Great Expectations

In the novel “Great Expectations” written by Charles Dickens the story is about moral redemption and self discovery. Pip, the protagonist, struggles to find out who he is in his life, he struggles to find his great expectations, but at the same time wanting to be morally redeemed for all the bad things he thinks he does throughout his story. Through out the story, Pip is always trying to have a clean conscious, so when he helps an escaped convict the guilt almost swallows him up. The convict terrifies him and he describes him as a:
“A fearful man all in course grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by needles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.” (Dickens, 4).
The name of the convict is never mentioned at this point but he picks Pip upside down and asks if he has anything like money. When the convict discovers that he has nothing to offer him, he scares Pip into doing things that he would never had. He demands Pip to bring him a file and wittles. To do that Pip would have to go against what he wants and would have to steal from Mrs. Joe and Joe. Mrs. Joe is his older sister and Pip lives with her and her husband Joe, who is the town’s blacksmith. Even though Pip does get the items for the convict, he hates lying to anyone, especially Joe because he cares most about him. So, when he is frightened into helping this convict it really makes him feel ashamed and horrible about him. When Pip meets the convict with the things that he took, his sympathies become crossed when he finds the convict and sees what condition he is suffering in. That’s the thing about Pip; he has this special quality to care for human life. When Pip gets the items for the convict and he finds him suffering from the elements of the winter, Pip has a sudden pang of guilt and he feels emotional for the poor suffering man. “He was awfully cold to be sure. I half expected to see him drop down before my face and die of deadly cold. His eyes looked so awfully hungry, too…” (Dickens, 18). Even though Pip is still horrified by his appearance and the way he treated him earlier he still feels bad for him, and this plays into Pip’s self discovery. He is growing through these events, and it leads him into discovering himself and what he is capable to do and feel. When he is very young, Pip is exposed to a new world of living in a high social class, higher than the one he lives now, he starts to question himself if he is good enough or not, and he wants to improve himself. Pip goes and visits the old grumpy lady, Miss Havisham who lives in the Satis House in hopes of getting a better education. He is setup by his Sister, Mrs. Joe, and Pumblechook who is actually Pip’s uncle in law, but he is very arrogant and is fixated with money. When Pip visits the Satis House for the first time, he meets a beautiful young girl, Estella, who is about the same age as himself and he decides that he is absolutely in love with her. Although she mocks him on his lower class appearance he is still enticed with her beauty. When he meets Miss Havisham, he thinks that she is crazy sitting in her wedding dress, in a decaying room with old moldy food, and with all the clocks stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Pip describes Miss Havisham to “waxwork and skeleton” (Dickens, 58). He is treated cruelly by both Estella and Miss Havisham. Estella’s reaction to Pip is hurtful and arrogant when she is asked to do something with Pip, “With this boy! Why he is nothing but a common labouring-boy!” (Dickens, 60). Miss Havisham loves the fact that Pip is nothing but taken with her Estella. When Miss Havisham’s heart was broken by a guy, she promised to take revenge on everyman by wanting to break their hearts as hers was broken. By having the beautiful, sinister Estella, Miss Havisham encourages her to break Pip’s heart and Estella does this by leading him on then breaking him down by making him cry or mock him. By doing this, Pip starts to question on his lower class appearances and manners. He will later discover that trying to get in a higher social class isn’t everything. Pip hopes that his reason for going to Miss Havisham is that his education will become better, and after going to the Satis House for a while, that Miss Havisham will make him into a gentleman. That his social class will improve and he can impress Estella. That is really one of the only reasons he wants to improve his class, and wants to become gentleman in hopes of impressing Estella. When Miss Havisham asks him what he was planning to do, Pip told her that he was supposed to become Joe’s apprentice, but he never meant it because he didn’t want to. Pip thought that the purpose of Miss Havisham was for her to turn him into a gentleman by giving him a large fortune. His dreams come crashing down when Miss Haisham tells Pip she needs Joe to sign the apprenticeship papers, she was just making the apprenticeship official. Pip is horrified to discover that Miss Havisham was never meaning to turn him into a gentleman. Joe is accompanies Pip to his next visit to the Stasis House, he is awfully uncomfortable, and Pip can clearly see that. “… I knew he made himself so dreadfully uncomfortable, entirely on my account, and that it was for me he pulled up his shirt-collar so very high behind, that it made the hair on the crown of his head stand up like a tuft of feathers.” (Dickens, 99). Pip is embarrassed by Joe’s lower class appearance and manners. Even Estella laughs at both of them when they arrive. Even though Pip can tell that Joe feels very out of place, he is extremely embarrassed and thinks of Joe as not being worthy or good enough to be there.
