"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Phillip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip" ― Chapter 1
Phillip Pirrip, or Pip, is the main protagonist in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. He is the brother of Mrs. Joe Gargery, the brother-in-law of Joe Gargery and the love interest of Estella.
Orphaned and apprenticed as a blacksmith when he was young, Pip finds his life changed forever when he receives a large fortune from an unknown benefactor but he soon begins to question everything he had done.
Description
Pip is one of Dickens’ most important characters, even considered to be one of the most studied fictional literary characters of all time. Great Expectations is a bildungsroman, meaning it is a coming-of-age of Pip’s growth from child to adult learns important lessons about life, perception and worthiness. Pip himself also narrates the story, since he is telling his own story many years after the events of the storyline. Not only does he tells his tale from his own point of view and perspective, but he also allows the reader to understand his emotions in his narrative.
Growing up a poor orphan, Pip dreams of being able to move up the rankings of the social class and be well-off in a wealthy society; but along the way he has some encounters that have an effect on his path to being a gentleman. He is confronted by the convict Magwitch who threatens his life if he does not comply with his demands; he meets the eccentric, reclusive spinster Miss Havisham whose young ward Estella is trained to pretend to love him and then reject him. He ends up being a blacksmith apprentice but is given the unexpected news by a lawyer that he has received a fortune from an unknown benefactor, and immediately suspects Miss Havisham to finally make him worthy enough to have Estella who he is in love with. But as he becomes a gentleman, he realizes afterwards that money isn’t happy as he finds himself heavily in debt and Estella again rejecting him. The crushing blow came when Magwitch reveals himself to be his true benefactor, and this makes Pip feel as if his ambition was all for nothing. By the end of the novel, Pip’s life was forever changed from his “great expectations”. He now fully understands about personal prejudice and how he should be grateful for those who were kind and loving to him.
In addition to being a gentleman, Pip is also searching for his true identity. He doesn’t know what he is going to do with his life or what kind of person he really is. At times, he finds himself playing cruel mind games by Miss Havisham that trick him into believing Estella really does love him and that it looks like his dreams are becoming a reality; while in actuality, this is not how he is able to uncover his identity. In fact, when he does become wealthy, it still doesn’t do anything to improve it. It was only after he tends Magwitch on his deathbed did he finally discover the truth of his identity: true love and friendship. His family and friends loved and valued him so much, that he gets the point that wealth was never essential in making his life worthy; it is only the power of friendship and love that makes his identity.
Storyline
Childhood in the Marshes/The Convict
As an infant, Phillip Pirrup was unable to pronounce his full name, so he had called himself Pip and the had name stuck since. He is also an orphan living with his older sister Mrs. Joe Gargery, who is about 20 years older, and her husband Joe who is a blacksmith. They reside in a village, close by a river in the marsh country of Kent, England.
One evening on Christmas Eve, Pip, aged 7, was in the churchyard viewing the graves of his parents that he never knew or what they had looked like in life. He views his father's name, Phillip Pirrup, and in his mind, describes him to be a stout, dark man with curly hair. He also pictures his mother Georgiana to be a sickly woman with freckles. There were five small lozenges that were arranged neatly next to his parents' grave: these were Pip's 5 brothers who died in infancy. As Pip views the graves, he starts to cry.
A voice called out as a man appeared from behind one of the tombstones at the side of the church porch. He demands Pip to be quiet and still, even threatening to cut his throat. He was a fearsome man with a leg iron, an old rag tied around his head, and was wet and filthy as he grabs Pip's throat.
The boy pleads for his life and the man demands him to tell his name. Pip says his name and repeats when the man asks him again. He demands Pip to tell him where he lives and Pip points towards the village about a mile from the church. The man then turns Pip upside down and empties his pockets, which only had a piece of bread. Pip then sits on a tombstone trembling as the man eats the bread ravenously.
The man comments on Pip’s chubby cheeks and wishes he could eat them. Pip hopes the man wouldn’t do that as he clutches tightly onto the tombstone. The man demands him where his mother is, and he points towards the grave where the man runs towards to. He comes back and demands if his father is buried with his mother and Pip says yes. He then asks him where he lives now, Pip explains that he lives with his older sister Mrs. Joe Gargery and her husband the blacksmith.
The man looked at his iron leg and then at Pip several times. He holds Pip by the arms and leans him down towards the tombstone and asks him if he knows what a file and wittles (food) are. After Pip answered both questions, the man tilts him more as he demands him to bring him some food and a file or else he will have his heart and liver. Pip becomes frightened and clings onto him, asking him to put in back upright.
The man shook him before holding him upright on the tombstone, and orders him to bring him the food and file early tomorrow morning to the fort called the Old Battery, and when Pip does, he must not tell anyone of their meeting together. If Pip obeys to keep his encounter a secret, the man will spare his life; but if he doesn’t, he will cut out his heart and liver, cook and eat them. He also reminds Pip that he isn’t alone on the marshes; there is another man who is younger and his accomplice, who knows everything he says. He is out looking for Pip and no matter how hard he tries to keep himself hidden, he will find him and kill him. However, the man says he will keep him protected from his accomplice at the moment as long as Pip brings him what he needs.
Pip says he will find food and a file and bring it to him first thing early in the morning at the Old Battery. The man again threatens him if he fails and puts him down. After reminding him of everything he has heard, the man orders Pip to go home immediately. The boy bids him goodnight, while the man wishes he was a frog or an eel as he hugs himself tightly. Pip watches as he limps away through the brambles. He looks back at the boy until he reaches the church wall and turns around to look for him.
Pip starts to run home as fast as he could, before he makes a final glimpse of the man as he stumbles towards the river and towards a beacon of light and gallows in the marshes. Pip starts to have a terrible feeling and as he sees the cattle gazes at the man, he wonders if they are thinking the same way, too. He runs for home.
When he arrives at his house, Pip sees that Joe’s forge, that is adjoined to the house, is locked up. Joe is sitting alone in the kitchen by the chimney corner, and when Pip enters, he tells him Mrs Joe has been out looking for him a dozen times, and she has brought the “Tickler”, with her, which is a cane she uses to beat Pip when she’s angry. Pip stares into the fire anxiously while unbuttoning his shirt. Joe explains how Mrs. Joe grabbed the Tickler and stormed out as he stares into the fire with the poker.
