Title Great Expectations
Author Charles Dickens
First publication 1861
I Summary
The book is about a young orphan, called Pip, who’s raised in a little place by his older sister and her
husband Joe in Kent. One night he meets a convict, who orders him to bring him food and a file. Pip is
scared to death, because the convict starts to threaten him.
One day, Pip gets his education at Mr. Pumblechook who sends him to Miss Havisham. She lives in
the Satis House, a frightening villa. Miss Havisham is a very old, strange lady, who lives in the dark
with a very beautiful girl named Estella. Pip falls in love to her. But she thinks he isn't a gentleman.
Then his lawyer Mr. Jaggers appears with big news. He says that some anonymous benefactor wants
Pip to become a boy of Great Expectations and therefore he has to go to London to become a
gentleman. In London, he becomes best friends with Herbert Pocket, who wants to have an
insurance company.
When Pip is a gentleman, he feels too good for his family and old friends. He treats them coldly,
especially Joe, because he is just a blacksmith. Only Estella treats he the same, because he has still a
weak for her.
Many years later Pip meets the unknown benefactor. The benefactor is the convict from his
childhood. His real name is Magwitch. He made Pip a real gentleman. This because Magwith feels
that Pip owes him something for giving him food so he had to go to the jail. Magwith wants this also,
because Pip can earn a fortune in this way. Eventually Pip loses his fortune and Estella marries
another.
Pip finds out that Magwitch is the father of Estella. Magwitch thought she was dead.
Pip goes to Cairo to earn money. When he returns many years later, he visits the Satis House again.
He discovers that Estella lives here now. She had been married, but her husband had treated her
badly and luckily for her, he died soon. Pip and Estella talk things over, and finally they came to the
conclusion that they really like each other.
II
A: Major character
Pip
At the beginning of the book is Pip an orphan. The boy is being raised by his sister and brother-in-law
in the Kent (southeast of England). Pip is a nice person, who is always kind to everyone. He also
wants to satisfy the people around him. Pip wants to improve himself, both morally and socially.
When he grows up, he turns out to be a tall and hansom man. He falls in love with the beautiful
Estella. Finally he finds out which persons are his real friends and which just want to have some
profit.
Pip is the only real major character. The other characters are:
Estella
Pip has fallen in love with Estella. He loves her passionately, but sometimes he thinks that she
consider him as a friend, because she is such a cold and cruel person.
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