Chapters 54 and 55 Summary
Last Updated September 5, 2023.
Chapter 54
Pip, Herbert, and Startop begin to row with Magwitch, who is disguised as a river-pilot. Pip keeps alert for any signs that they are being followed but sees none. He marvels that Magwitch seems the least anxious out of all four of them. Magwitch says Pip would envy him if he could understand how happy Magwitch is to be sitting with him there and not trapped "betwixt four walls" anymore. Pip responds that he understands the "delights of freedom," and Magwitch tells Pip that he couldn't understand in the same way unless he had been a prisoner.
After rowing for some time, the group finally arrives at a public-house with a warm room, food, and beds. The rooms are dirty and airless, but Pip is happy with how empty the house is. After dinner, the "Jack" asks if Pip and his crew saw a "four-oared galley" going up when they were on the water. He says the boat passed both up and down the shore, and its crew stopped for beer. Pip and the others are nervous about this potential obstacle.
Pip convinces Magwitch to go to bed and goes outside with Startop and Herbert to discuss their circumstances. They decide that they should stay at the house until the galley is about an hour from departure and then leave so they can drift in its tide as they originally planned. Having decided, they all go to bed. Pip wakes up after a few hours and, looking out the window, sees two men searching their boat. He watches the two men from his window until they disappear from his view. The next morning, Pip tells Magwitch, Herbert, and Startop about what he saw. He suggests that he and Magwitch should walk to a further location and have the boat pick them up at that spot a few hours later. The group agrees.
Pip is very careful as they walk, and as they get to the meeting point, Pip tells Magwitch to hide and wait until Pip signals it's safe to wait openly for the boat. Pip looks for signs from the men left the night before but sees none; he reasons that the tide might have washed footprints away.
Herbert and Startop arrive with the boat, and they wait for the steamer. At half-past one, the smoke from two steamers appears, and Pip and Magwitch say goodbye to Herbert and Startop. As they say goodbye, Pip catches sight of a ship cutting into the steamers' path from the shore. The ship acts strangely, matching Pip's boat's actions and steering, and all the crew on the ship are watching them. Pip notices that there is a cloaked figure on the ship who whispers instructions to the steerer. A man from the ships calls out, identifying Magwitch as a "returned Transport" and saying, "I apprehend that man, and call upon him to surrender, and you to assist."
Chaos ensues as the ship cuts off Pip's boat. As the steersman grabs Magwitch, Magwitch pulls the cloak off the man on the ship; Pip recognizes the man as Compeyson. The boat capsizes, and everyone ends up in the water. When Pip is pulled aboard the ship's galley, Herbert and Startop are there, but Magwitch and Compeyson are gone, as is Pip's boat. Pip sees a dark object in the water that turns out to be Magwitch, alive. He is dragged onboard and "instantly manacled at the wrists and ankles."
The ship goes ashore, and the parties return to the same tavern where they had spent the night before. Magwitch has sustained serious...
(This entire section contains 1064 words.)
See This Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this study guide. You'll also get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
Already a member? Log in here.
injury to his head and chest. He tells Pip he believes he was struck on the head by the keel of the steamer and hurt his chest on the side of the ship. He also tells Pip that he and Compeyson struggled in the water after the ship and boat capsized. Pip says he has no reason to doubt Magwitch's account of what happened, as the officer steering the galley had the same story. Pip is asked to hand over all of Magwitch's possessions, including the pocketbook Pip had been holding.
Magwitch's chest wound causes him breathing trouble, and he spends the night in pain; Pip feels it would be best if he died because of how he will be treated in prison. He also realizes that all of Magwitch's possessions—including the pocketbook with the money—will become property of the state. Pip will not end up with any of it.
Magwitch tells Pip that from this moment on, Pip should only come visit when accompanied by Wemmick so that no one thinks Pip and Magwitch are associated. Pip vows to be true to Magwitch and never leave his side.
Chapter 55
Magwitch is taken to court the next day. Pip tries to convince Jaggers to help Magwitch, but Jaggers says "no power on earth could prevent it going against us" once a witness identifies Magwitch. Pip tells Jaggers about the fate of the money, and Jaggers says that there's no legal backing for why Pip should have the money; he's not a relative, and Magwitch never formally signed over the money. Pip understands this and only wishes Magwitch not know what happened to his wealth.
After three days, the witness appears, and Magwitch's trial date is set. During "this dark time" of Pip's life, Herbert arrives and tells Pip that he needs to move to Cairo for a business opportunity. He asks Pip if he would consider joining Herbert and Clara in Cairo as a clerk. Pip is grateful for the offer but declines. He asks Herbert to give him two or three months and he will revisit the question; they agree.
Pip runs into Wemmick, who asks him to take a walk with him "as a kindness" on Monday morning. That Monday, Pip arrives at Wemmick's house and notices Wemmick is "looking tighter than usual." On their walk, they pass by a church, and Pip is surprised when Wemmick wants to go in. Then he sees Miss Skiffins being escorted through a side door. Wemmick says, "Let's have a wedding," and he and Miss Skiffins get married.
Wemmick is very pleased with himself for carrying off such a great surprise, and they all go to breakfast. Wemmick then clarifies to Pip that he is to tell no one of the wedding, especially Jaggers.