and when he finally arrives at the Temple, the night watchman slips him a note from Wemmick that says, cryptically: "Don't Go Home." The TempleThe second, and more respectable of lodgings into which Pip and Herbert move, in London. |
I Receive a Warning... Convinced by Wemmick' note to take his lodgings elsewhere, Pip gets a small and creepy room at a boarding house in town. After a fitful night of sleep, he rises early to catch Wemmick out in the Castle, so he can explain the note as a friend rather than with the "post office" reserve he gets at Jaggers' office. Wemmick is cheery and has Pip cook some sausage for the Aged P, a job a little too big for Pip in his state of mind. While making an ember of the sausage, Pip listens to Wemmick explain, in vague terms, that someone is not where they should be (presumably Magwitch, who is not in New South Wales), and that Pip and the Temple are being watched. Pip suspects the spy to be Compeyson, and he asks Wemmick if the second convict is alive. Wemmick answers yes, and says that he's in London, too. Wemmick has already spoken with Herbert, and the two have hatched a plan to transport Magwitch to the home of Herbert's fiancé, Clara, and her father. The house is on the river, and should be a convenient place from which to make a hasty exit by boat, if it's necessary. Wemmick heads off to work, and advises Pip to pass the day at the Castle, in the good company of the Aged P. Old Barley... That evening, Pip sets off to visit Magwitch at Chink's Basin, the house on the river. Herbert is at the house, and he introduces Pip to his fiancé, Clara. This is their first meeting, and Pip finds the woman a sweet and good match for his friend. Clara's father, on the other hand, is a raging drunk named Old Barley, who spends all day in bed with a bottle, making a loud, moaning ruckus. Comparatively, Magwitch seems quite a bit more dignified and tolerable. Magwitch, or Provis, has a third name now, too, to hide his identity at Chink's Basin. Here, he has become Mr. Campbell. The final decision Pip and Herbert make that day, is that Pip should buy a boat and begin rowing every day, to give any watchful eyes the impression that he's taken up rowing as a sport. This way he can, without arousing suspicion, keep a boat handy to smuggle Magwitch from the house should the need arise. This Pip sets to immediately, every day rowing a little circuit up or down the river. The welfare of Magwitch is Pip's big responsibility now. I Go to the Play... Weeks pass without incident; Pip continues rowing every day, and also, with some satisfaction, declines to take any more money from Magwitch. He decides to pass one evening at another of Wopsle's dreadful performances, where he is particularly disturbed when Wopsle turns all of his attention to him at one moment in the performance, his face showing an odd shock of recognition. After the show, Wopsle finds Pip and explains that he saw a ghostly figure sitting behind him in the audience, and that he recognized the face as that of one of the convicts they'd seen in the marshes many years back. Pip now has his first evidence that Compeyson is on his trail. Pip returns to the Temple and tells Herbert about being followed. The two agree that Pip must be particularly cautious, and they post a letter to Wemmick that says Compeyson has been sighted. Pip tells Wemmick to let him know immediately if anything new develops. I Dine With Mr. Jaggers Again... On another of Pip's boat excursions, he runs into Jaggers and accompanies the lawyer and Wemmick to his house for dinner. Jaggers just received a note from Miss Havisham, requesting Pip come to Manor House, which Pip says he will do. The dinner conversation becomes particularly disturbing to Pip when it turns to the subject of Bentley Drummle, who Jaggers likes to call the "Spider." Jaggers says Drummle is the sort of man who "either beats or cringes" (454), meaning that he'll either abuse Estella or cower before her. Of course this analysis, so glibly spoken by Jaggers, is completely disturbing to Pip. The biggest revelation of the meal, however, comes when Pip takes a good hard look at Molly, Jaggers' housekeeper. A glint of recognition, something in her hands, suddenly makes him absolutely certain that the woman is Estella's mother. All of those times he felt something familiar in Estella, he realizes, were times when he was seeing a bit of Molly in her. After dinner, when he and Wemmick walk far enough away from Jaggers' house for Wemmick to slip out of his "post office" mode, Pip asks his friend for the housekeeper's story. Molly's story is a deusey--she was put on trial for the murder of another woman, a woman she most likely did kill, and Jaggers' masterful lawyerly twisting of the facts and the jury's sensibilities succeeded in getting her acquitted. Molly did have a daughter, too, though there was a rumor that the housekeeper had "destroyed" the child when it was only two or three years old. Wemmick tells Pip that Molly has been Jaggers' servant ever since her acquittal. |