Pip asks Joe if she has been gone long. Joe glances at the clock and says she has been absent for 5 minutes. He then hears Mrs. Joe coming home and tells Pip to hide behind the door with the jack-towel between him. Pip quickly hides as Mrs. Joe bursts into the kitchen, but she quickly notices him and threw him at Joe, who then protects Pip with his leg at the chimney.
Mrs. Joe stamps her foot and demands Pip where he has been. He replies that he has been to the churchyard as he cries and rubs himself. She rants that if it wasn’t for her, he would have been buried in the churchyard and asks him who brought him up by hand. Pip replies she did and when Mrs. Joe demands to know why, he says he doesn’t know. Mrs. Joe says she would never do it again, as it was hard for her being a blacksmith’s wife and his caregiver. Pip stares into the fire and the thoughts of the convict and the things he wants came back to him. She predicts that she’ll be dead before Pip and Joe and they wouldn’t handle it well, as she returns the Tickler. Pip and Joe wondered how they would really cope should something like this occur.
Mrs. Joe has a strange habit of preparing their meal of bread and butter. She would jam the loaf hard and would spread the butter on the loaf as if she is preparing a plaister, before cutting it into two halves; one for Joe and one for Pip. Despite being hungry, Pip couldn’t eat his bread slice as he thinks about saving it for the convict and his friend. He hides it in his trousers. He thought this was an awful thing to do, as he and Joe have a habit of proving how much they ate by showing off their loafs. He was invited by Joe to be part of the competition, but notices that he only had a cup of tea and no slice of bread; as he took this opportunity to hide it in his pants.
Joe thinks Pip may had lost his appetite and ate his slice that he didn’t enjoy. When he looks at Pip again, he notices the bread slice is gone. Mrs. Joe notices, too, and asks what is wrong. Joe mutters that Pip couldn’t have eaten it all in one bite, but still values his health. His wife pounces on him and knocks him against the wall, while Pip looks on guiltily. She scolds him while Joe took a bite and looked helplessly at Pip, telling him they will always be friends but thinks he ate his food quickly as he moves his chair and looked at Pip and himself.
Mrs. Joe demands if Pip really did gulped down his bread, and Joe brings up on how he has eaten his food quickly as a child and has not seen Pip behave like him yet. Mrs. Joe grabs at Pip and decides to punish him by a dose of tar-water, which was kept in the cupboard and was normally used as medicine. Mrs Joe forces him to drink the tar-water to make him digest better. Joe was also forced to drink half a pint.
Pip starts to have a sense of guilt that he is going to steal from Mrs. Joe, as he considers the property hers even if Joe lives with her. He also fears the convict could be outside his home threatening to give him some food now, as well as the younger convict wanting to eat his heart and liver today.
It was Christmas Eve and he had to stir the pudding for a whole hour with a copper-stick, while trying to keep the bread piece in his pants. He was relieved when he finally gets to hide it in his bedroom in the garret. While warming himself by the fire before being sent to bed, Pip hears guns firing and asks Joe what it was. Joe says that it signals a convict off, and when Pip asks him what it means, Joe mouths something that he only thinks is ‘Pip’. Mrs. Joe snappingly replies by saying it signals an escaped convict.
While Mrs. Joe was busy with her needlework, Pip asks Joe what a convict is. Joe explains that a convict escaped last night after sunset, and the guns firing are a warning signal. He thinks another convict is on the loose when the guns fired again. Pip asks who os firing and Mrs. Joe demands him to stop asking questions. However, Joe mouths something that sounds like ‘sulks’ and Pip thinks he’s referring it to Mrs. Joe. Joe again tries to say something but Pip doesn’t know what he is going to say.
He then asks Mrs. Joe where the firing is coming from, and she replies it is from the Hulks. Pip turns to Joe who coughs as if to say he had told him so. The boy then asks what are the Hulks, and Mrs. Joe becomes irritated with his questions by saying they are prison ships; she claims that once Pip starts asking questions, he won’t stop.
Pip asks who are kept in the prison ships and why. Mrs. Joe gets up and scolds him by saying she didn’t raise him to pester anyone. She explains that the people kept on the Hulks are murderers, thieves and other criminals who always start off with questions. She then orders him to go to bed.
Pip was never allowed to take a candle to bed with him, and he goes up to his room in the dark. He believes that he will soon be imprisoned on the Hulks after he robs Mrs. Joe. He is filled with terrors of the convict and his accomplice, as well as the promise he is forced to keep. He is unable to free himself from his sister’s domination and fears of what he might have done. Whenever he tried to sleep, he dreams that he was being taken to the Hulks, where he imagines a ghostly pirate calling to him through a speaking-trumpet, before he is taken ashore and hanged.
He was afraid to sleep, for he knew he must rob the pantry at the crack of dawn as doing it at night would be difficult for he would have no light. As soon as it was early morning when his makeshift black curtain was lit up, he gets up and goes downstairs. At every sound he makes, he fears that his robbery plan will soon be discovered. When he goes into the pantry, he is frightened to see a hare hanging by the heels that he thought he had caught unnoticed. But he knows he must not waste time. He takes some bread, a rind of cheese, a half of jar of mincemeat that he tied up in his pocket-handkerchief with the piece of bread, some brandy he pours into a glass bottle that he used for making Spanish-liquorice water. He also takes a meat bone with little meat left on it and a pork pie.
He was about to leave without the pie, but persuades himself to climb up the shelf to get it, hoping it would be forgotten about. A door in the kitchen goes into Joe’s forge, and he unlocks the door to take a file from the tools. He then opens the door that he came in from last night, closes it and runs out into the marshes.
It was a damp, frosty morning, as Pip saw the frost outside his window. He sees the frost on the bushes and grass as he walks along. The paths and gates were so wet and the fog so thick, that the signpost directing people to the village was invisible until he gets closer to it, even though most people never enter the village from that direction. When he looks at it, it felt like it was guiding him to the Hulks.
The mist grew more heavy as Pip goes into the marshes and he felt like everything was chasing him. He imagines that every object he finds in the mist would call him a thief, and even the cows seemed to be judging him. A black ox gazes at him disapprovingly that Pip pleads that he couldn’t help it before the ox disappears. As he approaches the river and no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t warm his feet and it felt cold like the leg-iron of the convict he would see meet. He knew where the Old Battery was as he had been there with Joe on Sunday, where Joe said that if Pip was his apprentice one day, they would see the larks more.
