Remembering my School Time Classic "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

Few days ago I was watching a movie "Illusionist", with a Victorian backdrop of  1800's. It was time in England when Chariots were the mode of transport,city of sophisticated people, army on Horses along city streets and a total monarchy. This reminds me of a classic, "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens which I read in my school days. Although I had bibliophobia at that stage of my life and was more busy with my sports recreations, but the curicullam forced me to read it as I had to fill my answer sheets with something relevant to the book. But thanks to the curicullam designers to make me read this classic.

Great Expectations is a novel first serialised in All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It is regarded as one of his greatest and most sophisticated novels, and is one of his most enduringly popular, having been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times.

Plot summary

The story is divided into four phases of Pip's life expectations.

On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a frightening man in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This incident is crucial: firstly, it gives Pip, who must steal the goods from his sister's house, his first taste of true guilt, and, secondly, Pip's kindness warms the convict's heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude.

At his sister's house, Pip is a boy without expectations. Mrs. Joe beats him around and has nothing good to say about her little brother. Her husband Joe is a kind man, although he is a blacksmith without much ambition, and it's assumed that Pip will follow in his footsteps. Only when Pip gets invited unexpectedly to the house of a rich old woman in the village named Miss Havisham, does Mrs. Joe, or any of her dull acquaintances, hold out any hope
for Pip's success.
Indeed, Pip's visits to Miss Havisham changes him. Miss Havisham is an old woman who was abandoned on her wedding day and as a result, stopped all the clocks in her house at that time only. She wears a yellowed wedding gown and haunts around her decrepit house, her only companion being Estella, her adopted daughter. Estella is beautiful, and Pip develops a strong crush on her, a crush that turns into love as he grows older. But it is unrequited love, as Miss Havisham has made it her dark life's project to raise Estella as a cruel-hearted girl who will break men's hearts, satisfying Miss Havisham's own desire to spurn love.



Pip frequently visits Miss Havisham, until one day she tells him never to return because the time has come for his apprenticeship with Joe to begin. Having tasted the spoils of a better life, Pip is miserable as a blacksmith and constantly worries that Estella will look through the forge window and see him as horribly common. Estella soon leaves the village, and things progress until one day Mrs. Joe suffers an attack which leaves her mute and incapacitated but much nicer. A young girl about Pip's age, Biddy, comes to live at the house in order to care for Mrs. Joe. Pip again settles into his routine, until one night at the village bar a London lawyer, Jaggers, approaches Pip, revealing startling news: Pip has inherited a sum of money from an anonymous benefactor and must leave for London immediately, to become a gentleman.

In London, Pip studies with a tutor and lives with a new and close friend, Herbert. Pip is certain that his benefactor is the rich Miss Havisham. In addition, he becomes convinced that Miss Havisham's financial support, toward his elevated social status, is the result of her desire that he may marry Estella someday. Pip passes many years in London; he remains ashamed of Joe, and they grow apart; Mrs. Joe dies, as he becomes more and more infatuated with Estella--who seems to get colder and colder by the day--he never confesses his love. Among the people he knows in London are Wemmick, a clerk in Jaggers' office who becomes a friend, and Bentley Drummle, a horrible brute of a boy who begins to become interested in Estella.

One stormy night, Pip learns the true identity of his benefactor. It is not Miss Havisham (who has made many misleading comments indicating it was her) but rather a petty criminal named Magwitch. Magwitch is the convict Pip fed in the churchyard many years ago, and he's left all his money to Pip in gratitude for that kindness and also because young Pip reminded him of his own child, whom he thinks is dead. The news of his benefactor crushes Pip--he's ashamed of him, and worse yet, Magwitch wants to spend the rest of his days with Pip. Pip takes this on like a dreadful duty, and it's all the worse because Magwitch is a wanted man in England and will be hanged if he's caught.

Eventually, a plan is hatched by Herbert and Pip, whereby Pip and Magwitch will flee the country by rowing down the river and catching a steamer bound for mainland Europe. This must be done on the sly, and further complicating matters is the fact that an old criminal enemy of Magwitch's, Compeyson, is hot in pursuit. Compeyson, it's discovered, is the same man that swindled and abandoned Miss Havisham so many years back. Miss Havisham, meanwhile, is softening a bit and seems repentant for her life-long mission against love.

Estella has been married to Bentley Drummle, a marriage that anyone can see will be an unhappy one. Just before Pip is to flee with Magwitch, he makes one last visit to Miss Havisham and finds her filled with regret, wanting his forgiveness. Unfortunately, she gets a little too close to the fire and sets herself ablaze. Pip heroically saves her, but she's badly burned and does eventually die from her injuries.

Pip and Magwitch, along with Herbert and another friend, Startop, make a gallant attempt to help Magwitch escape, but instead he's captured--pointed out, in fact, by his old enemy Compeyson. Compeyson dies in the struggle, and Magwitch, badly injured, goes to jail. Pip by now is devoted to Magwitch and recognizes in him a good and noble man. Magwitch dies, however, not long before he's slated to be executed. Pip has discovered that Magwitch is actually Estella's father, and on Magwitch's deathbed, Pip tells Magwitch his discovery and also that he loves Estella.

Without money or expectations, Pip, after a period of bad illness during which Joe cares for him, goes into business overseas with Herbert. Joe has married Biddy, and after eleven relatively successful years abroad, Pip goes to visit them out in the marshes. They are happy and have a child, whom they've named Pip. Finally, Pip makes one last visit to Miss Havisham's house, where he finds Estella wandering. Her marriage is over, and she seems to have grown kinder and wants Pip to accept her as a friend. When the novel ends, it seems that there is hope that Pip and Estella will finally end up together.