“It was very aggravating; but throughout the interview Joe persisted in addressing Me instead of Miss Havisham. ‘Which I meantersay, Pip,’ Joe now observed in a manner that was at once expressive of forcible argumentation, strict confidence and great politeness.” (Dickens, 100).
This is where Pip’s self discovery comes in place. He is so geared to become a gentleman that he starts to treat the ones that love him very arrogantly. Pip starts to think that he is better than his lower class family. Through the years Pip really dislikes working as Pip’s apprentice, but for Joe’s sake, he doesn’t say anything, he feels the need to keep his moral redemption in check. An old guilt rises up about the situation with the convict Pip helped when his sister was found beaten so badly that she has severe brain damage. The assaulter was believed to be the convict with the iron leg, the same convict that Pip helped earlier. He feels like it is his fault for the attack on Mrs. Joe, but then it is later discovered that the attacker was Dolge Orlick, a great big mean guy who liked to bully Pip and others. Pips moral redemption and innocence is proved through the when his mind runs through having to choose right from wrong. With the convict appearing, the figures of the police appearing and the fight between Joe and Orlick, there is a presence of good and bad. Joe having the kind hearted, sweetness, compared to huge, large shouldered, mean Orlick. Pip’s longing for becoming a gentleman, and gaining higher social class, because he wants to impress Estella. It finally comes into a realization for him when he is offered a large fortune and education by an unknown benefactor through Mr. Jaggers, who is a first class lawyer. Even though Pip does not know who his benefactor is, he assumes its Miss Havisham, because he met Mr. Jagger’s while he showed up one time during her birthday and Mr. Jaggers was there. Pip is thrilled to have his dreams come true, but Joe and Biddy are saddened by this because Pip would have to move to London to receive his education and fortune. Pip acts above himself and doesn’t treat his family very nice. While Pip is a very good caring person his longing for self-improvement through becoming a gentleman clouds his feelings for his old family and friends, along with his surroundings. He changes very quickly because the moment after he is arrogant, he immediately regrets having been so awfully rude and uncaring to those who loved him the beginning.
“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlaying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before-more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle. If I had cried before, I should have had with Joe with me then.” (Dickens, 160). As Pip rises to a higher social ranking his happiness and confidence declines. Pip is living a very different life from when he lived in Kent. He has a large fortune, and hires a servant and everything. He doesn’t think much about his home life until Joe comes to visit Pip in London. Pip is worried that Joe will disapprove with his new life. Their meeting is short and Pip is honestly embarrassed by Joe’s lower class appearance, just like when Joe visited the Satis House to sign papers. When Joe visits he tells Pip this as a farewell. “’Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man’s a blacksmith, and one’s a whitesmith, and one’s a goldsmith, and one’s a coppersmith… If there’s been a fault at all to-day, it’s mine.” (Dickens, 224). Joe is basically saying that it isn’t Pip’s fault for their awkward meeting. He is proud of Pip, but he still feels out of place in formal cloths, and even now in Pip’s presence. This makes Pip think who really loves ad who loved him. Pip is also shamed and frightened by the convicts he overheard talking about someone needing to give the money to Mr. Pip.
“Indeed, I was not only so changed in the course of nature, but so differently dressed and so differently circumstanced, that it was not at all likely he could have known me without accidental help. Still, the coincidence of our being together on the coach, was sufficiently strange to fill me with a dread that some other coincidence might at any moment connect me, in his hearing, with my name.” (Dickens, 229).
