In the morning after Magwitch has revealed his identity, Pip trips over a man who had been crouching in a corner by his staircase. Pip immediately runs to fetch the watchman to question him about any visitors he may have let in, but on their return the man has vanished. (We later find out that it was Orlick – the day labourer in Joe’s forge, who reveals towards the end of the novel that he has connections with Compeyson, a criminal and former partner of Magwitch.) Pip turns his attention to Magwitch, and decides to use his alias, “Provis”, in order to keep the servants from learning the truth about his identity. He refers to Magwitch as his uncle, who has come to visit him. In the meantime, Pip interrogates him – asking him if he had brought anybody with him when he arrived the previous evening, and then questioning his reputation in London. Magwitch explains that Mr Jaggers, the powerful, foreboding lawyer he hired to supervise Pip's elevation to the upper class, had tried him in London and that was the first time he had met him. Later, in the same chapter, Pip arranges a disguise and calls on Jaggers in order to verify Magwitch’s story, during which Magwitch trundles around Pip’s apartment, embarrassing him with his poor manners and rough dialect.
Pip is appalled by the news he has received, but still he feels morally obligated to help Magwitch escape from London. It is interesting to note that in certain ways, he has hardly changed since his childhood days, and that this is one of them. Magwitch soon opens up to Pip, telling him his story and how he too was an orphan and lived a life of crime out of necessity. He met Compeyson as a young man, and the two became partners – but when they were caught, Compeyson turned against him, forcing Magwitch to seek revenge. Earlier in the novel, it is him who Pip sees Magwitch struggling with in the marsh. Herbert, a friend who shares the apartment with Pip, later tells him that Compeyson was the man who stood Miss Havisham up on her wedding day.
It is important to put Miss Havisham into context at this point. She is the wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pip’s village. She constantly wears her faded, yellowed wedding dress, keeping her decaying, mouldy wedding cake on her table, with all the clocks in the house stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Because of Compeyson’s failure to turn up at their wedding, Miss Havisham now has a grudge against all men, and intentionally raises Estella to be the instrument of her revenge, teaching her to break all men’s hearts. Miss Havisham is a major character in the novel, as she affects the dynamism of the story. She unkindly keeps Pip in suspense, realising that he believes her to be his benefactor. This malicious behaviour is due to her negative mindset about men, and eventually her conscious comes into play. She is in despair for what she has done to both Estella and Pip. In Chapter 49, Pip pays her a visit. Sobbing, she clings to his feet, pleading for forgiveness. Typically of Pip’s character, he acts kindly towards her, taking her for a walk around the garden.
The time comes for Pip and his friends, Startop and Herbert, to help Magwitch escape from London. Just before the escape attempt, Pip is summoned to a shadowy meeting in the marshes, where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pip’s life. Pip and Herbert then hurry back to effect Magwitch’s escape. They try to sneak him down the river on a rowboat, but the police, who Compeyson tipped off, discover them. Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch is sentenced to death after being found guilty, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is God’s forgiveness and dies at peace.
After Magwitch’s death, Pip falls seriously ill. At the same time, he is found guilty of debt, and is almost sentenced to time in prison. He is spared due to his poor state of health, and during his illness he experiences vivid hallucinations, reliving scenes with Orlick and Miss Havisham. He continually sees Joe’s face during these hallucinations, but Joe arrives in order to help nurse Pip back to his health. Once better, he hears news of Miss Havisham’s death and how Orlick has been put into jail for robbing Pumblechook, Pip’s pompous arrogant uncle who is responsible for his first encounter with Miss Havisham. Throughout the novel, Pumblechook shamelessly took credit for Pip’s rise in social status, even though he had absolutely nothing to do with it.
After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, a kind-hearted country girl who cares for Joe and his wife, Mrs Joe after she falls ill, but when he arrives there he is shocked to discover that she and Joe have already married. Although he is obviously disappointed, he expresses happiness for them and decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Drummle (a man who attended tutoring sessions with Pip at the Pockets' house), her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that Estella's coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.
Pip’s character is passionate, romantic, and somewhat unrealistic at heart, and he tends to expect more for himself than is reasonable. He also has a powerful conscience, and he deeply wants to improve himself, both morally and socially. Referring back to pg 342-346, and to Magwitch’s character, it is interesting to draw parallels between him and Miss Havisham. Both of them, I feel it is safe to say, wanted to improve Pip’s character, although they both went about it in very different ways. Magwitch provided the finances, and Miss Havisham (through Estella) provided him with the inspiration. If it hadn’t been for these two characters, Pip would have probably remained a country boy, working for Joe in the smithy. It is also interesting to note that Miss Havisham and Magwitch come from two completely different social classes. Miss Havisham was very wealthy, even though her family fortune had been misused by her unruly half brother, who had been convinced to sell half the share of the brewery to Compeyson, Miss Havisham’s fiancé. Magwitch, on the other hand, was orphaned and poor, with an earliest memory of stealing turnips to feed himself.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dickens, Charles. Published in Penguin Books 1965. Made and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk.