• That her relatives and the townspeople yet perceive the eccentric Miss Havisham as superior also indicates the reverence given to materialism which Dickens found offensive in his society.
• The mists on the marshes are symbolic of danger.  It is there that Pip first encounters the convict, and it is also on the marshes that Pip's life is threatened by Orlick at the sluice house.  Whenever Pip travels to and from London he must pass through the mists; this suggests that his development as a gentleman may have negative results.
• The prison ship represents what Robert Barnard in his essay "Imagery and Theme in Great Expectations" calls the transference of guilt from one character to another.  For instance, after his encounter with convict in Chapter One, Pip is ridden with guilt as he steals the food and file for Magwitch.  When he later returns to the marshes Pip is ridden with guilt for avoiding Joe on his visits and for his treatment of Biddy, as well as his feelings that "had some hand in the attack upon my sister."
• The names of characters are also symbolic: Estella, whose name means star, is an unobtainable as a star for Pip, but viewed by him as beautiful and desirous and one to be reached for. Pumblechook, who is pompous and fawning before the wealthy, symbolizes the rising middle class who wish to rise the higher social class.  When Pumblechook learns that Pip has acquired money, he congratulates him and treats him with a new respect.  Also, Bentley Drummle, a lout, represents the falsity of class distinctions as this coarse and crude man is allowed into what is seemingly polite society.  Magwitch's name suggests both his wicked past and his magical provision of Pip's "great expectations."  Pip's servant, whose name is Avenger suggests the pretensions of Pip in having a servant.  Avenger does not serve Pip at all; in fact, it is difficult for Pip to get him to do anything.
• Fire, which is often symbolic of cleansing, represents Miss Havisham's spiritual cleansing from her sin of vengeance against men as she is burnt after asking Pip his forgiveness.

Much like other authors, Charles Dickens employs symbols to magnify and broaden his expression of certain concepts and ideas. In the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, Dickens was concerned with the false values and the class consciousness of Victorian England, and he used symbols to express such concepts.

Satis House- Representative of the romantic perception of the upper class, Satis House also is symbolic of the Victorian Age's connection of commerce and industry with wealth as the brewery is what financed this house.  On the other hand,

the dilapidated stone, darkness, dust, and decay are symbolic of the decadence of the lives of the frivolous upper class.

the jewels of Miss Havisham represent the wealth that brings a false adulation from the rising middle class that aspires to wealth as a measure of worth.

money and wealth represent the falsity of the value assigned people.  The "greatest of swindlers," as Pip calls him, Uncle Pumblechook especially exemplifies this concept as he congratulates Pip on "the joy of money" after Pip receives news of his "great expectations." Later, he boasts that he is the one who has been influential in the making of Pip as a gentleman when heretofore he berated or ignored Pip as a child.

Bentley Drummle  is a brute, but is valued as a suitor for Estella.  This character is symbolic of the arbitrary nature of class distinctions.

the mists on the marshes are symbolic of Pip's confusion and ambiguity as well as danger.  Certainly, this symbol, too, creates an atmosphere and tone for certain passages.

Newgate prison is symbolic of the social prison in which Magwitch and his lower class live.  Great Expectations is clearly an indictment against the corrupt judicial system of England in which there is a "justice" for the upperclass such as Compeyson and another "justice" for the poor as respresented by Magwitch. Mr. Jaggers will not defend anyone who does not first produce money for the lawyer.

the leg-iron of the convict  represents guilt.  In an early chapter, Pip narrates that on the next morning after his theft of food for the convict the damp of the marsh

cold seemed riveted as the iron was riveted to the leg of the man.

In his guilt throughout the novel, Pip feels that he wears a leg-iron himself.  For, time and time again Pip's guilt regarding Joe and others is recalled by his encountering convicts on the marshes or in Newgate prison or the reappearance of Magwitch.

Certainly the rotting bridal cake of Miss Havisham and her yellowed wedding dress are symbolic of the wasted life of a once beautiful woman who was abandoned by her fiancee on her wedding day.  Since this day, Miss Havisham "knows nothing of the days of the week or the months of the year."  Time has stood still; she has all her clocks stopped at fifteen minutes until the hour of the wedding that did not occur many, many years ago.  It is, indeed, ironic that Miss Havisham's wedding dress, rotting cake, stopped clocks, and darkened rooms become symbolic of death and devastation.

The name of her mansion is also symbolic: Satis House.  The irony of this name cannot be missed by readers as they perceive the unhappy lives within:  an old woman who seeks revenge upon the male population as she raises a beautiful young woman to be heartless and cruel to men.  She instructs Estella, "You can break their [men's] hearts.  The old brewery next to the mansion symbolizes the connection between wealth/social status and commercial business.  The dilapidated condition of the house parallels the decadence of the upper class.  The degenerate Bentley Drummle also represents this lack of moral character in many upper class members of London's society.

Other symbols include the leg-irons of the criminal Magwitch, who is a victim of an unjust social system that condemns the poor over perpetrators of the upper class.  Newgate Prison and its death masks also symbolizes the "prison" of London's social caste system and unjust laws.

On the other hand, the Forge symbolizes warmth and love for Pip, who initially rejects it as "common" in his desire for wealth and status as a gentleman.