Phase 2 Review – Part 1
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
CHAPTER 20 (CHAPTER 18 - ABRIDGED)

When Pip arrives in London, his first impression
is that it is “ugly, crooked, narrow, and dirty.”
 Although
it is the setting for Pip’s great
expectations, he finds the new environment
unnatural and uncomfortable…may foreshadow
future events
Pip meets with Jaggers, who tells him he will be
boarding with Matthew Pocket
 Pip meets Wemmick, Jaggers' clerk

CHAPTER 21 (CHAPTER 19 - ABRIDGED)

Wemmick brings Pip to Barnard's Inn, where he
will be staying in town
 The
inn appears to be run-down
 Here he meets his guide and roommate for the next
few days, Matthew Pocket's son, Herbert
 He
is the pale, young gentleman from long ago at Miss
Havisham's house
 This appears to be the one positive aspect of Pip's new
home
CHAPTER 22 (CHAPTER 20 - ABRIDGED)

Herbert prepares a meal for them (finally
reflects human companionship for Pip) and
explains his relationship to Miss Havisham
 His
father is Miss Havisham's cousin
 Matthew Pocket
 Pip’s
tutor
CHAPTER 22 (CHAPTER 20 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
Miss Havisham’s Story







She was doted on by her father her whole life
Shared only with her half brother, the son of her father and the cook
She ended up falling in love with a swindler and Matthew had tried to
warn her of him
She demanded that Matthew leave the house and never return
She is then jilted on the day of her wedding; her fiancé left her only a
letter
A rumor started that the fiancé conspired with her half brother, who
may have wanted revenge on Miss Havisham for being favored by
their father
Miss Havisham adopts Estella and raises her to get revenge on the
male gender by making them fall in love with her and then jilting
them
CHAPTER 22 (CHAPTER 20 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
The next day Herbert brings Pip to meet his father
and his seven siblings in the area outside of
Hammersmith
 Relationship between Pip and Herbert is an
interesting one

Herbert may have lost favor in Miss Havisham's eyes
when Pip showed up
 Pip may have gotten the inheritance that Herbert
thought was meant for him
 However, Herbert is honest and has no capacity for
bitterness

CHAPTER 22 (CHAPTER 20 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
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CHAPTER 23 (CHAPTER 21 - ABRIDGED)

The Pocket household is one of comedy with a large
number of children, nurses, and boarders - everything is
loosely held together by Matthew

Mrs. Pocket spends her days doing nothing but reading



She's disappointed by her life, yet she seems to have no
household duties and has a good man as a husband
She's caught up in the class system and is out of touch with
what is actually happening in her home
She is raised to be completely useless and to be taken
care of
CHAPTER 23 (CH 21 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
THEME: The abuse of children
(Remember: Dickens’ Childhood)

Children in the Pocket family are not necessarily
physically abused; however, they are:
In danger sometimes from lack of supervision
 Under fed
 Made to work
 Psychological abuse by just the number of them
 Matthew and Mrs. Pocket have little to no time for child
rearing

CHAPTER 24 (STILL PART OF CH 21 - ABRIDGED)

Pip finds Matthew to be serious, honest and
good
 Because
Matthew shows interest in teaching Pip,
Pip is interested in learning and progressing

Pip becomes drawn to the city life in London
and he asks Jaggers if he may live permanently
at Barnards Inn with Herbert, instead of
boarding at Hammersmith
 Jaggers
agrees
CHAPTER 24 (STILL PART OF CH 21 - ABRIDGED)
Wemmick brings Pip to watch Jaggers in court
 May be Dickens' criticism of the judicial system
and lawyers in general

 Jaggers
is never concerned about who is actually
innocent or guilty in the cases he tries
 He is simply concerned with eliciting the
appropriate verdict, which will benefit him - he just
wants to be paid…he's all business
CHAPTER 25 (CHAPTER 22 - ABRIDGED)
While staying with the Pockets, Pip becomes more
familiar with Camilla (Matthew's sister), Georgiana
(a cousin), and of course, Herbert
 Pip is invited to dinner at Wemmick's house
 It has become clear to Pip that Wemmick lives by a
certain slogan “Office is one thing, private life is
another.”