He is so confused by the mist, that he finds himself too far to the right and had to go back along the riverside, on the bank of loose stones and towards the stakes. He was crossing the ditch when he knows the Battery is close by, when he spots the man sitting before him. His had his back towards Pip and he was sound asleep. He thought he would be more glad if he gave him his food in that way, so he approaches him and gently touches his shoulder.
The man instantly jumped up but it was not the convict Pip was supposed to meet. This other man was dressed in grey, wearing a hat and also wearing a leg-iron. He swears at Pip and knocks him down but misses before running away, and the boy recognizes him as the young man who had wanted to eat his liver. He arrives at the Battery where he sees his convict hugging himself and limping while he waits for Pip. He was shivering and Pip expects he would drop dead from the cold. He was also so hungry, that when Pip gives him the file and he lays it on the ground, he looked like he was about to eat it if he hadn’t seen the bundle of food.
The convict didn’t turn over Pip this time to find what he brought, but left him standing as Pip opens the bundle and empties his pockets. The man asks him what’s in the bottle and Pip says it’s brandy. The man was already wolfing down the mincemeat but also took some of the brandy. He shivered so violently that he tried not to bite off the neck of the bottle.
Pip thinks he might have a fever, and the man thinks it’s true. Pip tells him the marshes are bad enough for him to be lying about, and the man says he’ll eat his breakfast before he is subsequently executed. He then proceeds to devour the mincemeat, meat bone, bread, cheese and pork pie all at once; while at the same time he gazes and listens anxiously at the mist. He then hears a clonking sound from either the river or marshes and suddenly asks Pip if he has brought anyone with him or if someone is following him. Pip denies both of the questions. The man believes in him for being brave enough to help a troublesome criminal.
The convict looks more paranoid as he rubs his sleeve over his eyes, which leaves Pip feeling more sympathetic for him. After he finishes the pie, Pip tells him he hoped he enjoyed his meal. The convict asks what he said and Pip repeats his sentence. The convict thanks him.
Pip remembers how he watched his large dog eat his food, and thinks the man is devouring his meal quickly like the dog. He also kept glancing around as if he is afraid someone would come and steal his pie, and was too unsettled to appreciate the offer. After a moment of silence of trying to be polite, Pip nervously tells the man he won’t leave any food for the other man as he has no more food with him. The convict asks Pip who he is talking about and he replies it is the young man that he was talking about.
The man laughs at the idea of leaving some food for the other man, and Pip says he looked like he wanted some, too. The convict stops eating and asks when it happened, and Pip replies just now. When the convict asks where, Pip points to the area where he found him sleeping. The man holds him by the throat that Pip thought he was going to cut his throat again.
Pip describes how the man was dressed the same as the convict but wearing a hat, and also looked interested in wanting a file. He asks him if he hear the cannons firing last night, and the man comments himself about the firing. Pip explains that he heard it last night from his home. The convict says how a man like him is alone and starving on the marshes, he would hear only the cannons firing and the voices before he is easily rounded up by red-coated guards. If he had saw the guards last night, he would have seen a hundred and the firing in the mist during daylight. The convict then questions Pip if he had noticed anything about the other man, and he recalls that he had a badly bruised face and he was just here.
The convict demands to know where he is as he crams the rest of the food into his jacket. He wants Pip to show him where the other one is and also demands for the file. Pip describes what direction the other man went in the mist. The convict was then on the ground viciously filing his leg-iron, that he wasn’t paying attention to Pip or the old, bloody chafe on his leg.
Pip was afraid of him again and decided he must go home. He tells the convict he has to leave but he ignores him, so Pip slips away. As he leaves, he sees him muttering impatiently while continuing to file the leg-iron off. When he listens to him in the mist, the file was still going.
Capturing the Convict
On the way home, Pip expects a police officer in the kitchen waiting to arrest him. When he enters the kitchen, there was no officer and the robbery hadn’t been discovered yet. Mrs. Joe was busy preparing the house for the Christmas festivities that day and Joe was on the kitchen door-step to stay out of her way.
Mrs. Joe asks Pip where he has been, and Pip lies by saying he was out listening to Christmas carols. Mrs. Joe rants on how she should have been listening to the carols if she wasn’t married to a blacksmith. Joe then enters the kitchen and while his wife glares at him, he signals to Pip that she is in a bad mood. The dinner that was to be served for Christmas that day includes a leg of pickled pork and greens, a pair of roasted fowls, and a pork pie that was made yesterday. The pudding that was to be served with the meal is already being boiled. Mrs. Joe assures her husband and brother she has a lot of hard work to do today.
Pip and Joe had their slices of bread and drank some milk and water from a jug on the dresser. Mrs. Joe put up some clean white curtains, replaced a new flounce over the chimney, and preparing the state parlour. This room was hardly used and mostly covered in silver paper. Despite Mrs. Joe being a hard-working housekeeper, her cleaning would make the room look uncomfortable. While she was busy with her housekeeping, Joe and Pip prepare to leave for church. Joe's Sunday clothes make him look like a scarecrow, and none of the other clothes he wore looked good on him. Pip sees him come from his room with his strange outfit on while the church bells were ringing.
Pip thinks his older sister may had an idea that he is a young delinquent who was delivered to her by the police to be raised in a lawful manner. When he was given his Sunday clothes, the tailor was told to design them to make them look like a prison garb than a Sunday outfit. Both Pip and Joe went to church, but the boy can't help but feel very worried whenever Mrs. Joe goes near the pantry and his crime would be discovered. He hopes that going to church would make him safe from the younger convict. After the banns was read and the minister says "Ye are now to declare it!", Pip thought this would be the right time to make a confession in the vestry; but knew that the congregation would keep him from doing it, since it was Christmas Day and not Sunday.
The clerk at the church, Mr. Wopsle, was invited to the Christmas dinner at the Gargery's. Also invited was Mr. Hubble the wheelwright and his wife, Mrs. Hubble, and Joe's uncle Uncle Pumblechook. When Pip and Joe returned home, the table was already laid out, Mrs. Joe was wearing her best clothes and the back door was unlocked for the guests to enter. So far, there has been no discovery of the robbery yet.
