Great Expectations

Charles Dickens (1861)

Plot Philip Pirrip, commonly known as Pip, is key word of the story is ‘expectations’, which has
an orphan who lives on the marshes of Kent with a double meaning. Pip’s “great expectations” refer
his sister, Mrs Joe Gargery, and her husband, the both to the large fortune he is unexpectedly given by
blacksmith Joe Gargery. While his sister is very strict his secret benefactor and to his own ambitions and
and often beats him with a cane, his brother-in-law is hopes. Interestingly, Pip often feels disappointed
a very good and quiet man who really cares for Pip. and frustrated and is often obliged to reconsider his
One day Pip is introduced to Miss Havisham, a wealthy, opinions. In particular, the fact that his benefactor
eccentric woman who has never recovered from the turns out to be an ex-convict – that is, a man who
shock of being left at the altar by her husband-to-be. is socially inferior and has a despicable reputation
Her adopted daughter, Estella, is so beautiful that Pip – urges him to question the Victorian notion of
soon falls in love with her, but the girl treats him with ‘respectability’, based on wealth and prestige. Thus,
contempt, because Miss Havisham has taught her to Pip – who has always dreamed about improving his
hate men. However, Pip believes Estella does not like social position and has always been ashamed of
him because he is socially inferior and starts to dream his origins – has to admit that there are also other
about becoming a gentleman. things that matter in life, like generosity, hard-work
One day, a lawyer, Mr Jaggers, brings incredible and courage.
news – a secret benefactor has provided Pip with • It is not by chance that positive qualities are
'expectations', that is, with a large fortune. As a result, always associated with the humblest characters
Pip leaves for London to get an education. He studies in the novel – to Magwitch, as it was said, but
with a tutor, Mr Pocket, who gives lessons to him and also to Pip’s brother-in-law Joe Gargery. Joe – a
to other students, among whom the nasty and selfish simple blacksmith – is uneducated and unrefined

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Bentley Drummle. but has a pure heart. He protects Pip from his
Time passes and Pip, whose money is managed by wife’s aggressive behaviour when they live in
Jaggers, becomes a young man and enjoys busy city Kent together. When Pip becomes a gentleman,
life. He firmly believes the person who has allowed him he pays a visit to him in London and is hurt by his
a fortune to become a gentleman is Miss Havisham cold manners. However, he does not complain and
and still hopes Estella will become his wife. remains a fatherly figure until the end.
However, Estella marries the arrogant Bentley • Unlike Joe, the wealthy Miss Havisham is incapable
Drummle. In addition, Pip discovers that his secret of love. She is cruel and manipulative – she uses
benefactor is Magwitch, a criminal he had met many Estella to satisfy her need for revenge against men
years before while he was praying on his parents’grave and abuses Pip psychologically. Her spectral figure
in Kent. The man had asked Pip to help him cut his is one of Dickens’s gloomiest characterisations
chain but had been arrested and sent to Australia and her mansion is a perfect gothic setting. Through
as a convict. Pip, who had never thought about that her, Dickens also wants to stress the negative
scaring episode anymore, is shocked at the revelation consequences of not letting go of the past – all the
– it is Magwitch himself who, one night, shows up at clocks in her house are set at the same hour of the
his home in London and tells him the truth. Then, day when her husband-to-be left her, and she still
Magwitch tries to flee away from England with wears her bridal dress.
Pip’s help but is arrested and sentenced to death. • Estella, her adoptive daughter, is an emotionally
Meanwhile, another terrible event occurs: Miss repressed girl who toys with men because she has
Havisham dies after her bridal dress catches fire. been taught to do so by her mother. However, she is
Alone and disillusioned, Pip leaves England for Egypt not ill-natured: she is a victim and is finally reunited
after being asked by an old friend and his wife to stay to Pip after learning an important life lesson from
with them, and when he comes back, he meets Estella her disastrous marriage with the rich but evil
– her husband, Drummle, is dead and she has turned Drummle. Through Pip and Estella, Dickens portrays
into a much milder woman. the condition of two orphans in a society subdued to
The novel ends with Pip’s and Estella’s reunion after the power of money.
many struggles and misadventures. • Dickens also denounces the cruelty of the law, by
describing the faults of the English legal system as
Themes and main characters Like many other these are seen through the eyes of Mr Jaggers, a
works by Dickens, Great Expectations is a coming-of- lawyer who helps Estella be adopted and becomes
age novel or Bildungsroman. Pip’s guardian, helping him receive a proper
• Like Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, Pip is an education. He is very cold but is a good man at heart
orphan who has to struggle with many adversities and one of his most frequent actions is washing his
before being rewarded for his honesty and good hands, as if to cleanse them from all the ‘dirt’ and
will by life. As the title of the novel suggests, the corruption he comes in contact with at work.

