Great Expectations Sparknotes

Great Expectations is a thrilling story by Charles Dickens that tells the tale of a young boy named Pip and his great expectations for life. Pip was born an orphan who lived in the south eastern marshes of Kent with his much older sister and her husband. On an evening visit to his parents tomb stones, an escaped convict ordered Pip to bring him food and a file so he can rid himself of the irons that bound his legs. Pip, being afraid of what the horrible convict would do to him and his family, he obeyed. The convict was soon captured and kept Pip safe from the law by telling the police that he stole the file himself. Pip lived afraid that the convict would come after him again after he was released from prison. When he was sent to his …show more content…
When Pip turned 21 he began to receive part of his fortune. Pip began to spend his money unwisely and started to accumulate debt. Shortly after, Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip decided to go back to his home in Kent for the funeral with feelings of sadness and remorse. Many years go by with very little changing in Pips life, until one night when the same convict, the one whom Pip brought food and a file to in the graveyard when he was very young, reappeared at his door in London. The convict, named Magwitch, tells Pip that he is the source of Pips newly found fortune. Pip is shocked and also a bit afraid of this news. Magwitch tells Pip that his kindness when he was a boy moved him so much that he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to helping Pip become a gentleman and be everything that the convict was not. Pip feels obligated to help Magwitch escape London because he was being chased by the police and his former literal partner in crime. Through a series of events which are unimportant to this paper, Pip learns that his first and only love, Estella, was Magwitch’s daughter and that Miss Havisham had raised her to become a heart breaker to help her cope with her own broken heart from being left at the alter. Miss Havisham confessed that Pip was Estellas first practice case, allowing her to toy with his emotions and reject him with no …show more content…
Pip continued to form an escape plan to help the convict get out of the city safely. Little did Pip know, that by doing this, many unexpected things would happen. Estella marries a wealthy, stuck up man named Bentley Drummle, whom Pip despises deeply, wishing that Estella would still fall for him; Pip finally confronts Miss Havisham, who later dies due to a fire, and she asked for Pips forgiveness over the issue of Estella and her unrequited love for all men, which was instilled into her, and Pip accepts