I Visit Miss Havisham Again... Pip travels to Miss Havisham's, and finds the old woman sitting before a fire, acting strangely meditative. She turns to Pip and says she wishes to talk some more about the request Pip made for her to take over the payments to Herbert's employer. Miss Havisham seems changed; she watches Pip as he explains his request with a look somewhere between inquiry and fondness. The cruelty of her actions seems to have finally hit her, and she breaks down, crying "What have I done!" and even falls to her knees before Pip and begs his forgiveness. Perhaps it is because Estella has really married Drummle, the brute, that Miss Havisham seems to be cracking in her stony resolve. At any rate, Pip is disturbed by the old woman's drama: "I knew not how to answer, or how to comfort her. That she had done a grievous thing in taking an impressionable child to mould into the form that her wild resentment, spurned affection, and wounded pride, found vengeance in, I knew full well. But that, in shutting out the light of day, she had shut out infinitely more; that, in seclusion, she had secluded herself from a thousand natural and healing influences; that, her mind, brooding solitary, had grown diseased, as all minds do and must and will that reverse the appointed order of their Maker; I knew equally well." Chapter 49, pg. 465 Pip assures Miss Havisham that she may clear him out of her conscience, but Estella, he says, is another matter. He asks her a few questions about Estella, and how she came into Miss Havisham's care, and the old woman's answers confirm his suspicions that Estella is Molly's daughter. Topic Tracking: Love 11 Pip leaves the room, though returns a few minutes later on some odd presentiment. Just as he walks through the door, the old woman's dress catches fire, and Pip wrestles her to the ground to smother the flames. Both of them are burned, Miss Havisham so badly that she is wrapped in gauze and laid out on the bridal table, in a sort of hideous echo of her normal white bridal gear. The doctor warns that there is danger of her going into nervous shock. I Learn More of Provis' History... Pip returns to London, where Herbert takes good care of him, dressing his wounds and steering conversation away from all of the disturbing topics toward which it might move. Herbert also says that Provis "improves," that he's seeming more civilized every day. He then passes on the details of a story Provis told him, details which at last complete the picture for Pip. Provis was once involved with a woman who was brought up on the charge of murder. They had a child together, and the woman destroyed this child. Of course Pip recognizes this as Molly's story, and realizes that Estella is Magwitch's daughter. |
Another Interview With Mr. Jaggers... Pip is on the hunt for the truth of Estella's parentage, a hunt that leads him to Jaggers' office, where he confronts the surly lawyer with the news that he knows the identity of the girl's mother and her father. While Jaggers knows his housekeeper is Estella's mother, he doesn't know the identity of the father and his manner makes it clear that he's curious. He receives the news that it's Magwitch with a start. Wanting to get a real rise out of someone at Jaggers' office, Pip turns to Wemmick and says that he knows him to be a kind man with a gentle heart. When Jaggers hears this, he relaxes, and uncharacteristically, smiles. The two men who are normally so resolutely businesslike then begin to tease each other about having pleasant homes and playful ways (very unprofessional), and with the air so lightened, Jaggers tells his version of Estella's story. In this version, it was a desire to rescue Estella from her mean beginnings and to shelter Molly from the world that led him to give Estella to Miss Havisham, and take Molly on as his housekeeper. Underneath his mean exterior, Jaggers does seem to have a conscience and a moral sense. All of this wholesomeness, however, is simply unacceptable in the workplace, and Wemmick and Jaggers are glad when a poor client enters the office, so they can both turn on him. The good load of verbal abuse they dole out to the client, says Pip, seems to refresh the two men like a good lunch. JaggersJaggers is the conniving lawyer that handles Pip's money affairs. A hard man with little sympathy, he keeps the identity of Pip's benefactor a secret for many years. Maturing My Plans... Jaggers has given Pip nine-hundred pounds as he's been directed by a note from Miss Havisham, and Pip gives the money to Clarriker, Herbert's business partner, as the last donation on the part of his friend. Clarriker says business is going well, and that a new branch is opening in the East, which Herbert will be sent to manage. Pip knows that soon he'll have to part from his closest friend, and when a note arrives from Wemmick one morning at breakfast, it looks like Pip will be the first to leave. The note, which says it should be burnt after it's read, suggests that Pip and Magwitch make their escape early that week. Pip's wounds from the fire are serious enough so that he can't row the boat, so Herbert and he decide that they'll enlist Startop, Pip's friend from his days as a student in Hammersmith, as their getaway rower. The two hatch out the details and are set to go in two days, but when Pip returns home he finds another note, this one cryptic and