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Description
Great Expectations, described by G. K. Chesterton as a “study in human weakness and the slow human surrender,” may be called Charles Dickens ’s finest moment in a remarkably illustrious literary career. In an overgrown churchyard, a grizzled convict springs upon an orphan named Pip. The... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Summary
On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a frightening man in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This incident is... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Cast of Characters
- Joe Gargery: The blacksmith, Pip's brother-in-law and everlasting friend
- Pip: An orphan, the protagonist and narrator.
- Biddy: A simple, kindhearted country girl.
- Mrs Gargery: Pip's sister
- Estella: Miss Havisham’s beautiful young ward, Estella is Pip’s unattainable dream throughout the novel.
- Miss Skiffins: Add a description of this character.
- Wemmick: Jaggers’s clerk and Pip’s friend.
- Herbert Pocket: He is the son of Matthew Pocket, Miss Havisham’s cousin.
- Clara
- Mr Jaggers: The powerful, foreboding lawyer hired by Magwitch to supervise Pip’s elevation to the upper class.
- Miss Havisham: Miss Havisham is the wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pip’s village.
- Bentley Drummle
- Magwitch: A fearsome criminal, Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery.
- Compeyson
- Mr Pumblechook
- Mr Wopsle
Memorable Quotes
-
“Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and some people do the same by their religion.”
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“It were understood,” said Joe. “And it are understood. And it ever will be similar according.”
-
“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.”
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“I verily believe that her not remembering and not minding in the least made me cry again, inwardly – and that is the sharpest crying of all.”
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“And now, dear Biddy, if you can tell me that you will go through the world with me, you will surely make it a better world for me, and me a better man for it, and I will try hard to make it a better world for you.”
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“In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.”
First Sentence
My Father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.
Table of Contents
Volume I
Volume II
Volume III
Glossary
- Accoucheur policeman: An Accoucheur was a male midwife or an obstetrical doctor. Because Pip's sister always acts as if Pip had insisted on being born, she treats him like a criminal. Pip concludes that since he was an "offender" at birth, he was delivered to his sister by an obstetrical policeman.
- Antipodes: That is, through a trapdoor. The actual definition is any two places that are directly opposite each other on the earth.
- Bad courtier: A courtier, originally an attendant at a royal court, refers here to someone who is adept at using flattery to get something or to win favor. Herbert's father is a bad courtier with Miss Havisham in that he does not flatter her but speaks the truth whether she likes it or not.
- Fired a rick: Set fire to a haystack. Pip's reference to this crime means people would have viewed him as a major criminal because at that time, children even as young as 7 were sometimes hanged for arson.
Awards
- BBC's Big Read (2003: Best Loved Novel, #17)
- Guardian 1000 (Family & Self)
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2008)
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