I think this was a selfish thing to do, as she was only using Pip as a means of getting what she wanted. These days, I think that this attitude can still be found – you still find ambitious people in the world who are just like Mrs. Joe and will use others in order to achieve their desires.
Satis House is the home of Miss Havisham. It was once a thriving beautiful manor with a brewery attached to it, which was her source of wealth. But all this stopped half a decade earlier, when Miss Havisham was abandoned on her wedding day by Compeyson. Since this sorrowful event, she has lived her life in that single moment when she received the news – the clocks remain at twenty-to-nine, she wears her yellowed bridal gown and only one shoe because this was how it was when she learnt of the betrayal. She became obsessed with wreaking vengeance upon the male sex and adopted Estella, to break men’s hearts.
The house itself is enormous and furnished richly (though it is now slipping to decay with cobwebs and dust, due to the Miss Havisham’s desire to stop time) and compared to Pip’s own house, truly a mansion but a dirty one.
Satis House was aptly named by Dickens from the word “enough” in Latin, but could Dickens really have meant the opposite? Is it really “enough” to be rich and grand? The house slowly falls into decay due to the lack of love and care. The house could be a symbol of how life needs more than riches to be satisfactory, which Pip learns later in life. I think this is how Dickens wanted “Satis House” to be interpreted, rather than Miss Havisham’s feeling of having had ‘enough’ of everything.
When Pip is fourteen, Miss Havisham tells Pip that he is to never return, as he is starting his blacksmith apprenticeship. This appears to seal Pip’s fate as a member of the working class, but after a glimpse of life at the upper-class at Miss Havisham’s, Pip has become reluctant to finalize his future as a blacksmith. He had fallen in love with the loveless Estella, and believed that if he were a “gentleman” Estella would be willing to love him in return.
Pip continues with his apprenticeship for a couple of years, until one day, an unknown benefactor provides him with the wealth and the chance to achieve his dream of becoming a gentleman. The definition of a “gentleman” is, “a man of chivalrous and fine feelings”, but when Pip goes to London to become one, his kind nature fades, and he becomes snobbish and arrogant, as he confesses openly.
In the Victorian times, the term “gentleman” was indeed a difficult one to decipher. An aristocrat was a “gentlemen” by right of birth, though being born rich does not necessarily make one benevolent. Others were “made” by growth of wealth and power through trades. But becoming rich isn’t what makes a “gentleman”, in its true sense. Was it fair that those (like Joe Gargery) who were truly “gentlemen” by nature were not recognised if they were poor, but those who were rich, yet maybe not as compassionate as the others were actually labelled a “gentleman”? When Pip was in London, his attitude was that of a “gentleman” of wealth, not by nature.
Pip is reunited in London with a past face from Miss Havisham’s, Herbert Pocket (“the pale young gentleman”) and the two become very close friends. Herbert, like Pip, wants to become rich in order to achieve his desires and so he plays an important part in Pip’s transformation into a “gentleman”. They both act the way they think rich people act.
After a while in London, Joe visits Pip to deliver a message from Miss Havisham. By this stage, Pip has lost his true “gentleman” like self and is embarrassed by Joe’s presence. Pip the narrator realises his snootiness, but Pip the young man, who is acting out the event, felt that Joe was not “proper” for London, and felt uncomfortable with this representative of the past he wanted hidden. Pip the narrator tells us that at the moment, “if I could have kept him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money” which shows how his views have changed since living in London. The adult Pip displays himself in a very negative way at this point and there is a lot of honesty and confession. This suggests that the adult Pip understands that he was horrible at this point and is mature enough to admit it and feel regret. Joe, who attempted to dress up for Pip (quite like the way Pip for Miss Havisham), felt awkward in the clothes and senses Pip’s embarrassment. As a true gentleman, Joe dismisses himself, and wishes the hostile Pip blessings. At this point, we feel that Pip is incredibly rude and selfish. He is embarrassed by his roots, and our sympathy goes towards Joe.
Later on in the story, Pip learns that Abel Magwitch, the convict he helped in the past, is in fact his benefactor, having made money from years of hard work in Australia. Pip’s reaction to this news is not positive. On the contrary, he felt that he had been cheated. Pip had thought that the secret benefactor was Miss Havisham (helped by the false hints from Miss Havisham herself) and with this, he had no problems. It would have been fine if it had been Miss Havisham, as Pip had thought it was a plan of hers to prepare him to end up with Estella, but to have Magwitch, a convict, as his secret benefactor was an embarrassment to Pip. He felt a great disappointment because he now knows that Miss Havisham did not have plans for him to be with Estella.
But this was the first step to Pip’s elevation towards a true “gentleman”. He gradually warms to Magwitch and changes. He admires Magwitch’s kind and generous self and learns to behave in a similar way.
The way Pip changed so quickly and easily after becoming “nouveau riche” (newly rich) is the way Dickens suggests many would act upon the receipt of money. When someone suddenly becomes rich, it is difficult to remain the same and the change (if only temporary) is almost inevitable. Nowadays, I think that the same does not apply as much as it did back then. It really depends on the individual, but in general, people were more eager to climb up in society back then and so money would have changed them a lot, whereas these days, the ambitions of the individual would determine whether or not to choose to stay where they are, or to move into a different society.
Magwitch was a transported to Australia, which meant that if he were to return to England again, he would be executed. Pip, after warming to Magwitch, does not want this to happen, and so he tries to help the convict escape. Unfortunately, Compeyson, Miss Havisham’s ex-fiancé and an old enemy of Magwitch points him out to the police and Magwitch is caught and sentenced to death. I think Pip’s change of heart was caused by his realisation of Magwitch’s generosity over the past years but it was more than that. Pip may have realised that his reaction toward Magwitch as his benefactor was unfair (like he realises with his other childhood speculations) and understands that Magwitch did genuinely love him.
Magwitch dies before the hanging and, soon after his death; Pip falls ill and is taken back to the marshes to the care of Joe and Biddy. Pip recovers and is the changed man who tells the story.
Pip realised that one’s social position is not as important as he thought. He recognized that his attitude as a wealthy “gentleman” caused him to reject those who loved him the most. Once Pip learns these lessons, he becomes the Pip who is narrating the story.
