Great Expectations

Miss Havisham’s house is “dismal” and creepy. Pip notes that there is no activity around the house, and it almost appears vacant. A pretty young lady, Estella, welcomes Pip, and Mr. Pumblechook leaves. According to Estella, the house is named “Satis,” which means “enough,” as no one living in such a house could want for anything more. 

Estella leads Pip to Miss Havisham’s room, and Pip enters alone. Havisham is dressed in an ancient wedding gown and a flowered veil that has grown yellow with age. Miss Havisham also appears withered and old. Pip notices Miss Havisham has stopped both a clock on the wall and her watch at twenty minutes to nine.

Miss Havisham declares that she’s heartbroken. She rambles strangely about how she is tired of men and women and wants to see a child play. Pip finds himself unable to play, but he begs Miss Havisham not to tell his sister for fear of getting in trouble. Miss Havisham summons Estella, and holds a jewel to Estella’s chest and hair, then promises it will be her own someday. She then commands that Estella play cards with Pip, who explains that he only knows how to play the game beggar. Estella protests that he is only a common laboring boy, but they play anyway. Miss Havisham demands to know what Pip thinks of Estella, and he hesitantly whispers that Estella is proud and pretty and that he wants to go home. 

After the children finish the game, Estella brings out bread, meat, and a small mug of beer for Pip, putting it down on the ground as though for a dog. Pip begins to cry, and Estella smirks at him. After he eats, Pip recovers enough to explore the house. Past the overgrown garden, he comes to the brewery. He sees Estella walking on the casks. He admires how beautiful she looks until she approaches him, laughs contemptuously, and pushes him out the gate. Pip sullenly heads back to Pumblechook’s, feeling common and ignorant.

Back at home, both Pip’s sister and Mr. Pumblechook are very curious to hear about Pip’s experience with Miss Havisham. Still struggling emotionally with the experience, Pip tells a series of lies to satiate the pair, including that Miss Havisham is “tall and dark” (152), that he met her sitting “in a black velvet coach” (153), and that her niece, Estella, served her cake and wine on a golden plate. Pumblechook can’t verify these details, as he has never actually seen Miss Havisham.

While Mr. Pumblechook and Pip’s sister speculate about the money Miss Havisham might give to Pip, Joe rolls his eyes, making Pip feel guilty. Later, Pip confesses to Joe that his stories about Miss Havisham are false and that he feels guilty for lying. Joe remonstrates that lying isn’t going to make Pip less common. Joe goes on to praise Pip for being above “common” because he can print letters, dismissing Pip’s anxieties that he is “ignorant and backward” (161).

Before falling asleep that night, Pip contemplates how Estella would find Joe common. He remarks that this day may change his future.

Pip resolves to be less common, and he solicits Biddy for help to further his education. She teaches him using books dirty, old books speckled with smashed insects. Pip reflects that it will take time to become “uncommon” this way.

Pip goes to find Joe at a bar where he likes to drink on Saturday nights. There, a strange man in a broad-brimmed traveler’s hat offers to buy Joe a drink. The strange man asks if there are often vagrants and convicts in the marshes, and Joe concedes that sometimes there are, and he went out to look for one once. The stranger asks about Pip’s name. As he does so, Pip notices that the man is looking at him, and he is stirring his rum with a file that only Pip can see. The strange man gives Pip some money and bids him and Joe good night. Back at the house, Pip’s sister is shocked that the convict his given him two one-pound notes.

Pip is unable to sleep, thinking about the convict and haunted by the image of his file. He wakes in the middle of the night screaming, imagining the file sticking out of the door at him.

Pip returns to Miss Havisham’s. Estella leads him through a new wing of the house. On the way to her room, Pip notices another clock set at twenty minutes to nine. Estella tauntingly asks Pip if Estella is pretty or insulting. Pip answers that she’s pretty and less insulting than last time. They pass a big man coming down the stairs. Unbeknownst to Pip, he is Mr. Jaggers, a London lawyer. Pip notes that Jaggers smells strongly of soap.

Miss Havisham leads Pip to a dusty, moldy dining room filled with bugs and mice. Miss Havisham declares that the dining table is where she will lay for her funeral. She points at large mound of moldy cobwebs in the center of the table and tells Pip that it’s her wedding cake. She urges Pip to walk with her round and round the room in a slow circle.

