Right at the beginning of the novel, Pip meets an escaped convict in the Churchyard, where he is visiting his parents’ and siblings’ gravestones. He suddenly hears from behind him: ‘Hold your noise.’ It is said in an aggressive manner, such to scare Pip out of his thick boots. The man who said it must look absolutely blood curdling because he has an iron cast on his leg; old, tattered shoes; he is covered in mud and has many cuts and scars all over his visible flesh. When he speaks, he speaks in a very colloquial dialect and does not pronounce all the letters that we would.
‘Darn Me if I couldn’t eat ‘em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t.’
(Page 3 Chapter 1)
He knows that people call him vermin and he even calls himself ‘a warmint.’ All of the convicts wear the same clothes, showing that they are criminals and therefore degrading them. The man is desperate for any human contact and food and in chapter 3, we begin to see that he is not always horrible to children. He keeps saying ‘Thankee, my boy;’ he is thanking Pip for being kind and understanding of his situation. Dickens makes us dislike this man intensely, but at the same time we begin to feel sorry for him.
This man tells Pip to bring him some food and a file the next morning. He does not explain to Pip why he wants a file, but Pip assumes that it has something to do with the iron cast on his leg. The scary man threatens Pip by telling him about another scary man who will eat Pip alive if he fails to complete the task that he has been set with. This man, however, he subsequently forgets about the next morning when Pip brings him some food and a file. This shows that he was scaring Pip into bringing him the items that he requests.
‘There’s a young man hid with me, in comparison with which young man I am an Angel.’
(Page 4 Chapter 1)
However, Pip does steal some food: he steals a pork pie and some brandy, but the brandy is watered down, like the milk that Pip and the Gargerys drink. Pip does not want to get caught stealing the food because there is very little spare food at this time and it is coming up to Christmas as well. This displays how low down they are in the class ladder because there is no spare food and Pip feels very guilty of using up any spare food that there may have been. The thought of getting caught and the guilt of stealing food play on Pip’s mind and he has a guilty conscience for a long time.
Mrs. Joe and Mr. Pumblechook are always talking about Pip being ‘brought up by hand’. This theme has a habit of repeating itself throughout the novel, and Pip doesn’t really understand what it. They seem to use this against him as something to be grateful for but I have a sneaking suspicion that it is not something to be grateful for.
Before Pip meets Estella, he holds Joe in high regard. He thinks that being a blacksmith is like being at the top of the world. He is really looking forward to becoming Joe’s apprentice when he is old enough. However, when he meets Estella and he first goes to Satis House, she makes remarks about how common Pip is: how coarse his hands are and how thick his boots are. He is really disturbed by Estella and her hurtful remarks. They make him change his views from thinking his position in society was not so bad, to thinking how common it was as Estella suggested, or rather told Pip.
Pip thinks that Mr. Pumblechook, who is Joe’s uncle, is an arrogant old fool who is rather pompous. I share this view of him. Mr. Pumblechook is in the middle of the class ladder (he owns a chaise-cart) but is dismissed by Estella when he drops Pip off at Miss. Havisham’s. This shows how arrogant Estella is and how she has no respect for anyone, she just shoos him away as if he is a mere peasant.
Herbert Pocket, who Pip lives with when he is in London, is very polite and, according to Dickens, is a true gentleman. The first time Pip meets Herbert is also the first time he meets a true gentleman. Herbert explains to Pip about the polished manners of a gentleman and helps Pip on his way to moral regeneration. He also tries to help Pip out of his infatuation with Estella, because it is driving Pip into the ground. He does in a kind and gentle way, showing how much of a gentleman he is. Herbert is also in love, but with a girl of humble circumstances, which is a deliberate contrast to Pip and his love for Estella. Herbert’s mother has a high standard for the woman that she would like her son to marry, but Herbert’s fiancé is below these standards:
‘Perhaps I ought to mention that she is rather below my mother’s nonsensical family notions.’
(Page 248 Chapter 30)
Pip is vexed by Trabb’s boy because he mocks Pip when he returns to visit the small Kent village where Joe and Biddy still live. Before Pip moved to London, Trabb’s boy, who is also an apprentice, was effectively Pip’s equal; a lower working class man’s apprentice. Trabb’s boy exaggerates Pip’s actions, e.g. the way he walks. This shows that Trabb’s boy could be jealous of what Pip has become. He is still a working class man and Pip is gentleman, but only in style. This is a very important event in Pip’s life because he sees what he would have been if he had not had a benefactor. This also is the first time he realizes that he has neglected Joe and Biddy.
In chapter 39, Magwitch reveals himself to Pip as his benefactor. When Pip first sees him again, he does not recognize Magwitch, but after he forces himself into Pip’s apartment, Pip slowly begins to realize how this strange man is. He is the scary man off the marshes who ordered Pip to bring him food and a file!
‘I relinquished the intention he has detected, for I knew him! Even yet I could not recall a single feature, but I knew him!’
(Page 312 Chapter 39)
Pip couldn’t put his finger on what it is that he recognised about Magwitch, but he knew that he recognised him. Magwitch, however, knew exactly who he is talking to and said that he has never forgotten Pip.
Magwitch has been deported to Australia for a long time, and has made a fortune over there. He has sent all of his money to Jaggers in England for Pip, but Pip does not know that the money is coming from Magwitch. He is dropping small hints to Pip that he is in fact the benefactor. This means that he wanted to see if Pip could work out that Magwitch is his benefactor. But in the end, he has to tell Pip.
In the third stage, many loose ends of thee narrative are tied up. This combines with Pip’s growing awareness and moral regeneration. Dickens forces us to consider not just the social side of class, but its moral aspects. Pip achieves social status, but suffers a moral decline; however, in the ‘third stage’ of the novel, we see him achieve the high status of a gentleman in the moral sense.
The chief problem confronting Pip becomes the protection of his benefactor, Magwitch from the death sentence that he has been issued with. Pip fights for Magwitch until he dies. Pip learns about what Magwitch has been through to make him a ‘gentleman.’ He also learns about what Miss Havisham has been through. Estella, who is brought up to hate and reap revenge on all the male sex, marries Bentley Drummle, however, it is short lived as Bentley dies shortly afterwards. This makes Estella realize how horrible she has been to Pip. But this is not the only marriage in the third stage; Herbert Pocket marries Miss Skiffins and Joe marries Biddy.
To repay Herbert for being so warm, friendly and kind to Pip, he establishes Herbert as a partner to a shipping firm. He also persuades Miss Havisham to give a sum of money to her young relative. Matthew Pocket also gets a large sum of money and everything that Miss Havisham leaves behind, once again, thanks to Pip.
Pip discovers that Mr. Jaggers’ housekeeper, Molly is Estella’s mother and that Magwitch, his benefactor, is her father. Orlick, who used to be one of Joe’s apprentices, confessed to attacking Mrs. Joe after he attempted to murder Pip. He is sent to the county jail after breaking into Mr. Pumblechook’s house.
Magwitch has a struggle with Compeyson, the man who stood up Miss Havisham on her wedding day and ruined her life, and Compeyson dies, after betraying Magwitch. After being abroad for 11 years, Pip realizes that he has neglected Joe and Biddy and apologizes to them when he comes back, a self-made man. He realizes that his ways must change and begins the long and difficult process of becoming a true gentleman. He also goes to Satis House and visits Estella. He sees that she is no longer as black-hearted as she used to be.
TO-DO LIST
- Conclusion – Dickens used this method, that method etc.
