The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Great Expectations
Great Expectations, a novel by
Dickens
, which first appeared in All the Year Round
1860
–
1
, published in book form in the latter year.
It recounts the development of the character of the narrator, Philip Pirrip, commonly known as ‘Pip’, a village boy brought up by his termagant sister, the wife of the gentle, humorous, kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery. He is introduced to the house of Miss Havisham, a lady half-crazed by the desertion of her lover on her bridal night, who, in a spirit of revenge, has brought up the girl Estella to use her beauty as a means of torturing men. Pip falls in love with Estella, and aspires to become a gentleman. Money and expectations of more wealth come to him from a mysterious source, which he believes to be Miss Havisham. He goes to London, and in his new mode of life meanly abandons the devoted Joe Gargery, a humble connection of whom he is now ashamed. Misfortunes come upon him. His...
[The entire page is 298 words long]
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