anonymous, requesting he come to the marshes that night if he wants information on his Uncle Provis. The note scares him, and he sets off by the next coach to the marshes. Back in his hometown, Pip deliberately avoids the Blue Boar, and decides to stay at a lesser known inn. While Pip is dining at the inn, the old landlord and pip start a discussion. It's still believed that Pumblechook is his benefactor, and Pip calls Biddy and Joe to mind: "I had never been struck at so keenly, for my thanklessness to Joe, as through the brazen impostor Pumblechook. The falser he, the truer Joe; the meaner he, the nobler Joe" (491). After the meal, Pip searches his pockets and is a little disturbed to discover that he's lost the anonymous letter. But he knows its words by heart, and sets off for the designated meeting spot in the marshes. Herbert (or the pale young gentleman)Pip first meets Herbert as a boy at Miss Havisham's, where they get into an odd sparring match. Later, when Pip travels to London, he is reunited with Herbert, who is his tutor's son. Herbert is Pip's greatest friend and closest confidant, and the only person Pip can confide in when he discovers his benefactor's identity. Herbert and Pip eventually leave London and work together in Cairo. |
At the Old Sluice-House... Pip walks through the rain-soaked marshes and enters the old sluice house, where he is jumped in the dark and quickly tied up. When a candle is lit, Orlick's face appears, and Joe's old journeyman, who was never very nice, turns positively nasty. He's swigging from a bottle of liquor and shouting at Pip that he'll kill him, kill him for the way he stood between him and Biddy. Orlick tells Pip he attacked Mrs. Joe, though the fault lay with Pip, for being favored while Old Orlick was "bullied and beat" (498). Orlick's rage has been so consuming that he's learned a lot about Pip's life, including the truth of Magwitch. He shouts that Magwitch should beware of Compeyson. Pip decides he won't go down without a fight, and just as Orlick finishes off the last of his bottle, Pip lets out a mighty scream. The scream has the desired effect, for the door bursts open, there's a scuffle, and Orlick escapes into the night. When Pip gets his senses back, he sees Trabb's boy, and right behind him, Herbert and Startop. Apparently, in his haste to leave the Temple, Pip dropped Orlick's note on the floor. Herbert put two and two together, and gathered a small posse to rescue his friend. After he hears how vengeful Orlick was, Herbert wants to take out a warrant for his capture, but Pip is convinced that time is too tight, that they best focus all their energy now on preparing for Magwitch's escape. Rarely does Pip get a good night's sleep these days, and the next night is no exception, as he awakens again and again, afraid that the authorities have come to arrest Magwitch. But Wednesday arrives without incident, and Pip wakes up feeling strong and sharp, ready to make the big getaway. The Question of My Future... Magwitch doesn't have to go to trial immediately, for a witness needs to be brought in from another part of the country to vouch for his identity. Pip is worried, in the meantime, that Magwitch will be crushed if he learns that his inheritance, which Pip had secretly declined to accept, will now probably end up going to the state. This is money Pip could use, too, for he's falling into worse and worse debt. Herbert, on the other hand, is prospering, and with a heavy heart breaks the news to Pip that he must soon leave for Cairo. He asks Pip what he might do to provide for himself in the future, and when Pip replies that he doesn't know, Herbert says there is room for him to be a clerk at the office in Cairo. Herbert and Clara are excited with the idea that Pip might come and live abroad with them, but Pip says he must postpone that decision until things with Magwitch are settled. At the end of that week, Pip drops Herbert off to catch his ship to Cairo. Later that week, Wemmick asks Pip to take a walk with him; Pip is feeling so despondent over Magwitch that he nearly declines, except that Wemmick seems particularly eager for this walk to take place. On the morning of their appointment, Wemmick walks them to a church, where the Aged Parent and Miss Skiffens are waiting, dressed for a wedding. Wemmick moves through the entire ceremony of his own wedding as if he'd just happened into it, but when they all walk out of the church Wemmick and Miss Skiffens are man and wife. There is a happy little reception in a nearby tavern, and just before Pip is to leave, Wemmick calls him back and reminds him that a joyous wedding is a "Walworth sentiment," not worthy of being mentioned in Jaggers' office. |