 

The first stage of Pip's expectations:

Pip, a young orphan, lives a humble existence with his shrewish older sister and her strong but kind husband, Joe Gargery. One day Pip meets Magwitch, an escaped convict, and brings him food and a file after the man threatens his life. This convict is later caught again and sent away.

Pip is satisfied with his life and his warm friends until he is hired by a wealthy woman, Miss Havisham, as an occasional companion to her beautiful but haughty adopted daughter, Estella. Pip falls in love with Estella. From that time on, Pip aspires to leave behind his simple life and be a gentleman. After years as companion to Miss Havisham and Estella, he spends more years as an apprentice to Joe so that he may grow up to have a future working as a blacksmith.

After a fight with Joe's assistant, Orlick, Mrs. Joe is found in the kitchen after a terrible attack.

This life is suddenly turned upside down when he is visited by a London lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, who informs Pip that he is to come into the "great expectations" of handsome property and be trained to be a gentleman on the behalf of an anonymous benefactor (whom Pip assumes to be Miss Havisham).

The second stage of Pip's expectations:

Pip travels to London. He arrives on a carriage near Mr. Jaggers' offices. After a stroll around the area, Pip is told by Mr. Jaggers that he will temporarily stay at the Barnard's Inn. Upon arriving, he finds Herbert Pocket (a relative of Miss Havisham), who informs Pip of Miss Havisham's past. Apparently, Miss Havisham had once been deceived by her jealous brother (Arthur Havisham) and an accomplice (Compeyson). Compeyson had misconstrued her into falling in love with him but had fled with her wealth, leaving her at the altar. Angered and humiliated, she raises Estella to take revenge on all males.

With Mr. Herbert Pocket, Pip receives an education and tutoring in manners, fine clothing, and cultured society. Whereas he always engaged in honest labour when he was younger, he is now supported by a generous allowance, which he frequently lives beyond. He learns to fit in this new milieu, and experiences not only friendship but rivalry as he finds himself in the same circles as Estella, who is also pursued by many other men, especially Bentley Drummle.

As he adopts the physical and cultural norms of his new status, he also adopts the class attitudes that go with it, and when Joe comes to visit Pip and his friend and roommate Herbert to deliver an important message, Pip is embarrassed to the point of hostility by Joe's illiterate ways, despite his protestations of love of and friendship for Joe. At the end of this stage, Pip is introduced to his anonymous benefactor, Magwitch, the escaped convict he helped long ago who has now acquired affluence in Australia. This revelation again changes his world and ends this stage of his expectations.

The third stage of Pip's expectations:

From this point on, Pip's life changes from the artificially supported world of his upper class strivings and introduces him to realities that he must deal with, including moral and financial challenges. He learns startling truths - including that Magwitch is innocent (framed by Compeyson) and that Estella is Magwitch's daughter. He realizes that he cannot accept Magwitch's fortune, is cast into doubt about the values that he once embraced so eagerly, and finds that he cannot regain many of the important things that he had cast aside so carelessly. Moreover, he discovers that Bentley Drummle has wooed Estella. Pip tries to warn Estella, but she ignores his admonitions and continues with the engagement.

Pip returns to Satis House and finds Miss Havisham distraught with remorse. Miss Havisham realizes that she has done Pip wrong and that she has also ruined Estella. She begs his forgiveness, which he quickly gives. Later, whilst sitting next to a fireplace, her dress catches fire, and she goes up in flames. However, Pip saves her though he burns his own hands. Miss Havisham loses her sanity and since then perpetually asks for Pip's forgiveness.

Pip soon receives an invitation by a mysterious stranger to the Marshes in his old town. There, he is kidnapped by Orlick, who despises Pip for smearing his reputation with Biddy whom he secretly admires. He admits to attacking Pip's sister and is about to kill Pip just when he is saved by Herbert.

They return to London and attempt to smuggle Magwitch from England to Hamburg, Germany on a foreign steamer. This attempt fails when Compeyson leads the police to the ship Magwitch is on. Magwitch seizes Compeyson, and a fight in the water ensues. Compeyson dies, and Magwitch is hit by the keel of the steamer ship, which was to take him away and is apprehended. Soon after, Mr. Wemmick marries Miss Skiffins, and Herbert leaves for Cairo, Egypt. Magwitch falls ill, and Pip tells him before he dies that his daughter (Estella) is still alive and that he loves her. Magwitch dies in peace, but Pip falls ill. Joe tends to him and pays the debts that Pip has accumulated. Pip eventually travels with Herbert as an occupation in the Middle East.

The ending

Charles Dickens wrote two different endings for Great Expectations. Dickens changed the ending at the suggestion of a friend, the novelist Edward Bulwer Lytton, presumably for the sake of a happier ending. The majority of books being published currently contain the first ending, or both, with the Dickens' original with its own explanation.

Original ending:

Pip meets Estella on the streets. Her abusive husband Drummle has died, and she has remarried to a doctor. Estella and Pip exchange brief pleasantries, after which Pip states while he could not have her in the end, he was at least glad to know she was a different person now, somewhat changed from the cold-hearted girl Miss Havisham had reared her to be. The novel ends with Pip saying he could see that "suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham's teaching and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be."

Revised ending:

Pip and Estella meet again at the ruins of Satis House:

'"We are friends," said I, rising and bending over her, as she rose from the bench.

"And will continue friends apart," said Estella.

I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.'