Before long, the guests arrived and Pip opened the back door to greet them. Mr. Wopsle came in first, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Hubble, and Uncle Pumblechook, who brought some wine for Mrs. Joe, as he occasionally does every Christmas. Everyone would have their dinner in the kitchen before going to the parlour for the festivities. During that time, Pip was not allowed to speak and served scraps of food nobody wants, but the adults would talk about him that makes him embarrassed and uncomfortable. While at the table, Mr. Wopsle says grace and Mrs. Joe reminds Pip to be grateful. Uncle Pumblechook agrees with her. Mrs. Hubble comments on why young children are never grateful and Mr. Hubble replies that they are vicious. Everyone murmurs in agreement and look at Pip in an unpleasant way. Joe manages to comfort Pip by giving him a half of pint of gravy.
Later on during the meal, Mr. Wopsle talks about what sermon he would give if he was in charge of the church. Uncle Pumblechook suggests that sermoning about pork would be a great subject. Mrs. Joe whispers sharply to Pip to listen to this while Joe gives him more gravy. Mr. Wopsle points to Pip and says something is wrong about him by claiming a boy is as hateful as a pig. Mr. Hubble suggests a girl being hateful, too, and Mr. Wopsle assents there are no girls with him. Uncle Pumblechook turns to Pip and tells him what he should be grateful for if he was born a pig, with Mrs. Joe commenting about him.
Joe gives more gravy to Pip as Uncle Pumblechook asks Pip if he was born a pig but lived somewhere else. Mr. Wopsle interrupts by pointing to the roast pork on the table, and Uncle Pumblechook says that Pip would have enjoyed himself with his family but he probably wouldn't. Instead, he would have been sold at the marketplace and bought by a butcher for his weight, who would then beat and kill him instead of bringing him up by hand. Pip is now afraid to take more gravy Joe continues to offer to him. Mrs. Hubble tells Mrs. Joe that Pip was always trouble to her and she replies by complaining about all the illnesses, colic and injuries he suffered, as well as wishing he was dead.
Pip becomes annoyed by Mr. Wopsle' nose that he wishes he could pull it. Everyone stares at him in disgust, with Uncle Pumblechook commenting if pork is rich. Mrs. Joe suggests that Uncle Pumblechook should have some brandy. Pip clutches to the leg of the table in horror, awaiting his fate. Mrs. Joe brings back the stone bottle and served him the brandy, while no one else was given any. Pip continues to tremble in fear while Joe and Mrs. Joe cleared the table for the pie and pudding. The boy couldn't stop staring at Uncle Pumblechook as he held tight against the leg of the table. He watches as the uncle happily drinks the bottle, then he springs up coughing madly and runs outside. Pip could see him coughing and choking violently outside the window, and clutches hard onto the table as Joe and Mrs. Joe ran to him.
Pip fears that he had killed Uncle Pumblechook, but was relieved when he comes inside and gasps in front of the guests that he just drank tar. Earlier, Pip filled the bottle with the tar-water and knew it made Uncle Pumblechook worse. Mrs. Joe is surprised of how the bottle had tar-water in it, but Uncle Pumblechook dismisses her question by asking for some hot-and-gin water. Mrs. Joe then prepares the gin water and Pip feels he is safe now while still holding onto the table.
He is calm enough to let go and have some of the pudding served along with everyone else eating it. Uncle Pumblechook becomes relieved from the gin water and Pip thinks everything is alright until Mrs. Joe asks her husband to bring some cold plates. Pip again clutches to the table in fear as Mrs. Joe tells the guests that she will be serving the pork pie that was a gift from Uncle Pumblechook. The guests murmured their compliments with Uncle Pumblechook looking forward to having the pie served.
Pip hears Mrs. Joe walk to the pantry with the guests waiting to satisfy their appetite and Joe telling Pip he should have a slice, too. Pip cannot take it anymore and decides he must run away. He releases himself from the table and runs for the front door, but was met with a group of soldiers with muskets and one of them holding a pair of handcuffs to him. The guests rise from the table confused, with Mrs. Joe returning about asking what happened to the pie.
The sergeant had spoken to Pip first before he tells the others that he and his soldiers are on a manhunt and they need Joe. Mrs. Joe asks what they want from him, and the sergeant replies he needs to do a little job for him. He then turns to Joe and says that the cuffs' locks are broken and ask him if he can fix it. Joe examines them and says that he would need to light his forge and it may take two hours to repair them. The sergeant tells him to get started right away and then his troops entered into the kitchen, placed their firearms in the corner and stood in the room.
Pip is worried that the soldiers have come to arrest him, but was relieved when he learns that the cuffs weren't for him and everyone seems to have forgotten about the stolen pie. The sergeant asks Uncle Pumblechook what time it is, and he replies it is half past two. The sergeant then asks how far the marshes are from their home and Mrs. Joe replies they are about a mile away. The sergeant says they will start to find the convicts before dusk. Mr. Wopsle asks about the convicts, and the sergeant replies there are two that are on the loose in the marshes. He asks the others if they know anything about the fugitives, and everyone says no, except for Pip but nobody thought about him.
Joe changes into his leather apron and goes into the forge. One soldier opened the windows, and another lighted the fire. The rest of the soldiers stood in the forge as Joe began fixing the cuffs while Pip and the guests looked on. Mrs. Joe takes a pitcher of beer from the cask to serve to the soldiers and invites the sergeant to have a glass of brandy. Uncle Pumblechook tells Mrs. Joe to serve him wine instead as he thinks there is no tar-water in it. The sergeant thanks him and says he prefers to have the wine.
After he drinks it, he compliments Uncle Pumblechook for bringing the wine and makes a toast for his health. The sergeant looks ready for another glass, and Uncle Pumblechook ends up taking the bottle from Mrs. Joe and serving it to everyone, including Pip. Uncle Pumblechook enjoyed it so much that he then calls for a second bottle. As Pip watches the adults enjoying themselves in the forge, he thinks that his convict has approved of the party as everyone is excited of anticipation of the manhunt.
Joe finally finishes fixing the cuffs and the loud noises inside the forge stopped. As he puts on his coat, he suggests that some of the guests should go into the marshes to witness the capture of the convicts. Uncle Pumblechook and Mr. Hubble refused, but Mr. Wopsle says he will join the hunt if Joe will go, too. Joe agrees and wants to take Pip with him, if Mrs. Joe approves. But since she wants to know about the manhunt and how it ends, she agrees but warns Joe if Pip returns with his head blown to bits by a musket, she won't put it back together.
