Great Expectations Short Summary

This is a book by Charles Dickens about the life of a man named Pip.

A Brief Overview of the Plot

The book is divided into three sections of Pip’s life. First, he is an orphan with a resentful sister who is unkind to him, but her husband offers him love and kindness. Pip visits his parents’ tombstones where he comes across a convict who convinces him to bring him food and a file the following day. The convict and another one are caught and taken to prison ships called the Hulks by soldiers.

Pip’s uncle makes arrangements for Pip to play at Miss Havisham’s house. Here he falls for Estella. Pip goes to the house to work for Miss Havisham for around ten months, and in return, Mrs. Havisham pays for Pip’s apprenticeship to become a blacksmith.

Pip is not happy in his position since he wants to win Estella’s love by becoming a gentleman. A lawyer named Mr. Jaggers arrives and tells Pip that he has been left great fortune by a beneficiary. Pip believes that it is Miss Havisham. Pip decides to go to London to become a gentleman. He meets Herbert pocket, and they become friends. The two accumulate much debt by living beyond their means.

Pip is informed of Miss Havisham’s background and the terrible events of her wedding day. He gets a visit from the convict, who was his benefactor and not Miss Havisham. Magwitch is the convict’s name, and he is the one Pip helped with food. The knowledge changes Pip, and he becomes accepting of Joe’s humility.

In the third section, we have the rest of the mysteries revealed. The other convince was called Compeyson and was the enemy of Magwitch. He got drowned while Pip aided Magwitch’s escape. Pip gets to know the identity of Stella’s parents. Magwitch eventually dies while in prison, and Pip gets to become a clerk with Herbert in Cairo. He comes back after 11 years and finds Estella where Sati’s house was. They stay together.