To The Reader

To navigate this blog please use the Blog Archive located on the left hand side of the screen

Start reading the blog entries from 1 in ascending order all the way to 15

Also, be sure to read the "About" page, that offers insight on why this blog was written

Comment Please!

Thanks,

V.P

15- Great Expectations Redeemed...

Away from England, Pip has learned to make a modest living for himself by doing an honest day's work at the mercantile firm with Herbert. This was contrary to his gentlemanly ways of the fore. Eleven year's later Pip returns to England transformed into a man of honest means. His first endeavor is to seek out his childhood caretakers Biddy and Joe. Although he had sought to marry Biddy, he was taken aback to hear that Joe is now her husband and that they have a little boy named Pip. Though crestfallen, Pip feels honored that he is still held in esteem by Joe and Biddy and that they named their only son after him. To rekindle his memories with Estella he seeks to revisit the Satis House. He is dismayed to discover that the house does stand anymore. His longing for Estella is intense, and he envisions Estella in those surroundings. The unconscious mind meets the conscious, as Estella appears in the misty garden, almost like a dream. As Pip and Estella walked hand in hand reminiscing in the camouflage of the mist, the future seemed awash with possibilities and wonders.

Pip, a blacksmith, a gentleman, a modest employee in a mercantile firm, a boy with great expectations and a man thwarted in love and faith felt like that all these past events submerged into this one moment, the one moment as he walked hand and hand with Estella. Pip was finally at home...

14- Peace at last...

Pip and Herbert's plans to transport Magwitch are ready to begin. The pair set down on the river towards Clara's house to pick up Magwitch. They started to row down the marshes, and the rowing became harder, almost like a sign that things were about to take a drastic change. The group stays at a shady inn, and a servant there tells the group that he has seen an ominous boat that was hovering around the inn. Pip worries that either Compeyson or policemen have arrived, so the group decided that Pip and Magwitch should sneak out early the next morning and rejoin the boat further down the river. Making their way down the river, safety was in sight. A German steamer that Magwitch could use for cover, seemed like a beacon of escape. However the attempt to escape was foiled, when a rowboat appears. A policeman calls out for Magwitch's arrest, yet when he sees Compeyson in the other boat he is enraged. Magwitch hurls himself at Compeyson. In the water, they grapple and only Magwitch resurfaces. Magwitch cannot avoid being chained and imprisoned, but Pip promises to be by his side until the very end. In an effort to soothe and support Magwitch after his death sentence, he reveals to him that his long lost daughter, Estella, is alive and well. Even more so, Pip tells Magwitch that she is beloved to him.

A full circle is completed by Pip, who is able to offer peace to his benefactor, at his life's end of passage. For all that Magwitch had done for him, and for all the opportunities that he created for him, he was at least able to offer the dying man the solace that his daughter was not only still alive, but very dear to Pip.

13- Estella, The Truth...

Jaggers invites Pip to dinner one evening, and mentioned Estella's marriage to Drummle. While he announced this, Jaggers's housekeeper Molly walked in and Pip realized that she was the person whom he couldn't place and also the person who Estella resembles. It becomes all to clear to Pip that Molly is Estella's mother. This revelation immediately strikes Pip, because it now reveals clearly to him, Estella's true parentage. Estella's mother Molly, was a woman who has had a criminal background, and was accused of murdering another woman, who was allegedly involved with her husband. To further spite her husband, she was accused of trying to kill their only daughter to take revenge. Discovering this truth about Estella's past truly shocks Pip. In a conversation with Herbert, Pip also discovers that Magwitch, his very own convict, is Estella's father. These revelations come as a blow to Pip, whose ideas about Estella's distinctive background and lineage are smashed. What makes this situation ironic, is that Estella highly prides herself in being a lady of high pedigree!

12- "What have I done! What have I done!"

Ashamed that his rise to social prominence is on account of a convict, Pip feels that he really is now inadequate for Estella, and it is for this reason that he feels that it is necessary to leave her forever. After a bitter and unfriendly meeting with Drummle, Pip heads to the Satis House to see Miss Havisham and Estella one more time. Inside, Pip is furious at Miss Havisham for leading him on for so many years, and cultivating the idea that she was his patron. When Pip confronts her and tells her what she has done to him, Miss Havisham denies nothing, and initially shows no regret. Yet after many days, and another visit to her home, Miss Havisham bursts into tears and realizes what she has done. For Miss Havisham once knew how it felt to have her heart broken, and Pip needlessly felt the intense pain that she went through, even though he had done nothing to deserve it. Pip then turns to Estella and tells her that in case she has not noticed, he has loved her for a very long time. Estella, as cold and hard-hearted as ever, responds by telling Pip that she is incapable of loving anyone, and that Pip is the only man whom she never deceived. Estella even goes on to say that she plans on marrying Drummle. Even in Pip's rage, he still advises Estella to stay away from Drummle, because he is truly unfit for a lady like Estella. Pip lets go of all his emotions and feelings and tells Estella that she will never leave his mind, for she is all and everything he sees in the world.

11- When money loses it value...

So Pip is a gentleman, but is him are the means in which he achieved this status legitimate. This is the question that torments Pip every moment that he is with Magwitch, and even when he is by himself. Finally Pip and Herbert come to an agreement that Pip should not use anymore of Magwitch's money, and instead help Magwitch return safely to his home. What is strange about this situation, is that Pip would have most likely continued to spend money if Miss Havisham was his benefactor, but since Magwitch is from the criminal class, he quite possibly could have accumulated his fortune in dishonest ways.

The decision to not accept Magwitch's wealth anymore, is one that must have taken exceptional discipline and is truly reflective of Pip's honor and dignity. Because Pip refuses to inherit Magwitch's wealth, he will eventually lose his gentleman title, but at least he will make a living that he is truly proud of.

10- "And I promised, that if I ever got a guinea, that that guinea would go to you..."

Pip's twenty-first birthday had arrived along with it, Pip expected that the name of his benefactor would be revealed. When he visits Jaggers, he is met with a cold and brief response. Jaggers does not reveal to Pip the identity of his benefactor, but he instead he plainly tells Pip what his annual income will be, and that he was not responsible for Pip or his outcome anymore. All this suspense and mystery about Pip's benefactor only makes him even more certain that it is Miss Havisham, and that she would still wish to have Pip and Estella wed. Time passes, and Pip is now twenty-three years old. One night, during a thunderstorm, Pip hears heavy footsteps coming up his staircase. An old, ragged, sailor enters his home and warmly greets him, while Pip is still nervous about this man's identity. Then, Pip recognizes the man, he is the terrible, haunting convict whom Pip aided in the shivering marshes so so long ago. The convict, whose name is Magwitch, claims to have moved to Australia, where he tirelessly worked in the sheep ranching industry and accumulated a large fortune. Magwitch arranged that his wealth would be used to help Pip become a gentleman. There really is no milder way to put it, than Pip really was crestfallen, crushed and deceived. The convict, not Miss Havisham, is Pip's benefactor, which means that he was never meant to marry Estella at all. This realization is heart-wrenching for Pip, because he dedicated his life to gaining Estella's affection, and he dedicated his life to becoming a gentleman, even at the cost of losing a few of the people closest to his heart. In short, Pip's life is not what he had ever wished for, because the fulfillment of his hope of being raised to a higher social class turns out to be the work of a man from a class even lower than his own.

Pip feels disgust and disappointment, but he still helps the convict, and wants to protect him. This really marks the true inner goodness of Pip, and his sense of duty and loyalty is one that makes him such a remarkable person.