The sergeant takes his leave and his men grab their muskets. Joe, Mr. Wopsle and Pip were told to stay behind in the rear and to not speak after they reach the marshes. Pip whispers to Joe that he hopes they wouldn't find the convicts and Joe replies he would rather give a shilling if they done so. They weren't joined by any of the other villagers, as it was already getting cold and dark. A few people even gazed at them outside their windows but didn't come out. The search party went past the sign post and towards the churchyard. They stopped for a few minutes as the sergeant gives a signal, and two or three of his men separated to search the graves and the porch of the church. After they were unable to find anything, the group enters the marshes through the side entrance of the churchyard. When the sleets worsens from the wind, Joe carries Pip on his back.
As they ventured out into the marshes, where Pip had been hours earlier and interacting with the escaped convicts, the boy ponders with fear if his convict would blame him for bringing the army to him. He had even asked him earlier if he was an imp who would betray him. Pip decided not to answer this question now as he, Joe and Mr. Wopsle pressed on with the soldiers in front of them. They took the route that Pip used that took him into the mist. This time, however, the mist wasn't out yet or the wind blew it away. The beacon, gallows and the Battery became visible in the glare of the sunset.
Pip looks around anxiously any signs of the convicts. While he didn't see or hear them, he was constantly alarmed by Mr. Wopsle's heavy breathing and blowing. Pip thought he can hear the sound of the file, but was just a sheep's bell. The sheep and the cattle stared at the party with disapproval as they kept going.
The soldiers were walking down the route towards the Battery with Pip, Joe and Mr. Wopsle catching with with them until they suddenly stopped. They heard shouting that was coming from the east, and it was loud and longer. There also seemed to be two voices raised at the same time. The sergeant was talking with his nearest men when Pip and the others caught up with them. They listened to the soldiers' conversation and both Joe and Mr. Wopsle made their own agreements. The sergeant then declares that they shouldn't answer the voices, but they should take a different route. The soldiers then took a slanted direction that went to the east, with Pip having to hold tight onto Joe as he breaks into a run.
The group ran up and down banks and over gates, and as they approached the shouting, it sounded like it was more than one voice. It sometimes stopped altogether and the soldiers would stop in their tracks. When the voices rose again, the soldiers broke out onto a run, and with Pip and the others catching up, as the voices cried “Murder!”, and “Runaway convicts!”. The sergeant ran ahead first, with two of his men following him with their weapons ready. They spot two convicts in a ditch fighting and orders them to surrender. Some of the men then went down into the ditch to help the sergeant and they dragged out both Pip’s convict and the younger man struggling.
Pip’s convict convinces to the soldiers he was going to turn his opposer into the police. The sergeant orders the handcuffs and the convicts laughs it won’t do him any good. The other convict was covered in bruises and his clothes were torn. He was out of breath to speak, but when both convicts were handcuffed separately, he leans towards a soldier and says to him that the first convict tried to kill him. Pip’s convict retorts that he just prevented him from fleeing from the marshes and dragging him to the Hulks. The other one again insists he attempted to kill him, and Pip’s convict claims to the sergeant that he initially planned to escape the moment he was far away from the prison-ship; but when he spotted his opposer on the marshes, he would not allow him to be free and would be pleased to have him back in custody.
The other convict again repeats he had wanted to murder him, and Pip’s convict angrily demands that he is a liar. The other convict made a scornful smile but looked around anxiously and not at his opposer, with Pip’s convict pointing out what he looked like during their trial. The other convict glances around and then says to his opposer he wasn’t interesting to look at. Pip’s convict becomes irritated enough to charge at him but was held back by the soldiers. The other soldiers trembles with fear as he insists he was nearly killed. The sergeant has enough of the convicts’ claims and orders the torches to be lit.
While one of the soldiers opened his basket to get something out, Pip’s convict looked around him and spots Pip, who had gotten off of Joe’s back when he was on the brink of the ditch and stood still. Both the boy and the convict gazed at each other, with Pip moving his hands and shaking his head, hoping the convict will see him and he’ll assure him his innocence. The convict gave him a look that Pip doesn’t understand about, and doesn’t openly say anything else about him. The soldier with the basket then lit up 3-4 torches, and gave some to the others and one for himself. It soon got very dark very fast, and before the group departs from the spot they captured the convicts, four soldiers fired twice into the air. There were some lit torches a distance behind Pip, while there were few more on the marshes opposite the river. The sergeant then declares everyone to march.
The group hadn’t gone far when three cannons fired ahead of everyone. The sergeant tells Pip’s convict he is expected on board and know he is coming. Both of the convicts were kept apart, and walked while accompanied with a separate guard. Pip held onto Joe’s hand as he held a torch in one hand. Mr. Wopsle says they should go back, but Joe is wanting to witness what happens next, so they press on with the group. They walked along the edge of the river and past a wall with a miniature windmill on top and a muddy-sluice gate. Pip could see the bright lights of the torches, blazing with flame and smoking and lighting up the pathway. Other than that, Pip could nothing else but darkness. The torch flames also provided warmth to the group, with the two convicts seeming to enjoy it. The group couldn’t walk fast because of the convicts’ lameness, and they had to stop a few times for them to have a quick rest.
After walking for over an hour, the group then stops in front of a wooden hut and a dock. A guard was standing at the hut and after the sergeant answers him, everyone goes inside. The interior had a strong smell of tobacco and whitewash, and inside was a bright fire, a lamp, a stand of muskets, a drum and a low wooden bedstand. Three or four soldiers who laid in the beds looked at the group briefly before going back to sleep. After the sergeant makes a report and a entry in his book, the other convict was the first one to be drafted with his guard to go onto a rowboat back to the Hulks.
Pip’s convict never looked at him again and instead stood in front of the fire. He stared at the flames, put his feet in front of it and looked around at the others. He suddenly turns to the sergeant and wants to make a confession that would prevent any suspicions. The sergeant tells him with his arms folded that he can say what he likes, but he can’t do it here and he will have a chance later. The convict says this is something else and a man like him can’t starve. He confesses he stole some food from the village where the church overlooks the marshes, and he stole them from the blacksmith. Both Joe and the sergeant are astonished, and the convict says that one of the foods he took was some liquor and a pie. The sergeant asks Joe if he is missing a pie from his home, and Joe replies he and his wife noticed just as the soldiers arrived. The convict glances at Joe instead of Pip and asks him if he’s the blacksmith and confesses that he had eaten his pie. Joe sympathetically tells him he was more welcome to have it, as he couldn’t bear to have him starve to death.
Pip hears the familiar clicking in the convict’s throat again as he turns away. The boat returns and his guard is ready and Pip and the others followed him to the dock where the convict was placed into a boat with other convicts. Nobody said anything to the convict except when someone orders the men to start rowing. The black prison-ship can be seen on the shore by the light of the torches, and since it was moored by large, rusty chains, Pip thinks that it could be ironed like the prisoners. The boat then rows away to the prison-ship and disappears into the darkness, with everyone tossing their torches into the water.
Pip feels like he should tell the truth to Joe; but he knows if he did, Joe will think the worse of him, and this will hurt their close bond. He fears that Joe will never again let him stroke his face by the fireplace, and during mealtimes, Joe would be suspicious if Pip was in the pantry. He may also suspect if Pip had put Tar-water in his beer, and Pip realizes he is being a coward for being dishonest.
Pip was already tired as everyone left the prison-ship, Joe carries him home on his back. Mr. Wopsle is furious about wanting to excommunicate the whole expedition if the church was thrown open, and he would sit down for a long time that his coat was hanged by the fire to dry.
Back at home, Pip staggered sleepily in the kitchen, but was fully awake from an exclaim by Mrs. Joe and Joe telling the guests about the convict’s confession, and they are curious how he got into the house. Mr. Pumblechook suggests, after a careful survey, the convict may have climbed onto the roof of the forge and then onto the house roof where he climbed down the kitchen chimney with a makeshift rope from his bedding. Everyone agrees with Mr. Pumblechook except Mr. Wopsle, who was already exhausted but has no theory. This was all Pip had heard until Mrs. Joe drags him upstairs to bed, and his state of mind lasts for awhile.
First visit to Satis House
A few years pass, and Pip is now old enough to spell out the inscription on his parents' grave. He suggests that "Wife of the Above", which refers to his late mother could mean a reference to a heavenly place where his father is. Whenever any of his deceased relatives were referred to as "Below", he couldn't help but think of bad opinions about them. However, his comprehension and catechism weren't correct.
Pip was soon old enough to be apprenticed by Joe, and wouldn't be seen as pampered by Mrs. Joe. He became Joe's "odd-boy" in the forge, but when any of the other villagers needed a boy to do some of their errands for them such as chasing off birds or collecting stones, he was assigned to do the offers. A money-boy was placed in the kitchen where Pip's earnings were kept by Mrs. Joe, and while Pip felt like the money would be donated to the National Debt, he didn't get to see any of the earnings he received.
Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt runs an evening school in the village. She was a strange, old woman who slept every night from six to seven o'clock, and the villagers would pay her twopence per week to have their children educated at her school. She rented out a small cottage, and Mr. Wopsle had his room upstairs. Pip attends the school and he and his classmates would hear Mr. Wopsle reading out loud and moving upstairs. Whenever he was present in the classroom, Mr. Wopsle would read out loud Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, followed by Ode to Evening by William Collins to the students. He would even pretend to use a bloody sword and a war trumpet. The great-aunt also runs a general store in the classroom, but is unaware of the store's stock or the prices of the items sold. However, there is a memorandum book kept in the drawer that was used as a Catalogue of Prices.
Biddy, Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt's granddaughter, manages the store; and like Pip, she was an orphan and brought up by hand. Pip always wandered on how she was related to Mr. Wopsle, but he does frequently notice her at the school from her unbrushed hair, dirty hands and shoes that need to be mended. She went to church on Sunday's.
At school, Pip struggles with his alphabet, reading and math skills; but with Biddy's help, he starts to improve in his learning. One night, Pip was sitting in the chimney-corner writing on his slate. He writes a letter to Joe but it was poorly written. Joe is awestruck by his nephew and praises him for his learning by calling him a scholar. Pip admits he felt like becoming a scholar as Joe reads the slate, and says out loud the letters "J" and "O". Pip remembered at church last Sunday when he accidentally held his Prayer book upside down but Joe doesn't seem to be bothered by it. He encourages Joe to read the rest of the sentence, but Joe could only read the numbers one, two, three and "J and "O". Pip leans over Joe and reads him the whole letter with his finger.
Joe again praises Pip, and the boy asks him how he could spell. Joe says he doesn't know how to spell at all, and Pip asks him if he ever tried to read and spell. Joe replies he couldn't and also cannot read as well, even asking Pip if he could read him a book or newspaper by the fire and finds reading interesting. Pip realizes that Joe is illiterate and asks him if he ever went to school, and Joe replies no. Pip asks him why he never went to school. While poking the fireplace with the fire poker, Joe explains when he was a boy, his father was an alcoholic and he would beat Joe and his mother when drunk. He asks Pip if he's listening and he replies yes. Joe continues his story, and says he and his mother tried leaving his father several times. When his mother would find a job, she was determined to put her son in school. But his father would find them and bring them back home. Joe concludes this is why he never received an education.
Pip takes pity for Joe, and Joe explains he had to work hard for his father in the forge, and he stayed with him until he died. Despite his abuse and drinking, Joe sees his father as a man with a good heart, and recites this in a couplet that Pip asks him if he made it himself. Joe confirms he did and planned to cut it over his father, but writing poetry costs money. In addition, his mother was broke and suffering from poor health, and any remaining money they had was left to her until she died. Joe wipes his tears from his eyes while he was poking the fire, and explains he found it lonely living by himself. He then became acquainted with Mrs. Joe and thinks she is a fine woman. Pip stares at the fire doubtfully, as Joe declares no matter how harsh Mrs. Joe is, he considers her to be a "fine figure of a woman". Pip sarcastically replies to Joe he's glad what he thinks about her, and Joe agrees with him by asking what does it signify to Pip.
