70 pages • 2 hours read
Charles DickensA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Pip contemplates how his “expectations” have affected his behavior, noting the change is not altogether positive. He spends lavishly and develops extravagant tastes, crowding Herbert’s sparsely furnished apartment with luxury items, accruing massive debt. He is uneasy in his treatment of Joe and sometimes wishes he never met Miss Havisham.
Startop urges Pip, Herbert, and Bentley to join a society club for young men called The Finches of The Grove. The Finches drink recklessly and spend their money foolishly, dining in an expensive hotel, running up large bills. Herbert can’t really afford to keep up with their habits, but he is too proud to admit otherwise and falls into a depression.
Occasionally, Herbert and Pip make a show of trying to tabulate their debts, but they always become overwhelmed by the task. Pip remarks that he sometimes finds it difficult to distinguish between the “edifying” process of sorting receipts paying them.
One evening, Pip learns via a letter that his sister has died and the funeral will be held next Monday.
Though Pip is unable to think of Mrs. Joe with the “tenderness” typically associated with a sibling’s death, he feels shock at the knowledge of her absence, and rage toward her still-unidentified attacker.
The Trabb & Co has decorated the old house for the funeral, and Pip describes the display as “dismally absurd.” He finds Joe uncomfortably dressed in a black cloak seated in the upper end of the room as though he has Trabb had placed him there. Joe is grief stricken and clasps Pip’s hand, repeating his familiar statement about Pip’s sister: “she were a fine figure of a [woman]” (628).
The funeral is also a “dismally absurd” affair, with every emotional gesture choreographed by Trabb, even asking everyone to simultaneously take out their handkerchiefs. Pip grimly notes that the neighborhood approves of the funeral procession. Pip’s sister is buried in the graveyard beside their parents.
After the funeral, Pip tells Biddy that she should have written to him about his sister’s death. Biddy responds politely, but firmly communicates that she believes Pip has moved on from his life in the old town and has prioritized his existence as a London gentleman. When Pip worries about how Biddy will live now that his sister is gone, she replies that she plans to become headmistress at a new school in town that is almost finished.
Biddy then describes the circumstances of Pip’s sister’s death. Before dying, Pip’s sister gestured for Biddy and Joe to come close and articulated the words “Joe […] Pardon […] Pip” (636) just before her death. At the end of the chapter, Pip bids an emotional goodbye to Joe, shaking his hand and telling him not to wipe it off first.
Herbert and Pip’s debts continue to rise as they spend recklessly. On Pip’s 21st birthday, he goes to Jaggers’s office with the hope that Jaggers will reveal his benefactor’s name. He feels confident that Miss Havisham will reveal her identity and arrange his marriage with Estella. Jaggers asks Pip if he knows how much money he spends, and Pip confesses that he has no idea. Jaggers cryptically asks Pip if he has anything to ask him, but Jaggers won’t tell Pip who is benefactor is. He gives Pip a bank note for 500 pounds and tells him that this money is his yearly salary. He explains that Pip will receive no more money until his benefactor presents himself. Pip tries to ask if his benefactor will soon be coming to London, but Jaggers deflects his question.
Pip wonders if he can use some of the 500 pounds to help Herbert start his business. He asks Wemmick for advice about helping a friend by giving him money, and Wemmick replies with a long list of bridges in London and recommends that Pip toss his money over a bridge instead.
Pip goes to Wemmick’s house for a birthday dinner. There, he meets Miss Skiffkins, Wemmick’s girlfriend. Wemmick seems to be in good spirits within his home environment, removed from the stress of the office and his hardened office persona. When Pip once again asks about helping Herbert, Wemmick agrees to assist him. Pip insists that everything must be anonymous. Through Miss Skiffkins’ brother, Wemmick helps Pip buy a partnership from a young merchant. To secure the partnership, Pip must pay half of his 500 pounds.
At Richmond, Estella continues to use her charm to “torture Pip, pitting him against her other male admirers. On one of the many evenings when he goes to visit her, Estella pulls Pip aside and asks why he doesn’t take a warning. Pip is confused, and Estella tells him he must be blind. She tells him that Miss Havisham has summoned her to spend a day at her home, and that Pip must escort her.
Pip notes that Miss Havisham seems even more fond of Estella than the last time, obsessing over her beauty. Miss Havisham continues her usual ritual of stirring Pip’s feelings, asking how Estella treats, or “uses,” him. Hearing these words, Pip realizes that Estella is Miss Havisham’s tool for revenge.
As the day passes at Miss Havisham’s, Estella grows tired, and Miss Havisham declares that she’s cold and ungrateful. Estella bitterly replies that she is that way because Miss Havisham made her so. She and Miss Havisham argue about her upbringing. Miss Havisham denounces Estella for not loving her enough, whereas Estella muses that she owes Miss Havisham everything, as Miss Havisham’s perspective—including both her love and her desire for revenge—have been a constant feature of her reality.