They call Estella, who arrives with a flock of nosy, wealthy elderly people—Georgiana, Sarah Pocket, Camilla, and Raymond. Sarah Pocket compliments Miss Havisham on how well she looks, and Miss Havisham is dismissive. Miss Havisham also speaks harshly to Camilla, who acts as though she is emotionally distraught by Miss Havisham’s disapproval of her. Camilla disdainfully mentions a man named Matthew, upset that he never comes to see Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham points to the table and declares that Matthew will come to see her when she lays there, implying that he’ll arrive for her funeral.

Estella returns, and Miss Havisham orders Pip to play cards with her. Miss Havisham decorates Estella in jewels again. Estella is aloof toward Pip. After a dozen games, Estella takes him back to the same spot where she left him the last time he visited, once again feeding him like a dog.

Again, Pip explores the grounds. This time, he finds a pale, unhealthy-looking young gentleman who questions his “prowling” and challenges him to a fight. The pale young man isn’t a very good fighter. After the first blow, Pip knocks him down. The young man, however, continuously springs back up, despite being heavily bruised. When the young man is finally satisfied that the fight is over, he politely thanks Pip for fighting him.

In the courtyard, Pip finds Estella waiting. Instead of pushing Pip to the gate, she tells him that he may kiss her. Pip kisses her cheek but feels degraded: “the kiss [is] given to the coarse common boy as a piece of money might [be], and […] it [i]s worth nothing” (209).

Pip thinks about the pale young gentleman and feels increasingly unsettled. He continuously pictures the young man on his back, puffy and bruised, and feels that there will be repercussions. For fear of the nameless “something,” Pip stays home for days on end, dreading his return to Miss Havisham’s. When he does return, however, no one seems to remember or care what happened.

Pip begins habitually pushing Miss Havisham around her room in circles with a wheeled chair. As they grow used to each other, they converse more. Miss Havisham asks what Pip wants to be when he grows up, and he replies that he will be an apprentice to Joe. He tells her that he knows “nothing” and wishes to know “everything.”

Estella continues to behave in a mercurial manner toward Pip, sometimes approaching him with a condescending attitude, sometimes a friendly one. They continue to play cards at the request of Miss Havisham, who frequently asks Pip if Estella is growing prettier. When Pip replies that she is, Miss Havisham seems greatly satisfied.

One day when Pip is walking round and round with Miss Havisham, she marvels at how tall he’s growing. He is now old enough to be an apprentice to Joe, and she remarks that he should start. She invites Joe to come and speak to her before she releases Pip to serve in the forge. When Pip returns home that night and tells Joe about this invitation from Miss Havisham, his sister throws a tantrum, as Miss Havisham didn’t invite her.

Pip experiences conflicting feelings as he sees Joe awkwardly putting on his suit to visit Miss Havisham. Pip thinks Joe looks better in his working-class clothes. He knows that Joe is stepping out of his comfort zone for Pip’s benefit. Pip’s sister continues to behave resentfully.

When Joe encounters Miss Havisham, he is so nervous that he continually addresses Pip instead of Miss Havisham. Likewise, Miss Havisham addresses questions about Pip’s feelings toward Joe, asking if Pip wants to be a blacksmith and if Pip likes the trade. She ends the visit by producing 25 guineas that she says Pip has earned. She says Pip will not return, as Joe oversees him now.

Back at home, Pip’s sister continues to sarcastically comment about how the other two must lower themselves to spend time with her. Joe tries to speak with more elevated language and Pip, having picked up a few things from Miss Havisham’s, assist him.

When Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook discover how much money Miss Havisham gave Joe, Pumblechook declares that Pip must become indentured to Joe immediately. He takes Pip to the town hall where he becomes indentured to Joe. To celebrate the twenty-five guineas, Pip’s sister insists on dining out at a pub called the Blue Boar. Pip’s mood is dark throughout this occasion, and he deeply resents the airs put on by “that swindling Pumblechook” (239). He doesn’t feel that he will ever enjoy Joe’s trade.

Pip misses Miss Havisham’s house and feels ashamed of his home. He longs for greater things.