Pip asks who signifies him, and Joe replies he is correct. He explains how Pip was still a baby and being brought up by hand by Mrs. Joe when he became acquainted with her. This became well-known with the locals and says to Pip if he remembered being a tiny baby, he would have made an opinion about himself. The boy says to Joe to not mind him, and Joe brings up on when his relationship increased and she was ready to move into the forge with him, he insists on adopting Pip and keeping him with them in their home. Pip bursts into tears and apologizes and embraces Joe. Joe expresses how close friends they are, and agrees to let Pip tutor him, but it must be done by stating Mrs. Joe is given to government. Pip asks startled what does he mean, and Joe explains that Mrs. Joe wouldn't want scholars in their home nor does she want him to become one. Pip was about to ask why when Joe stops him by claiming he doesn't deny the times Mrs. Joe would dominate the household or carry out beatings, but whispers to Pip that she is a "master-mind".
Pip asks what being a "master-mind" means, and Joe explains how he saw his poor mother suffering at the hands of his father's abuse and never making peace with her, and he is too afraid of ending up like his father and mistreating his woman. He wishes he wouldn't let Mrs. Joe use the Tickler on Pip and wished he took the beatings instead. Pip notices both he and Joe are becoming equals and developed more admiration for him.
Joe puts out the fire as he sees the Dutch-clock he made himself strike 8 o'clock, but notices Mrs. Joe isn't home yet and hopes Uncle Pumblechook's house didn't slip on ice and hurt itself. Mrs. Joe and Uncle Pumblechook would make occasional outings on market-days, and she would assist him in shopping for household supplies and goods. After Joe swept the hearth and made the fire, he and Pip went outside to wait for the chaise-cart. It was a dry cold, night and the wind blew intensely. It was also so frosty outside that Pip think a man could freeze to death if he slept out on the marshes. Joe then sees the horse approaching, and they got a chair ready for Mrs. Joe and stirred up the fire to brighten up a window. They make a final survey around the kitchen to make sure everything was in good order, and the coach arrives. Mrs. Joe and Uncle Pumblechook dismount from the vehicle and enter the kitchen after covering the horse with a cloth. Their entrance made the warm room colder from the chilly air outside. Mrs. Joe excitedly unwraps herself and hangs her bonnet hanging by the strings, and says Pip should be grateful tonight but still has her worries. Uncle Pumblechook replies she would know better, and Pip is confused if Joe is being addressed as "she".
Mrs. Joe snaps the "she", Uncle Pumblechook is addressing is Miss Havisham, who has invited Pip to play at her house and she insists Pip accept the invitation and go over to her home. Pip has heard of Miss Havisham who lives uptown and is a wealthy, grim woman who lives inside a large, gloomy house as a recluse and barricaded from robbers. Joe wonders how she came to know Pip and Mrs. Joe isn't sure. Joe hints it may be some individual who sent Pip to play at Miss Havisham's, and asks if she sent Uncle Pumblechook to find a boy to invite over, and if he was a tenant of hers who would pay his rent at her house. He also asks if Miss Havisham is considerate enough to ask the Gargery's to choose their son as her playmate. Uncle Pumblechook praises Joe, but Mrs. Joe chastises he doesn't know anything about the situation. She hopes Miss Havisham will make Pip a fortune, and Pip is to go with Uncle Pumblechook into town in his chaise-cart to spend the night before visiting Miss Havisham the next morning. She is shocked to see how filthy Pip looks, and she forcibly washes him until he is clean. Afterwards, he was changed into stiff, linen clothing and taken to Uncle Pumblechook, who reminds him he should be grateful to those who brought him up by hand. Pip then says goodbye to Joe, for he has never left him before, and could barely understand why he is going to Miss Havisham's house as Uncle Pumblechook drives away with him.
When they arrived at Uncle Pumblechook's house in the town's High Street, Pip was sent straight to his bed, which is located in the attic with a sloped roof so low in the corner where he slept that the roof tiles were about an inch from his face. Uncle Pumblechook is also a seedsman, as Pip saw in his drawers in his shop that contained a lot of seed packets early the next morning. He sees Uncle Pumblechook even wears overalls and so did his clerk, and he would witness Pumblechook looking across the street and watching the locals go through their early day. At 8 o'clock, Pip and Uncle Pumblechook ate their breakfast in the parlour behind the shop, while the clerk had his meal of tea and buttered bread in the front. Aside from Uncle Pumblechook giving small crumbs to Pip and filling warm water into his milk, he would arithmetically quiz him. When Pip said good morning to him, he would pompously ask him what seven times nine means. Pip was too hungry to answer his math questions and before he could eat, Pumblechook would repeatedly quiz him of his multiplication, while he enjoyed his breakfast of a hot roll with bacon. When Pip managed to get every single bite, Pumblechook would quiz him again.
Pip was relieved when they finally left at 10 o'clock for Miss Havisham's, though he is nervous how he should behave in front of a wealthy woman. A quarter of an hour later, they arrived at Miss Havisham's house. It was a old and gloomy brick house and surrounded by iron gates. Some of the windows were boarded up, and others were lowly barred, and the courtyard in front was also barred. They rang a bell and waited for someone to come and unlock the gate for them. While Uncle Pumblechook asks another arithmetic question, Pip peeks through the gates and can see a large brewery at the side of the house, but it hasn't been in use for ages. A window was raised and a voice called out a name, and Pumblechook replies his name. The window then closes and a pretty, proud young girl comes out with a pair of keys. Uncle Pumblechook introduces the girl to Pip and she invites Pip inside.
Uncle Pumblechook was about to come in when the girl stops him and asks him if he wishes to see Miss Havisham. He replies he would like to and the girl replies she has not invited him. Pumblechook looks at Pip seriously and he calls out to him to let his behaviour be credited to those who brought him up by hand. Pip waited if he would ask another math question, but he doesn't. The girl locks the gate and they walk across the courtyard, where it was neat and pave with the grass growing through the crevices. The brewery was kept behind wooden gates and surrounded by an enclosed wall. The cold wind blew against the gate and made a howling noise around the brewery. The girl saw Pip looking at the brewery and says he could drink all the beer that was brewed there. Pip shyly admits he wishes he could, and the girl says he wouldn't try the beer now as it would be sour. She adds that the old brewery will never brew again and will continue standing until it falls into disrepair, and the strong beer kept inside the cellar is enough to flood the Manor House.
