During his visits to Satis House Dickens shows how Pip’s distaste grew for Estella, yet accompanied by his lust and awe for her. He is constantly goaded by Miss Havisham to admire her, developing a strong passion for her and becomes engulfed by her spell, drawn in by her beauty and arrogance, finding it mystifying and intriguing.
As time passes by pip becomes angered by Estella’s indifference towards him, feelings of distress and irritation begin to burden Pip.
“Her contempt for me was so strong, it became infectious and I caught it.”
Here pip explains how strongly he was affected by Estella’s mental cruelty. He describes it as becoming so “infectious, that he caught it,” feeling that there was no escape from spell of contempt. However, he may have wanted to be infected, even though he loathed her contempt, he grasped onto it, unable to release his passion for her.
He becomes discontented with his social status, due to Estella referring to him as “poor and common” Dickens writes strongly about the effects of social classes, having been an issue of importance during his own life. It causes Pip to feel inadequate and bitter lacking the qualities he does not possess to gain Estella’s acceptance, let alone her affection. She later becomes the main source of his need to for fill his goals and ambitions.
However, during Pips visits to Miss Havisham’s there are brief moments where Estella shows Pip a mild affection, occasionally kissing him on the cheek and generally lowering her harsh persona. This of course inspires Pip’s longing for her, although he is perfectly aware that there is a remaining distance between them where social status is concerned. When Miss Havisham decides that it is time to let Pip go, she gives him a sum of money for his apprentice ship to her and tells him to return to his original apprentice ship as a black smith.
Pip, and Mr and Mrs Joe are slightly mystified by Miss Havisham, as they had been confident that she was to be pip’s benefactor and make his fortune, yet this did not appear to be the case.
After leaving Miss Havisham’s, returning to the forge with Mr and Mrs Joe, Pip becomes restless, remaining discontented with his life and apprentice ship to Joe. Wanting to seek a better fortune aspiring to greater expectations…
After Pip had remained at the forge for sometime, they received a visit from a respectable lawyer from London, named Mr Jaggers. Pip immediately recalled seeing him attending Miss Havisham’s during his visits to Satis House, and concluded that he had been sent on her behalf.
Mr Jaggers proceeded to inform Pip that he was to come into a “handsome property, and must be removed from his current sphere of life, and brought up as a gentleman with great expectations”
“ My dream was out; my wild fantasy was surpassed by sober reality; Miss Havisham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale.”
From this quote it is clear that Pip assumes Miss Havisham is to make his fortune, finally his dream is becoming a reality he is now anticipating what his future may hold.
In addition to the apparent link of Mr Jaggers to Miss Havisham, he informs Pip that he will be staying in London with Mr Matthew Pocket, another relation of Miss Havisham’s. Pip was delighted at the prospect of leaving the forge to move to better things, but felt slightly guilty for abandoning Joe; however, Joe encouraged his departure, wishing the best for him.
Throughout his stay in London, Pip began to learn the traits of becoming a gentleman. Over a course of time he had transformed from a mere apprentice black smith, into a respectable legible young man, gragually beginning to lose touch with his past life at the forge.
On an occasion when Joe came to visit him, Joe appeared to feel rather uncomfortable with in Pip’s presence, no longer knowing as he had been, but now as a gentleman, with new found airs and graces. Of course he was deeply happy for Pip and admired him for all he had achieved, but he could not hide his hurt and disappointment that they both now clearly had a rather different social status.
Pip was aware that he him self had changed, and began to reflect upon his expectations.
“Their influence on my own character, I disguised from my recognition as much as possible, but I knew very well that it was not all good.”
He has acknowledged his change in character, and is aware that although he has been successful in achieving his own expectations, that he had long for desired he was also aware that he preferred to be in denial as to his new undesirable traits. He explains this by saying, “I disguised from my recognition as much as possible”
Now that he has new goals to strive for in his life, opportunities and a whole new social status, his conscience haunts him, reminding him that he has been quick to forget those who matter and cast them aside with ease.
Without warning, long after Pip has become comfortable with his new life style, he receives a visit from an elderly gentleman. Pip is unable to recognise him, but is shocked to discover that he is an escaped convict, Magwitch whom Pip had helped as a young child, by bringing him food and not betraying him. He is astonished to be informed that as a repayment, it was the convict whom had been his benefactor, and not the suspected Miss Havisham as he had been lead to believe.
This is an extraordinary twist in the book, but a truly successful one, which is not divulged until the last moment. I appreciate how Pip had been lead to think Miss Havisham as his benefactor throughout, as their were multiple connections with her and her family and she never revealed to him the true source of his fortune, but instead kept him alight with the possibility that it maybe her, throughout his childhood.
As an audience, we watched Pip develop from an insecure child, achieving his goals and dream of becoming a true gentleman, showing us how it is easy to become absorbed in the effects of wealth and social status, without realising the true source of our achievements.