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• One of the victims of the English judicial way to redeem himself and to prove that he can do
mechanisms is Magwitch, who is sentenced to something good in life.
transportation to Australia for money counterfeiting
and is then sentenced to death only for being back in Style Great Expectations is one of Dickens’s
England. Magwitch is an outcast in Victorian society sombrest and most mature novels because of its
– another orphan, he has grown up committing gothic elements and the ruthlessness of the reality
minor crimes in order to survive, has ended up in jail described. It is written with a realistic style and is
several times and is a rude, dirty and uneducated told by a first person narrator, Pip, who by telling the
man. However, he also possesses good qualities and, story of his life increases the effect of realism. Dickens
through him, Dickens develops another theme of the also demonstrates his inimitable talent for dramatic
novel: redemption. By working hard in Australia, speech and for characterisation.
Magwitch succeeds in becoming rich and in helping The novel, whose plot is extremely complex, is today
Pip become a gentleman – his generosity is also a considered Dickens’s masterpiece.

Summing up
1. Answer the questions.
a. How many meanings does the word ‘expectation’ have?
b. How does the novel question the idea of Victorian respectability?
c. What are some of the themes of the novel?
d. Why can Magwitch be defined as an outsider?

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 Pip meets Magwitch
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861)

The following extract is taken from chapter 39. Pip – who is 23 years old – has just received the visit of a man,
who has told him that he is Magwitch, the convict he helped when he was a boy.

Before you read

1. Make oral predictions on the following features:
• Magwitch’s physical appearance.
• Magwitch’s attitude towards Pip.

“M ay I make so bold,” he said then, with a smile that was like a frown, and with a
frown that was like a smile, “as ask you how you have done well, since you and
me was out on them lone shivering marshes?” where Pip and Magwitch met for the first time
“How?”
5 “Ah!”
He emptied his glass, got up, and stood at the side of the fire, with his heavy brown
hand on the mantelshelf. He put a foot up to the bars, to dry and warm it, and the wet boot
began to steam; but, he neither looked at it, nor at the fire, but steadily looked at me. It
was only now that I began to tremble.
10 When my lips had parted, and had shaped some words that were without sound,

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I forced myself to tell him (though I could not do it distinctly), that I had been chosen
to succeed to some property.
“Might a mere warmint1 ask what property?” said he.
I faltered, “I don’t know.”
15 “Might a mere warmint ask whose property?” said he.
I faltered again, “I don’t know.”
“Could I make a guess, I wonder,” said the Convict, “at your income since you come
of age2! As to the first figure now. Five?”
With my heart beating like a heavy hammer of disordered action, I rose out of my chair,
20 and stood with my hand upon the back of it, looking wildly at him.
“Concerning a guardian,” he went on. “There ought to have been some guardian,
or such-like, whiles you was a minor. Some lawyer, maybe. As to the first letter of that
lawyer’s name now. Would it be J?”
All the truth of my position came flashing on me3 and its disappointments, dangers,
25 disgraces, consequences of all kinds, rushed in4 in such a multitude that I was borne
down5 by them and had to struggle for every breath I drew6. [...]
I could not have spoken one word, though it had been to save my life. I stood, with
a hand on the chair-back and a hand on my breast, where I seemed to be suffocating, –
I stood so, looking wildly at him, until I grasped at the chair7, when the room began
30 to surge8 and turn. He caught me, drew me to the sofa, put me up against the cushions,
and bent on one knee before me, bringing the face that I now well remembered,
and that I shuddered at9, very near to mine.

