Name ___________________________________________________Period: 2
4
9
Great Expectations
Chapter 17 Summary
Pip discovers that “the pale young gentleman” is actually named Herbert Pocket. Herbert
confesses that Miss Havisham sent for him (when he met Pip), to see if she could “take a fancy”
to him, but she could not.
Herbert Pocket goes on to say, Miss Havisham “had sent for me on a trial visit, and if I had come
out of it successfully, I suppose I should have been provided for; perhaps I should have been
what-you-may-call-it to Estella” (733). Herbert means he was perhaps to be engaged to Estella.
How do you think Pip reacts to this?
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Herbert goes on to say that he is glad Miss Havisham did not like him because Estella is “hard
and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by Miss Havisham to
wreak revenge on all the male sex” (733). Predict why Miss Havisham has brought Estella
up this way.
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Herbert tells Pip that Mr. Jaggers is “Miss Havisham’s man of business” and has her confidence
to handle all of her affairs. Make a prediction as to who Pip believes his benefactor to be and
why.
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Herbert Pocket goes on to say that he does not find that Pip’s name suits him, and begins to call
him “Handel”. Herbert helps Pip in regards to manners, telling him how to use his utensils
while he is eating.
Herbert tells Pip about Miss Havisham’s story.
After reading this section as a class, describe Miss Havisham’s family and upbringing. Does
she have siblings? Why does she seem to be the way she is?
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Summarize Miss Havisham’s wedding story on the following lines.
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Chapter 18-19 Summary
Pip meets Mr. Pocket, Herbert Pocket’s father and Miss Havisham’s cousin. Mr. Pocket
introduces Pip to Bentley Drummle and Startop, who become Pip’s friends.
Pip decides he needs furniture for his room, and gets the money to do so from Mr. Jaggers. Mr.
Wemmick, who is Mr. Jaggers’s __________________________________, tells Pip that Mr.
Jaggers will soon ask him to dinner. When he goes to dine at Mr. Jaggers, he is to look “at his
housekeeper” (739).
Pip describes Bentley Drummle and Startop:
Bentley Drummle
“an old-looking young man of a heavy
order of architecture” (738)
“so sulky a fellow that he even took up a
book as if its writer had done him an
injury, did not take up an acquaintance in a
more agreeable spirit” (739)
“Heavy in figure, movement, and
comprehension, he was idle, proud,
niggardly, reserved, and suspicious” (739)
“came of rich people who had nursed his
combination of qualities until they had
made the discovery that it was just of age
and a blockhead” (739)
Explain Pip’s description in your own words
Startop
“younger in years and appearance” (738)
Explain Pip’s description in your own words
“had been spoiled by a weak mother and
kepy at home when he ought to have been
at school, but he was devotedly attached to
her and admired her beyond measure”
(739)
“It was but natural that I should take to him
much more kindly than to Drummle”
Chapter 20 Summary
Pip and his friends, Herbert, Drummle and Startop, dine at Mr. Jaggers. Pip remembers Mr.
Wemmick’s advice to take special note of the housekeeper. Pip describers her as “about forty,
tall, of a lithe, nimble figure, extremely pale, with large faded eyes and a quantity of streaming
hair” and notices that she “kept her eyes attentively on my guardian” (742).
Who is Pip’s guardian? ____________________________
The dinner runs smoothly. Mr. Jaggers asks Molly (the housekeeper) to show his guests her
wrists. “Master. Don’t” (742) Molly responds. Mr. Jaggers insists that Molly show his guests
both of her wrists. Pip notices that “the last wrist was much disfigured—deeply scarred and
scarred across and across.” Mr. Jaggers notes, “There’s power here. Very few men have the
power of wrist that this woman has. It’s remarkable what mere force of grip there is in these
hands. I have had occasion to notice man hands; but I never saw stronger in that respect, man’s
or woman’s, than these” (742-743). Make a prediction as to why Mr. Jaggers presents
Molly’s wrists to the guests. What do her wrists say about her?
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Mr. Jaggers dismisses his guests after dinner and they all head home.
Pip notes that about a month after this meal, Drummle’s time with Mr. Pocket “was up for good,
and, to the great relief of all the house, he went home to the family hole” (743).