Wemmick can conform in order to fit the society that is
common to Jaggers' office
 At
the office - dry callousness, grim
 At home - imaginative, caring, generous
CHAPTER 25 (CH 22 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

Wemmick lives in a small cottage, which has
been modified to look like a castle (has a moat,
drawbridge, and firing cannon)

Pip finds Wemmick to be a very entertaining
host, which is far different than the Wemmick
Pip knows from Jaggers' office
CHAPTER 25 (CH 22 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
THEME
 People are not always what they seem.
 So
far Pip has been wrong about both Herbert and
Wemmick
CHAPTER 26 (CHAPTER 23 - ABRIDGED)

The next day, Jaggers invites Pip and his friends to
dinner
Herbert
 Startop
 Drummle (an insulting young man who irritates the
others)

 Of
all the guests at his house, for some reason, Jaggers is
particularly pleased and interested in the unfriendly Drummle
 This is very strange to the others and to the readers…perhaps
this will reveal itself later in the novel
CHAPTER 26 (CH 23 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

Jaggers seems to be revealing himself only as a
mechanical rationalist, with a cold scientific
fascination for the psychology of people
 has
a complete lack of emotional involvement with
others
 The arguing that goes on between his guests
seems to entertain him more than a peaceful meal
would
CHAPTER 26 (CH 23 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

As Wemmick had earlier suggested, Pip looks
carefully at Jaggers' servant
 She
is a woman of about forty and seems to regard
Jaggers with a mix of fear and duty

Jaggers’ proud presentation of her scarred
wrists will likely resurface later
CHAPTER 27 (CHAPTER 24 - ABRIDGED)

Biddy writes to Pip telling him that Joe is coming to visit
him in London


Pip does not look upon this visit happily
Joe shows up for breakfast and tells Pip that Miss
Havisham wants him to know that Estella is back at
Satis House


Joe addresses Pip as “sir” and stays for only a few minutes
Tells Pip that he is out of his element and that if he would
like to sit down and talk to him like in old days, Pip should
come visit him at the forge

Joe doesn't feel comfortable in a place that is so unnatural to him he can't be himself
CHAPTER 27 (CHAPTER 24 - ABRIDGED)
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CHAPTER 28 (CHAPTER 25 - ABRIDGED)
Pip journeys back to his hometown to see
Estella
 On the way he shares a carriage with two
convicts who sit behind him

 Pip
recognizes one of them as the man he met in
the pub years before, who stirred his drink with the
file and gave Pip a one pound note
 The convict doesn't recognize him
 Pip overhears him telling the other convict about a
note that a stranger had given him to bring to Pip
CHAPTER 28 (CH 25 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
 It
is clear now that other than being a fellow convict,
this man has no real relationship to Pip's convict
 This encounter makes Pip feel uneasy
THEME

Pip realizes the way his past seems to cling to
him
CHAPTER 29 (CHAPTER 26 - ABRIDGED)

Pip imagines that Miss Havisham has adopted
both he and Estella to raise them to be with
each other
 Imagines
them living at the old Satis House and
opening the windows to let the sun in that has been
shut out for so many years.

Pip encounters Orlick at the gate to Satis
House and learns he is now working for Miss
Havisham
CHAPTER 29 (CH 26 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

Pip goes to meet Estella who is now older and
more beautiful than ever
 In
her presence now, Pip reverts back into the
course, common boy he used to be and Estella
resumes treating him like the boy he used to be.
 Estella has come from France and is going to live in
London
CHAPTER 29 (CH 26 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

The talk about his new and old friends
 Estella
says, “Who is fit for you then is not fit for you
now.”
 Pip agrees and decides not to go see Biddy and Joe
During their conversation, there is something
strikingly familiar in Estella's face, but Pip can't
seem to place it.
 Later they all have dinner with Jaggers, who,
strangely, doesn't look at Estella through the
whole meal

CHAPTER 29 (CH 26 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)
MISS HAVISHAM AND ESTELLA

Miss Havisham raised Estella
not as an individual, but as
an extension of herself to
fulfill what she did not have
in her own life

Not to find love, but to
revenge love - this is a selfish
love
JOE AND PIP

Joe raised Pip out of
generosity and love
CHAPTER 30 (CHAPTER 27 - ABRIDGED)
Pip and Jaggers return to the inn in town
 Pip mentions to Jaggers that Orlick may not be
the most trustworthy assistant to Miss
Havisham

 Jaggers
tells Pip that he will see to it that he is fired
CHAPTER 30 (CH 27 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

Pip stays away from Joe and Biddy at the forge,
but continues to walk around town as he is
admired by passing former neighbors
 This
walk is disturbed when Trabb's boy makes fun
of Pip by imitating the snobbish way he walks
CHAPTER 30 (CH 27 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

Even though Pip is making decisions based on
the way society would want him to act, he feels
guilt and shame in these same decisions - his
 feelings
of guilt are proof that he is acting against
his nature
CHAPTER 30 (CH 27 - ABRIDGED) (CONT.)

Pip returns to London and talks to Herbert
about Estella
 He
tells Herbert that he cannot let go of Estella,
regardless of how she treats him
 During this conversation Herbert reveals that he is
in love with a woman named Clara
 However
this must be kept secret because his mother
would believe that he is marrying below his station
REFERENCES
Great Books: Great Expectations. Discovery
Channel School. 1997.
unitedstreaming. 17 July 2008
<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>