He is Tried and Sentenced... Magwitch lies in prison, nearly incapacitated with the broken ribs and punctured lung he suffered during the failed escape. Pip is a devoted visitor, and he holds Magwitch's hand when he comes to trial. As Pip had anticipated, his kind benefactor is found guilty, though in a spectacle he couldn't have imagined, he is sentenced to death along with a herd of thirty-two other prisoners. There is little to do but wait for the execution day, though Pip does write a furious round of petitions, imploring for mercy on the man who was so kind to him. One day when Pip goes to the prison for a visit, it's clear that death is going to take Magwitch before the executioner can. Just before the old man dies, Pip whispers to him that his daughter Estella lives, and that he, Pip, is in love with her. Joe Tends Me In My Sickness... With Magwitch dead and Herbert gone, Pip is at loose ends. He spends days lying around the Temple, and after one particularly bad night of sleep, wakes to the knocking of creditors at his door. He's arrested, they say, for an unpaid debt. Just before they can drag Pip off, he faints, and then falls into a bad period of sickness. In his delirium, he thinks he sees Joe everywhere, and eventually realizes he does see Joe--his old friend has come to London to nurse him through his illness. Things between Joe and Pip feel like the good old times again, except that Joe has learned how to write, at Biddy's teaching, in the years since Pip last saw him. Joe tells Pip that Miss Havisham has died, and that Matthew Pocket was left a good inheritance, all on Pip's good recommendation. The sniveling little relatives, furthermore, were barely given any money for all their years of sucking-up. Orlick was caught robbing Pumblechook's house, and is now in jail. Things are great between Joe and Pip, until Pip begins to recover. It seems like Joe is at his best with Pip when he can take care of him. Pip wants the old times back, and resolves to tell Joe this. But on the morning he's about to do this, he finds Joe has departed, leaving a note that says he wishes to intrude no more, though he considers them "ever the best of friends." Also enclosed in the letter is a creditor's receipt--Joe has paid off all of Pip's debts. Pip doesn't want things to end like this and decides he'll leave as soon as he can for the marshes. He wants his simple life back, and he's ready to go work in the forge again. And he's also ready to ask Biddy to be his wife. Mr. Pumblechook Holds Forth... Pip speeds to the marshes, ready to make his proposal, and takes a room at the Blue Boar. Rumors of his bad luck have gotten around, and he gets lousy treatment at the inn. Worse than this, however, is the arrival of Pumblechook. Pumblechook seems convinced by the old rumors that he really was Pip's patron, and he torments Pip with a ridiculous show in front of the hotel staff, trying to make Pip feel ungrateful about a charity he never even provided. Pip is disgusted by the Imposter, and this makes it all the pleasanter to see his genuine friends, Joe and Biddy. Pip doesn't find Joe in his forge, and when he arrives at the old house, he finds it decorated with flowers and inside, Joe and Biddy dressed in holiday clothes. Before Pip can profess his love, Biddy tells him her news: it is her and Joe's wedding day. All of Pip's plans change with this announcement. He is nothing but kind and reverent about the wedding, but announces that he is leaving imminently to go abroad. He will not rest until he has paid Joe back, and, he hopes Biddy and Joe, if they ever have a child, will not tell him that he was a thankless or ungenerous or unjust. Biddy and Joe, sweet and happy, swear they would never think or say such a thing. Topic Tracking: Love 13 Pip follows his new course. He goes to work for Herbert, and over the years advances steadily, though not spectacularly. Eventually, Clarriker needs to clean his conscience by confessing Pip's financial support to Herbert, news that Pip's good-natured friend receives with wonder rather than anger. Pip works his way into a satisfying life, having started again with no great expectations. |
For Estella's Sake... Pip passes eleven years abroad, and then one day decides to visit Joe and Biddy. He walks in the old house to find Joe with a little boy on his lap, his and Biddy's child, which they have named after Pip. The little boy takes a liking to Pip, and the two pass the next day together, the older Pip leading the younger Pip around some of his old haunts out on the marshes. Biddy and Pip get to talking about whether Pip will ever marry, and Biddy asks him if he ever thinks of Estella. Pip says of course he has not forgotten her, though that "poor dream... has all gone by" (563). He's heard some news of Estella--her marriage to Drummle was a bad one, and ended when he got killed by a horse he'd mistreated. He knew nothing of her fate since then. After dinner that night, Pip decides to take a walk to Satis. He finds that all the buildings have been cleared away, though it seems no one is building anything new there. Exploring there under the moon and stars, he sees a figure that he recognizes immediately as Estella. The woman still takes his breath away. She tells him that she owns the property, and soon will build on it. Estella says she has often thought of Pip, and Pip says she too always has a place in his heart. She hopes, she says, they can be friends now, and that they will continue to be friends apart. Pip takes her hand, and they walk around the grounds, the world perhaps endowed with a new expectation. The novel ends: "I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her." |
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