Soon after, Pip goes to a gathering of the Finches where Bentley Drummle toasts to Estella of Richmond. Drummle gloats that Estella has been dancing with him several times, and Pip is enraged that she would spend time with a person like Drummle. Pip later sees Estella dancing with Drummle at an Assembly Ball at Richmond. During a private moment with Estella tells Pip that she must write a letter to Miss Havisham. Pip asks if she is writing to recount “tonight’s triumph” and tells her how he feels about her entertaining someone so despised as Drummle, who has nothing but money. Estella reveals that she wants to deceive Drummle and other suitors, but not Pip.
Pip is now 23-years-old, and he still hasn’t received any information about his benefactor. He feels insecure and lonely, partially because Herbert is constantly away for his slowly progressing business. It is consistently rainy and cold living on the weather-beaten top floor of the Temple, a dreary boardinghouse that Pip can afford, he imagines he hears the footsteps of his dead sister.
The footsteps turn out to be those of a visitor, a muscular, tanned, long-haired man in his sixties with gray hair. After a moment, Pip realizes this man is the convict from the marsh. The man tells Pip that he is grateful for the help Pip gave him long ago, and Pip says he hopes the man now makes an honest living. He offers the convict a drink, and notices the man is crying. He has made a great deal of money as a sheep farmer and stock breeder in Australia.
The man then reveals that he is Pip’s mysterious benefactor. He explains that from the moment when Pip assisted him in the marshes, he vowed that any money he made would go toward making him a gentleman. The man reflects that all his hard, rough work seemed worthwhile, knowing it would finance Pip’s development. Whenever he encountered prejudice from another man, he would think of how he was making a better gentleman in Pip, and whenever an associate derided him as a common convict, he would think to himself that even though he wasn’t a gentleman, he was the “owner” of one.
Pip is horrified and disgusted by the man’s revelation. He’s distressed that his money came from an ex-convict and by the knowledge that Miss Havisham is not his benefactor and thus does not intend him for Estella. Pip begrudgingly allows the man to sleep in Herbert’s room and the man reveals that he’s still a fugitive. As the man sleeps, Pip reflects that he never would have left Joe if he had known that Miss Havisham was not his benefactor, and that she did not intend for him to marry Estella.
The next morning, Pip notices a strange man crouching in the staircase of his building, but the man is gone when Pip returns with a watchman. Pip tries to normalize the presence of the convict by telling the building’s watchman he is Pip’s uncle, but soon after the man tells him that his name is Abel Magwitch. He then explains that Jaggers was his solicitor when the court tried him in London.
Magwitch devours his breakfast like a dog, and Pip is repulsed by Magwitch’s rough manners. Magwitch rambles that he’ll enjoy seeing his gentleman spend his money. Magwitch has told no one of his arrival but Wemmick and Jaggers, and he plans to remain in London. When Pip remarks that Magwitch spoke much more gravely about his possible discovery the night before, Magwitch replies that he’s old and has no fear of death. Magwitch then requests another look at “his gentleman” and gazes upon Pip with admiration and ownership.
Pip goes to Jaggers for help. During their meeting, Jaggers insists that he doesn’t “want to know anything” and Pip should not tell him anything. He pretends that Magwitch is in New South Wales, but inadvertently confirms that Magwitch is Pip’s benefactor.
Pip vainly attempts to refine Magwitch’s appearance by ordering fine new clothes, but finds that nothing becomes him. He deems Magwitch a hopeless cause. When Herbert returns, Pip introduces him to Magwitch. Herbert greets Magwitch, who assures Herbert that Pip will be a greater gentleman than Herbert.
In this section, Pip begins to fulfill Jaggers’s prediction that he would “go wrong” in his spending habits. Because he is from a lower-class background, he has little understanding of how much items cost; therefore, he does not understand how to budget around his newly developing extravagant tastes. Likewise, Herbert Pocket struggles with his spending, coming from a family that is not as wealthy as Startop’s or Drummle’s. Both young men feel pressure to keep up with the spending habits of their wealthy peers in the Finches, resulting in accumulating debts.
The dismal affair of Mrs. Joe’s funeral further reveals the disparity between Pip’s upper-class dress, behavior, and self-presentation, and the pretentious ceremony the villagers associate with “class.” Pip is ashamed and embarrassed when he sees the absurdly choreographed display of Trabb & Co, including the cheap decorations and Joe’s ill-fitting suit. These awkward pretensions only serve to heighten the sensation of “wrongness” Pip already feels in the environment he once thought of as home: A space where locals now stare at him, and children follow him, pointing, through the streets.
This section also raises questions of Pip’s complex moral development. Pip acknowledges that he has neglected Joe and made false promises toward him, motivated by Pip’s “expectations.” In other moments, however, he demonstrates that he is still a selfless, kind-hearted individual. For example: Pip puts great effort into generously donating a large portion of his set income to securing Herbert’s position as partner. Furthermore, he makes this donation anonymously, illustrating that a desire for praise doesn’t motivate him, he simply wants to help his friend.
Finally, this section continues to develop the theme of benefactors as makers of their children through Pip and Estella. When Miss Havisham criticizes Estella’s cold-heartedness, Estella points out that her attitude is a product of Miss Havisham’s own vengeful teaching. In a similar fashion, Magwitch speaks of the way he hope to avenge his own damaged reputation by “making” Pip a gentleman. Both Miss Havisham and Magwitch are using their wards to avenge perceived injustices on their behalves.
By Charles Dickens