Later in life Pip inherited a large sum of money from Magwitch and has now great expectations. However, throughout the book, he was certain that it was Miss Havisham. He then goes on to London to become a gentleman where his tutor is Matthew Pocket. There he learns everything on becoming a gentleman. He loves his new life and couldn’t ask for more. It seems as if he becomes a snob because when Joe comes to visit, he is instantly embarrassed by him. He then sees Estella again at a visit to the Satis house. He becomes jealous of the men she has encountered and tries once again to win her over but it is unsuccessful because she marries Bentley Drummel.Pip then visits Miss Havisham’s house once more but this time is different because this is the last time he sees her. Her dress catches fire and she is reduced to ruble, quite literally.
Pip then, after a period of bad illness, goes into business with Herbert without money or expectations. he then visits the Satis house one last time only to find Estella sitting in Miss Havisham’s room being “taken over” by the house. It seems that she is becoming Miss Havisham. But Pip saves her from the dust by opening the windows and “sets her free”. They then hold hands and leave the wretched house and Pip says, “I saw the shawdow of no parting from her.” This, to me, gives the sort of impression that he will be imprisoned in this relationship forever because he doesn’t seem entirely happy to be finally with the love of his life. Or maybe the sun is behind them casting their shadow out in front of them and can literally see the shadow of them holding hands.
There were many important characters in this book but in my opinion, only three stood out from the rest: Pip (obviously), Miss Havisham, and Estella. Pip was a young boy in kent and was said to have no expectations and was beaten with many objects by his sister Mrs. Joe. He is a poor boy but quickly makes his way up in the world, after inheriting a great deal of money, which he thought came from miss Havisham. But it is later found out that is came from Magwitch. Pip goes then to London to become a gentleman and quickly becomes a snob and is easily embarrassed by Joe when he comes to visit. He loves the life he has started to live but it came to an end at the end of the book where he becomes poor again. His name then, Philip Pirrip, shows his rise from being poor and his downfall to being poor again because both names start and end with the letter “P”.
Miss Havisham was a wealthy woman who lived in a large mansion named Satis house and has locked herself away from civilization after she was abandoned on her wedding day. The cake and other food are still on the table collecting dust and rotting. After her wedding day her heart takes a turn for the worse when she wants to “destroy” love. For example when she tells Estella to drag Pip along and break his heart when his love is at its climax. She makes Estella play with his heart (figuratively of course). Pip grew fond of his visits to her and also started to grow fond of her. They talked about many things while he pushed her around in her wheelchair. Later in the book, when Pip comes to visit her, her dress catches on fire and she goes up in flames which ironic because she was cold hearted.
Estella was miss Havisham’s adopted daughter and was raised to be mean to the opposite sex. She was also beautiful and had many men dropping at her feet. She teases Pip because she knows that he can’t resist her. She later moves to Paris to become a lady and deserts Pip in a way because he doesn’t know when, or if, he will see her again. Later she shows up in the book when Pip meets her at miss Havisham’s mansion. She tells him of her travels and he becomes jealous of the men she has been with. She then is married to Bentley Drummel, but this is a marriage that everyone can see will not be a happy one.
At the end of the book she is found sitting at miss Havisham’s house and seems to be falling under the same “spell” that took over Miss Havisham and made her into a recluse. But Pip stops that from happening.
In the book there were some words that seemed to be normal to find in an old English novel. Words that wouldn’t be heard in modern day Britain.
- Gibbet: A place where people were hanged.
- Flaxen: A pale grayish-yellow color, often referring to hair.
- Betwixt: Between.
There were many other words that showed up in the novel which were quite perplexing and required me to pick up a dictionary (aka merriam-webster.com) and search for the word in question.
The book does pertain to present day reality because sometimes, if people inherit a large sum of money, they might blow it all and lose their friends because the person becomes and snob and once everything is over, he is left with nothing. Luckily, however, Pip still had Joe, Biddy and Herbert and in the very end, Estella. It also shows greed and karma because being greedy with all of his money, he became a snob and blew off Joe when he came to visit so karma decided to step in and “shoot” him down.
