Social Classes and People’s
Characters
As a result of early influences in
his life, Pip believes that people
in higher social classes are by
nature superior to those in lower
classes.
Mrs. Joe
• Complains about being a blacksmith’s wife—“It’s bad
enough to be a blacksmith’s wife (and him a Gargery)
without being your mother.” (p.8)
• Wishes she was in a higher social class.
• Pip learns that convicts are in a lower class, and he doesn’t
want to be in that class.
• Pip wants to improve himself, so that he can be in the
upper class, because he learns from Mrs. Joe that he is in
the lower class, and in danger of becoming a convict.
“‘People are put in the Hulks because they murder, and
because they rob, and forge, and do all sorts of bad: and
they always begin by asking questions.’” “I had begun by
asking questions, and I was going to rob Mrs. Joe.” (p.13)
Convict (Magwitch)
• When Pip first meets the convict, he is terrified, partially
because he is afraid of the convict, and partially because he
is scared that he will get in trouble with Mrs. Joe.
• Pip is also worried that if Joe finds out, Joe will be
disappointed in him. “It was much upon my mind…that I
ought to tell Joe the whole truth. Yet I did not, and for the
reason that I mistrusted that if I did, he would think me
worse than I was.” (p.41)
• For years afterward, Pip is worried that his having help a
convict makes him unfit to be a gentleman.
Miss Havisham
• Pip is frightened and unnerved by Miss Havisham, because
of her strange manner, and her decrepit house, furniture,
and bridal gown.
• However, Pip is repeatedly reminded by Mrs. Joe and Mr.
Pumblechook that Miss Havisham is very rich and
important, and that this is Pip’s big opportunity to make
something of himself. “This boy’s fortune may be made by
his going to Miss Havisham’s,” says Mrs. Joe. (p.53)
• Therefore, Pip assumes that Miss Havisham is rich and
noble, and that the faults are his own.
• Soon, Pip begins to enjoy his time at Miss Havisham’s
more than his time at home, because she is of the upper
class, and his home is merely common. “I coaxed myself
to sleep by thinking of Miss Havisham’s next Wednesday.”
(p.82)
Estella
• Estella is a member of the upper class, very proud and
haughty, very pretty, and mean.
• Pip loves her, but she calls him coarse and common. “And
what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots!” (p.62)
• As a result, Pip wants to be a gentleman, and not coarse
and common, so that Estella will like him.
• Pip becomes disgusted with Joe’s commonness.
• Pip is also disgusted with himself for being so common.
“…and deeply revolving that I was a common laboringboy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick;
that I had fallen into the despicable habit of calling knaves
jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered
myself last night; and generally that I was in a low-lived
bad way.” (p.67)
Biddy
• Biddy is poor and in the lower class, but is very nice to
Pip.
• Pip pays little attention to her, even though she teaches him
to read and write, because he sees Biddy as being common,
whereas Pip wants to be a gentleman, so that he can win
over Estella.
Herbert and Mr. Pocket
• At first, Pip sees them and thinks that they are not wealthy,
and will never be successful in life. “Something at that
same time whispered to me he would never be very
successful or rich.” (p.186)
• Therefore, Pip at first thinks that they are unimportant and
insignificant.
• Pip soon realizes that he is mistaken, and Herbert becomes
Pip’s best friend and most trusted comrade.
Bentley Drummle
• Drummle is rich and upper class, having inherited a small
fortune.
• Drummle is also a boor and a snob, for which reasons Pip
soon takes a disliking to him. “He was idle, proud,
niggardly, reserved, and suspicious.” (p.213)
• Pip begins to realize that even wealthy, upper class people
can be boors, and that wealthy is not necessarily indicative
of good character.
Abel Magwitch (Convict)
• Magwitch’s outward appearance is very coarse and
common.
• When Pip first finds out that Magwitch is the person who
gave him the money and property to become a gentleman,
Pip is horrified and disgusted, feeling that he is shamed by
being associated with a common criminal.
• Later on, Pip realizes that Magwitch has a kind heart and
good intentions, and Pip becomes very fond of him.
• Even though he is poor and lower class, Magwitch is a
good person.
Compeyson
• Compeyson was born a gentleman, but became a cruel and
ruthless criminal. “‘He set up fur a gentleman, this
Compeyson, and he’d been to a public boarding-school
and had learning.’” (p.367) “‘He’d no more heart than a
iron file, he was cold as death, and he had the head of the
devil.’” (p.368)
• Pip sees that even though Compeyson was a gentleman,
he is a terrible person, indeed a convict.
Estella
• Pip loves Estella, even though she is not nice to him, and
he is miserable in her company. “I thought that with her I
could have been happy there for life. (I was not at all
happy there at the time, observe, and I knew it well.)”
(p.282)
• As long as Pip believes that Miss Havisham intends for Pip
and Estella to marry, he continues to love Estella and want
to be with her.
• When he realizes that Miss Havisham has no such plan,
Pip is devastated.
• However, when Pip comes to terms with matters, he
realizes that he has no hope of ever being with Estella, and
that she is incapable of loving him
• Even though she is in the upper class, she is not friendly
and kind, but rather indifferent and heartless.
Biddy
• After meeting Magwitch, and speaking with Estella and
Miss Havisham, Pip realizes that Biddy is a good, kind
person, even though she is a member of the lower class,
and that he has wronged her. “I would not have gone back
to Biddy now, for any consideration—simply, I suppose,
because my sense of my own worthless conduct to them
was greater than any consideration. No wisdom on earth
could have given me the comfort which I should have
derived from [her] simplicity and fidelity; but I could
never, never undo what I had done.” (p.344)
Joe
• Joe is in the lower class, and even before Pip is first chosen
to inherit a property, he begins increasingly to see Joe as
being coarse and common.
• When Pip is in London, and hears that Joe is coming to
visit him, Pip is ashamed to be seen with him, on account
of his commonness. When he receives the news of Joe’s
impending visit, Pip feels “considerable disturbance, some
mortification, and a keen sense of incongruity.” (p.229)
• When Pip is sick and Joe comes to London to take care of
him, Pip realizes that Joe is an incredibly kind, thoughtful,
caring person, despite being in the lower class.
Social Classes and People’s
Characters
• During Pip’s adventures, he discovers that a
person’s social class is not necessarily indicative
of his or her character.
• Interestingly, this revelation seems to originate
with Herbert, Pip selfless and friendly, if not
wealthy, comrade.
• By the end of the story, Pip is able to judge people
by their character, not their social class, as
evidenced by the fact that he has given up his
ambition of becoming a “gentleman,” has renewed
his relationship with Joe and Biddy, and has joined
Herbert’s mercantile business.