Pip asks her if that is the name of the house, and she replies it is one of its names. Pip asks if it has more than one, and she says it only has one, and it is called Satis, meaning "enough" in Greek. Pip thinks "Enough" is an odd name for a house, and the girl replies the house got its name from whoever owned it could have nothing else. Despite the girl calling him "boy", Pip notices she is around the same age as him, though she looked slightly older and is beautiful but scornful. They entered the building by a side door as the front entranced was barred by chains. Pip notices how dark the passages are, and the girl took a candle as they walk through more passages and up a dark staircase, with the candle's flames lighting the way. They then came to a door and the girl beckons Pip to go in. Pip tries to be polite and invites her in first, but she says she is not going inside and walks away with the candle. Feeling embarrassed and half-afraid, Pip knocks on the door and a voice tells him to come in.
He enters the room and saw it was a large, dressing-room lit with wax candles but there was no sunlight. There was a table with a mirror, and he assumes it's a lady's dressing table. In an armchair with her elbow on the table, he saw the most strangest old woman he had ever seen: she was wearing a white dress made of silk, satin and lace, white shoes, with some sparkling jewels in her hair and on the table. There were some other dresses scattered about the room that were less glamorous as her dress, and there were also some half-pack trunks. She only had one shoe on, and the other was on the table, her veil is half-arranged, wore no watch or chain, and the lace, handkerchief, gloves, flowers and a prayer-book laid on the table also. It took only a few moments for Pip to see everything, and he then saw everything that was once white was now yellowed and faded with age. The woman's bridal dress had withered and shrank to the bone, as well as having sunken eyes and white hair. He remembers seeing hideous waxwork at the fair, and the other time he was taken to one of the old churches in the marshes to see the skeletal remains of a woman wearing a rich dress exhumed from the church's burial vault, which reminds him of the woman's thin, frail appearance.
The woman is Miss Havisham and she calls out who is it, and Pip introduces himself as Uncle Pumblechook's boy who has come to play. Miss Havisham asks him to come closer to her, and as he approaches her, he notices her watch and a clock in the room were stopped twenty minutes to nine. Miss Havisham asks Pip to look at her and if he is not afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since his birth. Pip replies no, as he wasn't afraid to answer this question. She then lays her hands on the left side of her chest and asks him what she is touching. Pip guesses her heart and she abruptly says it is broken, following by a strange smile and then removing her hands afterwards. She then says she is bored from men and women's entertainment and demands Pip to play, which makes him wonder how she would make a poor boy like him do something difficult.
Miss Havisham again demands Pip to play, and a fearful Pip now considers running away back to Uncle Pumblechook's chaise-cart. But he changes his mind as he looks at her, and she asks her if he is sullen. Pip answers he is sorry for her and he cannot play, for her complaining would get him in trouble with his sister. But he will still do it if he can, and comments on how strange and melancholy her home is before he stops from going any further. He gazes at her again, and she then turned her eyes from him and stared at her dress, the table and herself in the mirror. She then mutters on everything Pip had said and then orders him to call Estella while still looking at her reflection. Pip thought she was talking to herself before she turns to him and again orders him to call Estella. He thinks calling her name in the dark passage was worse than being ordered to play, but she soon came with the candle lighting the darkness.
Miss Havisham beckons Estella to her, and she takes a jewel and tries it on the girl's chest and brown hair. She tells her it would soon be hers one day and asks her to play cards with Pip. Estella is disgusted she has to play with a common-labouring boy, and Pip thought for a moment the old woman told her to break his heart. Estella scornfully asks Pip what does he play, and he replies the card game Beggar my Neighbour. Miss Havisham orders Estella to play with him, and she and Pip sat down with a deck of cards. During the game, he notices everything in the room suddenly stopped a long time ago, such as Miss Havisham leaving the jewel in the exact same spot she left it. While Estella was dealing with the cards, he glances at the dressing table and also notices the now yellowed shoe on the table was never worn, and Miss Havisham's barefoot had a silk stocking that is yellowed and worn out. He wonders if Miss Havisham's dress could have been a burial outfit, and her veil a shroud. She sits still as she witnesses the game, and while Pip didn't know about ancient bodies being turned to dust after being dug up, he thinks she could easily be turned into dust from the sunlight.
Estella mockingly says Pip calls the knaves Jacks, and mocks his rough hands and thick boots. Pip doesn't know what he should do with himself, as he has never doubted his hands, boots or the knaves before. Estella wins the first round and criticizes Pip for being a stupid, clumsy labouring-boy. Miss Havisham remarks to Pip to not say anything to Estella, despite what harsh things she would say about him, and asks him what he thinks about her. He stammers he would rather not say, and she wants him to tell her in her ear as she bends down. He replies in a whisper that Estella is very proud and beautiful, but cold. He then decides he wants to go home, and Miss Havisham asks him if he won't see the pretty girl again. Pip isn't sure about not wanting to see her again and he wants to leave right away. She then says aloud he can leave after he finishes the game.
Estella beats him in the final round and threw the cards on the table she had won. Miss Havisham then thinks when Pip should return, with Pip reminding her today is Wednesday and she does some counting with her fingers. She then declares she doesn't know the days and weeks of the year, and tells him to return in 6 days. She then orders Estella to lead him out, give him some food and let him wander around while he eats. Pip follows Estella down the dark staircase until they reached the side door, and he thinks for a moment it must be nighttime, as he wonders if the day passed by quickly and he felt he was in Miss Havisham's room for hours. Estella tells him to wait and disappears behind the closed door. He then goes into the courtyard and inspects his hands and boots, as he now knows they bother him for making him look poor and wonders why Joe never taught him to call the cards Jacks instead of knaves. He also wishes he and Joe were brought up in a polished lifestyle. Estella then returns with some bread, meat and a mug of beer. She places the beer on the stones in the yard and gives him the meat and bread without looking at him, as if he's being treated like a dog.
Pip is so hurt and humiliated that he starts to cry, and Estella looks on with delight before she leaves him. After she is gone, Pip looks for a place to let out his emotions and goes behind the wall of the brewery, where he leans against the wall and cries bitterly while kicking the wall and twisting his hair. He was raised to be sensitive in a world where there is injustice for young children, and he had been treated unjustly since his infancy, such as Mrs. Joe taking her abuse out on him. He handled all of his punishments with self-confidence and it made him more shy and sensitive. After letting his emotions out, he goes behind the gate and eats his meal which makes him feel better. Afterwards, he looks around the deserted, withered courtyard where he spots a pigeon-house in disrepair with no birds living in it, no animals in the stable, and no smells of grain being grind into beer. There were also some empty beer casks by the brewery.