1. warmint 5 varmint: canaglia, 4. r ushed in: sopravvennero 7. I grasped at the chair: mi afferrai
mascalzone all’improvviso alla sedia (come per sostenermi)
2. since you come of age: da quando 5. b orne down: abbattuto, portato 8. surge: muoversi
sei maggiorenne coi piedi per terra 9. that I shuddered at: che mi dava
3. came flashing on me: mi balenò 6. f or every breath I drew: per ogni i brividi
davanti respiro che facevo

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 “Yes, Pip, dear boy, I’ve made a gentleman on you! It’s me wot10 has done it! I swore11 that
time, sure as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you. I swore arterwards12
35 sure as ever I spec’lated13 and got rich, you should get rich. I lived rough14, that you
should live smooth15; I worked hard, that you should be above work. What odds16, dear
boy? Do I tell it, fur you17 to feel a obligation? Not a bit. I tell it, fur you to know as that
there hunted dunghill dog18 wot you kep life in19, got his head so high that he could make
a gentleman, – and, Pip, you’re him!”
40 The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread20 I had of him, the repugnance with
which I shrank21 from him, could not have been exceeded if he had been some terrible
beast.
“Look’ee here22, Pip. I’m your second father. You’re my son, – more to me nor any
son. I’ve put away money, only for you to spend. When I was a hired-out shepherd23
45 in a solitary hut, not seeing no faces but faces of sheep till I half forgot wot men’s and
women’s faces wos24 like, I see yourn25. I drops26 my knife many a time in that hut when
I was a-eating27 my dinner or my supper, and I says ‘Here’s the boy again, a looking
at me whiles I eats and drinks!’ I see you there a many times, as plain as ever I see you
on them misty marshes28. ‘Lord strike me dead!’ I says each time, – and I goes out in the
50 air to say it under the open heavens, – ’but wot29, if I gets liberty and money, I’ll make that
boy a gentleman!’ And I done it. Why, look at you, dear boy! Look at these here lodgings
o’yourn30, fit31 for a lord! A lord? Ah! You shall show money with lords for wagers32, and
beat ’em!”
In his heat33 and triumph, and in his knowledge that I had been nearly fainting34, he did
55 not remark35 on my reception of all this. It was the one grain of relief36 I had.
“Look’ee here!” he went on, taking my watch out of my pocket, and turning towards
him a ring on my finger, while I recoiled from his touch as if he had been a snake, “a gold
’un and a beauty: that’s a gentleman’s, I hope! A diamond all set round with rubies; that’s

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a gentleman’s, I hope! Look at your linen; fine and beautiful! Look at your clothes; better
60 ain’t to be got! And your books too,” turning his eyes round the room, “mounting up, on
their shelves, by hundreds! [...] Again he took both my hands and put them to his lips,
while my blood ran cold within me

10. It’s me wot (wot 5 who): sono io che 19. wot you kep life in: al quale 29. but wot = but what (esclamazione
11. swore: giurai, mi ripromisi hai cercato di salvare la vita di sfida)
12. orderwords 5 afterwards: dopo 20. dread: terrore 30. lodgings o’yourn: tua abitazione
13. spec’lated: speculato 21. I shrank: indietreggiai 31. fit: adatta
14. rough: duro, rozzo (qui, da 22. Look’ee here: guarda qui 32. wagers: scommesse
intendere come duramente, 23. hired-out shepherd: ingaggiato 33. heat: il calore con cui la parlantina
rozzamente) come pastore era accompagnata (accaldato dalla
15. smooth: liscio, tranquillo (qui da 24. wos 5 was: erano conversazione)
intendere come tranquillamente, 25. yourn 5 yours: la tua 34. nearly fainting: sul punto
senza asperità) 26. drops: mettevo giù, posavo di svenire
16. What odds: con quali probabilità 27. I was a-eating: stavo mangiando 35. he did not remark: non fece
(di buona riuscita) (la “a” riproduce l’intercalare rimproveri
17. fur you 5 for you: per te dei bassifondi) 36. one grain of relief: il solo sollievo
18. dunghill dog: vagabondo che vive 28. misty marshes: paludi nebbiose
nelle fogne

Understanding the text

1. Answer the questions
a. What aspect of Pip’s life does Magwitch want d. W
 here in the text does Magwitch reveal he is the
to know about at the beginning of the text? one who helped Pip to receive an education?
b. What is Pip’s reaction when Magwitch tries e. How did Magwitch support himself all this time
to guess his income? while saving money for Pip?
c. How does Pip feel while Magwitch is speaking? f. How does Magwitch feel about Pip?

