Great Expectations (1861) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Philip "Pip" Pirrip: An orphan, who is the main character. He is the protagonist and narrator of the novel.
• Miss Havisham: Wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pip’s village.
• Estella: Miss Havisham’s beautiful young ward, Estella is Pip’s unattainable dream throughout the novel.
• Able Magwitch: A convict first exposed to Pip in the beginning of the novel.
• Mrs. Joe Gargery: Pip's sister, who raises him 'by hand'. She is "a formidable woman". First name: Maria.
• Joe Gargery: The blacksmith, Pip's brother-in-law and everlasting friend
• Biddy: She helped raise Pip up by hand. She is a common folk that has a big heart deep down.
• Wemmick: He is Mr. Jaggers’s clerk and Pip’s friend. He is in charge of the money distribution from Mr. Jaggers.
• Herbert Pocket: He is the son of Matthew Pocket, Miss Havisham’s cousin and Pip's best friend.
• Clara: The lady of Herbert's fancy. She takes care of her monstrous father.
• Mr. Jaggers: The powerful, foreboding lawyer to supervise Pip’s elevation to the upper class.
• Bentley Drummle: Pip's romantic nemesis and brute.
• Compeyson: He is a convict who was partners in crime with Magwitch. He is disliked and a rude character.
• Mr. Pumblechook: Is Pip's great-uncle and is not a very nice man.
• Mr. Wopsle: The clerk of the church in Pip's village.
• Aged P: Wemmick's aged father who Wemmick looks after.
• Ms. Skiffins: An unimportant character whom Wemmick is acquainted with and whose brother assists in finding Herbert a job.

Quotes edit see section history

• “That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that never would have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”

  Pip

• “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.”

• “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.”

• “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.”

• “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.”

• “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.”

• “So throughout life our worst weaknesses and meanness are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise”

• “If I ain't a gentleman, nor yet ain't got no learning, I'm the owner of such. All on you owns stock and land; which on you owns a bought-up London gentleman?”

  Abel Magwitch, the Convict

• “And then he would rumple my hair the wrong way,--which from my earliest remembrance, as already hinted, I have in my soul denied the right of any fellow-creature to do,--and would hold me before him by the sleeve,--a spectacle of imbecility only to be equalled by himself. Ch. 12”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Kent: County of Kent, directly south of the city of London, sometimes referred to as the Garden of England because of its beautiful landscapes.
• London Bridge: England
• London: England
• Walworth: England
• Hammersmith: The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles (eight kilometres) west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames.
• Flopson: England
• Richmond: England
• Temple: England
• New South Wales: Australian colony
• England: Southernmost country making up the island of Great Britain. England is the nation, Great Britain is the island mass on which it is found.
• Newgate: District of London, home of infamous Newgate prison.
• Mill Pond Bank: England
• Startop: England
• Blue Boar: England
• Satis House: England
• Cheapside: England
• Portsmouth: Coastal town in south western England. A sea port
• High Street: England

Organizations edit see section history

• Society: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• 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.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Bentley Drummle: Describe this theme.
• The Mists on the Marshes
• Satis House
• Doubles
• Comparison of Characters to Inanimate Objects
• Crime, Guilt, and Innocence
• Social Class
• Ambition and Self-Improvement
• Bildungsroman: A formation novel dealing with the main character's development or spiritual education.
• Love and Friendship

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Oliver Twist.

Preceded by Go Tell It on the Mountain, and followed by An American Tragedy.

Preceded by The Wind in the Willows, and followed by Little Women.

Followed by Little Women.

Followed by Absalom, Absalom!.

Preceded by The Hunger Games, and followed by Night.

Preceded by Silas Marner, and followed by On the Eve.

Preceded by Anne of Green Gables, and followed by The Owl Service.

Preceded by The Shack, and followed by The Road.

Preceded by The Firm, and followed by The Sea of Monsters.

Preceded by The Shack, and followed by The Road.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Charles Dickens (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Robert M. Maniquis
2. Judy Clamon
3. Jan Gleiter
4. Neil Bartlett
5. Angus Calder
6. Margaret Cardwell
7. Monica Kulling
8. Timothy Seward
9. Mitsu Yamamoto
10. Charlotte Mitchell
11. Robert D. Shepherd
12. Frank Muller (Reader)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• BBC's Big Read (April 2003: Best Loved Novel, #17)
• Guardian 1000 (Family & Self)
• 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2008)
• Audie Award - as Narrate by Charlton Griffin (2010: Classic)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR4560 .A1
• Dewey: 823.8

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Many high school students read this as part of their literature curriculum.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › British › Classics › Dickens, Charles
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( D ) › Dickens, Charles
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Project Gutenberg: Link to the book in fulltext.
• Librivox: Great Expectations audio book read by Mark F. Smith (Total running time: 20:26:03)

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Great Expectations (1934) (IMDb): Staring Phillips Holmes and Jane Wyatt
• Great Expectations (1946) (IMDb): Staring John Mills and Jean Simmons
• Great Expectations (1974) (TV) (IMDb): Staring Michael York and Sarah Miles
• Great Expectations (1989) (TV mini series) (IMDb): Staring Anthony Calf and Kim Thomson
• Great Expectations (1998) (IMDb): Starring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. A 'modernized' version.
• Great Expectations (2012) (TV) (IMDb): Starring Douglas Booth, Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Kirby

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history