Later in Pip’s life he goes to London in search of his ‘great expectations’. The first person he meets is the drunken minister of justice who invites him in for half a crown. Pip declines but the minister lets him in. Pip sees the place where people are hanged and the minister says we’ll have ‘four ‘on ‘em’ meaning if Pip stays he can watch four people being hanged. This short insight into the justice system shocks and terrifies him and that the person who showed him around was the person in charge of the courts and justice systems. When he meets up with Jaggers he notices that his friend has a huge popularity vote among the prisoners. He “walks among the prisoners as a gardener would walk among his flowers.”
Pip finds out from Wemmick that the mysterious gifts he has received are from convicts. Pip sees that convicts are treated as celebrities.
When Pip returns to the forge to visit his family he travels on the coach with two convicts being taken to the prison ships. Pip recognises one of the convicts as being the person who gave him £2. The convict doesn’t remember Pip but the convict does remind Pip how easily he could be exposed. Although the convict gave Pip money, he is looked upon as a “lower animal” by Wemmick.
Pip again meets up with Wemmick who shows him around the court and local jail. Pip notices that, like Jaggers, Wemmick has a huge popularity vote with the convicts. This puts Pip among people associated with crime and the criminal justice system. When Pip returns from the jail he feels contaminated by being around the convicts.
As Pip gets older he realises more and more about his life, his background and the people associated with it. While trying to find his way, he discovers shocking facts. The most important one being that Magwitch, the convict, is Pip’s benefactor. This confuses Pip because all along he has believed and has been told that Miss Havisham was his benefactor. Also Pip can’t believe that the criminal he helped on the marshes all those years ago could be the person funding his ‘great expectations’. Pip and Jaggers dress Magwitch up as Pip’s uncle in an attempt to smuggle him out of the country, but Pip still believes that their plan isn’t foolproof. Under all his clothes the fact that he is a convict still shows through. Also the fact that Magwitch has a daughter, and that daughter is the sweet innocent girl Estella, who Pip loved, makes no sense to Pip. That Magwitch, a common criminal, has produced Estella, a posh lady, confuses Pip because he believes that family should be of the same social background.
Crime and justice does play a very important role in the book. Crime falls into two main categories, moral crime and legal crime. Moral crime would be the treatment of Estella by Miss Havisham and legal crimes are crimes that you can be put on trial for. Justice does prevail e.g. poetic justice like Drummel who falls off his horse and Miss Havisham who dies after being cruel. This is also ironic.
