When Estella informs Pip that she will be coming to Richmond and that he should meet her at the coach office Pip gets so excited that he arrives at the coach office five hours early. When he is with Estella, she warns Pip not to become too emotionally attached to her because she “was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on the male sex.” Even though she has warned him of this, he still loves her. Estella has some feelings for Pip because she deceives and entraps all men with the exception of Pip.
Later in the novel, we learn that Estella is engaged to Bently Drummle. Pip is distraught when he learns this.
Estella marries the cruel Drummle, who treats her insensitively and makes her life miserable for many years. In this way, Dickens uses Estella's life to emphasize the idea that one's happiness and well-being are not connected to their social position: had Estella been poor, she might have been substantially better off.
At the end of the novel, Pip visits the plot of land where Satis house used to be. Here he meets Estella coincidentally. She has changed, her heart softened by her suffering. She now understands the way she has treated Pip and says, "Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching.... I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape."
When Pip first meets Miss Havisham, he describes her as “an immensely rich and grim lady.” Miss Havisham despises most men after Compeyson broke her heart. When Estella goes abroad, Miss Havisham’s response to Pip’s disappointment is described as “malignant enjoyment.”
She has raised Estella to cause pain and suffering to men. Miss Havisham is
unable to see that her actions are hurtful to Pip and Estella. Later when Pip meets Estella as a beautiful young woman Miss Havisham orders Pip to “love her. If she favours you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces, love her.” She says this as if she is cursing Pip. This was the first time that Miss Havisham has spoken to Pip about loving Estella. Estella has been raised so that she cannot love men and she does not even love Miss Havisham. Pip is aware of this and this causes him pain.
Miss Havisham plays a big part in Pip’s uprising in society. Pip believes that she is the mystery benefactor that is providing him with money so he tries his best to take advantage of this opportunity. Had Pip have known it was Magwitch who was providing his fortunes then he may have stayed in the stable society that was the forge.
Eventually Miss Havisham feels guilty about the way that she has treated Pip and she says, “ What have I done. I stole her heart away and put ice in its place.” She then sets herself alight. All her clothes from the past were destroyed in the fire. This symbolises that Miss Havisham is freed from the past and she can become a new woman.
Miss Havisham's life was defined by one event: her jilting by Compeyson on what was to have been their wedding day. From that moment, Miss Havisham is determined never to love another man. She stops all the clocks in her house at twenty minutes to nine, the moment when she first learned that Compeyson was gone. Miss Havisham only wears one shoe, because when she learned Compeyson’s betrayal, she had not yet put on the other shoe. Compeyson was the other convict that was captured along with Magwitch.
Abel Magwitch is the convict that Pip first encounters on the marshes at the beginning of the novel. When Pip meets him, Magwitch orders him to fetch him a file and some wittles. He says if he does not “I’ll have your heart and liver out.” Pip compares the way Magwitch eats to the way his dog eats.
Magwitch is a key person in Pip’s development as he is the mystery benefactor who is providing Pip with money. We first get the idea that Magwitch may be the benefactor when Pip gets given two pound notes by a strange man in the local pub, the Three Jolly Bargemen. Pip sees this man stirring his drink with a file. Pip recognises this as the file he gave to Magwitch. Pip then encounters Magwitch on a coach returning to his home town from London. Magwitch does not recognise him but Pip is afraid.
When Pip first discovers that Magwitch is his benefactor, he is devastated. “His blood ran cold.” He is dismayed that all his dreams and his education have been based on the work of a convict. Pip takes care of Magwitch. He is embarrassed to be with Magwitch because he is disgusting and uncouth.
Pip learns that Magwitch was banished to Australia and faces the death penalty if he returns. Pip decides to get Magwitch out of the country. The fact that he does this proves that he does care about Magwitch. Pip also proves that he cares about him when Magwitch falls ill. A loving bond develops between Pip and Magwitch. When Magwitch comments on Pip never being late to visit him in prison hospital Pip says, “Not to lose a moment of the time.” The relationship between Magwitch and Pip at the end of the novel is almost the same as Pips and Joe’s relationship at the beginning of the novel. He loves Magwitch.
He discovers that Magwitch is Estella’s father and informs Magwitch of this just before his death so that he dies happy. Here we see the compassionate side of Pip that is similar to Joe’s normal behaviour.
Joe almost certainly has to be the kindest person in the novel. He is Pip’s brother-in-law but Joe loves him as his own son. At the beginning of the novel, Pip would trust Joe with his life. Joe is described as “a mild, good natured, sweet tempered, foolish, dear fellow.” Joe is illiterate but he is happy. Dickens is again reinforcing the idea that one's happiness and well-being are not connected to their social position. Joe has an excellent relationship with Pip. Joe says “you and me is always friends.”
As Pip starts to visit Miss Havisham and Estella, he becomes ashamed of Joe. When Joe visits Miss Havisham, there is a distinct contrast of speech between the two of them. Joe is grammatically incorrect.
As Pip develops, he sees less and less of Joe and the forge. When Joe visits Pip, he resorts to calling him sir. He consistently acts for the benefit of those he loves and suffers without complaint when Pip treats him coldly. Joe pays off Pip’s huge debts when he is ill even though Pip has treated him this way. Pip feels extremely guilty about what he has done. He has completely discarded Joe for what he thought would be happiness in the upper class world but he found that he was not always happy and near the end of the novel wishes that he was back at the forge.
Joe is one of the many people who have influenced Pip but Pip’s own need for self-improvement is a key influencing factor. Pip is an idealist; whenever he can see someone better than him he immediately wants to improve himself to be at his or her standard. When he met Estella he was ashamed of his class, his background and his home. He said, “I had believed in the forge as the road to manhood and independence. Now it was all coarse and common, and I would not have had Miss Havisham and Estella see it on any account.” Pip desires educational improvement in order to become a gentleman and to marry Estella. He rises through the classes to become worthy enough to marry Estella.
Throughout “Great Expectations”, Dickens look at the class system of Victorian England, ranging from the shameful criminals, the poor working class people of the marsh country, the middle class to the very rich people who live aristocratic lifestyles. Eventually Pip realizes that what your class is and whether you have money isn’t as important as how loyal you are to your friends and family.
Social class is an important factor that has influenced Pip’s development and Estella is a completely different class to him at the beginning of the novel and he works is educated and turned into an upper class gentleman just to have the same social position so that they could have a relationship. Estella has influenced him enough to want to be educated and change class. Therefore I conclude that Estella is the person who influences Pip’s development the most.