This scares Pip because it reminded him of the convict he ran into when he was a kid, and he hates the memory. This brings him back to moral redemption, how he hated what he did for disobeying Joe, but Pip never mentions that he regrets it. With the meeting of Magwitch and discovering who he is, Pip is again caught between his feelings for the old convict. He is still scared of Magwitch, but he also fears for Magwtich at the same time, just like before. Pip discovers that it was Magwitch who was his secret benefactor, not Miss Havisham. So before meeting Magwitch, Pip is content with his life, but now that he ran into his old convict his life is spinning and he is consumed by feeling of guilt for both helping this man and not turning him in. This plays with Pip’s moral redemption and self discovery because of his feelings of guilt and his feelings of care for this man. He wants to help Magwitch escape to safety. Pip also later decides he can’t keep using Magwitch’s money because now that he knows who he is. This is Pip morally obliged by not using the criminal’s money anymore. Miss Havisham seems to be softening towards to Pip, which is like Pip softening towards Magwitch. Pip goes to visit the Stasis House for multiple reasons. One is to visit Estella once heard the news that she was back, and to ask Miss Havisham if she could help out Herbert with his wedding because he no longer wants use his own fortune. One of the last times Pip visits the Stasis House is when Miss Havisham breaks down and begs Pip to forgive her for getting Estella to break his heart. She actually got down on the ground and begged with all her heart for Pip to forgive her. “My name is on the first leaf. If you can ever write under my name, ‘I forgive her,’ though ever so long after my heart is dust-pray do it!” (Dickens, 398). When Miss Havisham was telling Pip her true intentions of raising Estella like she did, all Pip said was “Better,’ I could not help saying, ‘to have left her a natural heart, even to be bruised or broken.” (Dickens, 399). This shows that Miss Havisham wants moral redemption because she feels terrible for breaking his heart, and the fact that Estella is not happy with her current relationship. It shows that Miss Havisham does have a moral quality; it just needs to be somehow released from her. Miss Havisham dies in the end, but she dies happier, now that she has been forgiven by Pip. Orlick reappears when he is attempting to murder Pip in the marshes. With Orlick showing up and wanting to commit cold blooded murder, he represents the bad in the story. He is what evil is because he likes to do bad things to other people and he enjoys watching them suffer. He claims that Pip is the reason that he lost so many things in his life, he calls Pip “enemy.” Orlick blames Pip for having him fired from Miss Havisham’s and for ruining his chances with Biddy. He has also hated that Pip was always Joe’s favorite, and that he has always hated Mrs. Joe. He amits to Pip that it was him who murdered Mrs. Joe. Orlick tells Pip that he’ll “…I won’t have a bone of you, left on earth.” (Dickens, 425). The thing is what Pip is worried about is that he’ll die without any of his friends knowing what happened to him. He is worried that his friends will think that he abandoned them. Orlick has no moral qualities about him, he does not want to redeem himself, and he wants to do the very opposite thing. There is no good left in Orlick, he represents the “evil” in the story. Pip has many caring qualities and it is shown throughout the book. His caring qualities are what give him morals, and he discovers people through these qualities by giving them a chance. This is shown through Pip and Magwitch’s relationship. Pip helps him when he is younger, he was more scared of him, but he still helps him and he even pities for him. Then with the reappearance of Magwitch Pip feels the exact same thing, a mixture of fear and concern for the man. When it comes to Magwitch’s death Pip is extremely saddened by it, as Pip referred too Magwitch as his “second father.” Before Magwitch dies, Pip tells him this, “you had a child once, whom you loved and lost.’ A stronger pressure on my hand. ‘She lived and found powerful friends. She is living now. She is a lady and very beautiful. And I love her!” (Dickens, 460). Magwitch dies peacefully and happy with hearing the news about his lost daughter, Estella. Pip is happy in the end and he has discovered who he is, and he has his morally redeeming qualities. When Magwitch dies, Pip rushes back to Kent to marry Biddy, only to find out that she and Joe have married, and that they have a child together. Even though Pip is shocked by this, he is also happy for them too.
“Dear Biddy,’ said I, ‘you have the best husband in the whole world, and if you could have seen him by my bed you would have- But no, you couldn’t love him better than you do.’ ‘No, I couldn’t indeed,’ said Biddy. ‘And dear Joe, you have the best wife in the whole world, and she will make you as happy as even you deserve to be, you dear, good noble Joe!’ Joe looked at me with a quivering lip, and fairly put his sleeve before his eyes.” (Dickens, 479).
The two characters that were the exact opposites too other characters in Pip’s life, found love, and they got married. Pip’s ending is also happy because When Pip visits the Stasis House, he has found it has been torn down, and while walking in the destroyed garden, he finds Estella, the one he’s always loved. They talked about the past and he has found that both he and Estella have changed very a lot, in both appearances and personality. Estella has discovered who she is, now that her past relationship is behind her, she has discovered how to love and have feelings. Pip finishes with this,
“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 ecpanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of no parting from her.” (Dickens, 484).
It is assumed that Estella and Pip live out their lives happy, and fully. Through out the novel the “Great Expectations” written by Charles Dickens, Pip is growing up and he is discovering who he is and what is his purpose, it’s his self discovery, but it isn’t just his, other characters are discovering who they are too. Pip wants nothing more than to have morals but also he wants redemption for what he does, so wants to have moral redemption. Even though it was a large struggle, everyone finds out their purposes in the end, they all find their great expectations.

Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Toronto: Penguin Group, 1996. Print.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Great Expectations.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Cited: Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Toronto: Penguin Group, 1996. Print. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Great Expectations.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.