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 Closer Reading 5. The way Magwitch speaks is characterised by
mistakes.
2. In describing Magwitch, Pip uses some really
a. 
Re-write the following examples in standard
negative expressions to help us understand
English.
how scared he felt, at the time, in front of
the ex-convict who had declared to be his • It’s me wot has done it!
• Do I tell it, fur you to feel a obligation?
benefactor.
• When I was [...] in a solitary hut, not seeing
a. 
Complete the table with those expressions
no faces but faces of sheep till I half forgot
and also with those words used by Magwitch wot men’s and women’s faces wos like, I see
in reference to Pip. yourn.
• I says each time, – and I goes out in the air
Words used by Pip to refer to Magwitch
• whiles I eats and drinks
the Convict
b. Which language aspects do Magwitch’s
he most common mistakes relate to?
Tick the appropriate answers.
verb tense suffixes
Words used by Magwitch to refer to Pip syntax
lexis
Dear boy relative possessive case
pronouns articles
c. 
Dickens also tries to reproduce Magwitch’s
pronunciation and tics of language to stress he
b. What do Magwitch’s words in reference to Pip comes from the lower classes. Underline some
reveal about his attitude and feelings for him? examples in the text.

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6. Look up the following words linked to
3. Focus on lines 1-20. Magwitch’s name in a disctionary. Then, suggest
a. 
What does the description of Magwitch’s hand why they can be associated to this character.
as “heavy” and “brown” suggest about this
• magpie   • witch
character and his life?
b. Does Magwitch feel at ease in Pip’s flat? Which 7. Towards the end of the text, Magwitch repeats
action(s) can suggest it? “That’s a gentleman’s, I hope!”. Re-order
the following words to create three possible
c. Why does Pip look at Magwitch “wildly”?
sentences to interpret Magwitch’s thought.
d. Which rhetorical figure is used in line 19
a. 
thinks / Magwitch / respectability / are /
to convey Pip’s nervousness?
interdependent / wealth / and / that
e. What may the fact that Pip suddenly stands
b. the / a / education / has / Magwitch / ascertain /
up but keeps a hand on the back of the chair
to / good / man / wants / young / that / received
suggest?
c. 
is / proud / Pip / what / done / he / very / for / of /
4. Focus on lines 27-32 and fill in the table with Magwitch / has
the verbs used in reference to Magwitch and to
Pip. What do they suggest about their different Summing up
attitude and behaviour? 8. Complete the text with the words provided.
caught • stood • looking • put me up • bent •
aggressive • exaggerated • shame • redeemed •
shuddered • grasped (at the chair) • suffocating •
identity • prejudices • proud • double •
remembered • bringing
opportunity • repugnance
Magwitch Pip Magwitch is described from the narrator’s
caught put me up perspective, that is to say, from Pip’s. His

stood grasped emotions and [1] prejudices influence

the way he portrays this man, whose behaviour
bent shuddered
is described as [2] aggressive and almost
looking
animal-like. In fact, the way Pip presents the
suffocating
convict is [3] exaggerated by his fear of him.
remembered
In contrast, Magwitch is [4] proud

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 of Pip as if he were his father – by transforming Over to you
the little boy into a gentleman, he feels
9. Some of the people who were forcibly taken to
[5] redeemed . In addition, in this scene, Australia became legendary figures, especially
the two characters embody the myth of the owing to their artistic gifts. The Irish convict
[6] double – in facing Magwitch, Pip Frank Macnamara (called ‘Frank the poet’), for
example, gave voice to convicts’ sufferings and
also faces himself. His [7] repugnance for
hopes through poetry and music.
the uneducated man in front of him is, indeed, a Look for one of his poems or one of his songs on
reflection of his own [8] shame for his the web, read or listen to it, then say what aspects
of the convicts’ condition it focuses on.
humble origins. Thus, discovering Magwitch is his
benefactor is also an [9] opportunity to
accept himself and to form a new, stronger sense
of [10] identity .

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