Great Expectations Chapter Summaries
Dickens organizes Great Expectations into three distinct stages that deliberately track Pip's moral journey: innocent childhood (moral baseline), corrupted gentleman years (social rise but moral fall), and partial recovery (moral growth but permanent scars). This structure serves the novel's central theme: becoming a gentleman corrupts character rather than refining it.
The Three-Stage Structure:
- 1.Chapters 1-19 (Marshes): Innocent Pip with functioning conscience
- 2.Chapters 20-39 (London): Gentleman Pip morally declining as he socially rises
- 3.Chapters 40-59 (Recovery): Chastened Pip recognizing true worth, achieving incomplete redemption
Stage One: Childhood in the Marshes (Chapters 1-19)
Overview:
Young Pip lives with his abusive sister and gentle brother-in-law Joe. He helps an escaped convict, visits Miss Havisham's decaying mansion, meets cold Estella, and receives news of mysterious wealth. This stage establishes Pip's moral baseline: he has a functioning conscience and natural decency despite difficult circumstances.
Key Events:
- •Chapter 1: Pip meets escaped convict Magwitch in the marshes
- •Chapters 2-6: Pip steals food for convict, feels guilty, convicts captured
- •Chapters 7-11: Pip visits Satis House, meets Miss Havisham and Estella
- •Chapters 12-15: Pip becomes Joe's apprentice, Mrs. Joe attacked
- •Chapters 16-19: Jaggers announces Pip's "great expectations," Pip leaves for London
Why This Stage Matters:
This stage shows Pip before corruption: he helps the convict despite fear, loves Joe despite embarrassment, and feels genuine guilt over minor theft. His conscience works fine when he's poor. Dickens establishes the moral standard by which we'll judge Pip's later deterioration.
Stage Two: London Gentleman (Chapters 20-39)
Overview:
Pip moves to London, becomes a gentleman, learns refined manners and expensive tastes. He becomes ashamed of Joe and his working-class origins, wastes money, and values appearance over substance. This stage tracks his moral decline precisely as his social position rises—the inverted bildungsroman.
Key Events:
- •Chapters 20-22: Pip arrives in London, meets Herbert Pocket, begins gentleman education
- •Chapters 23-28: Pip learns to be ashamed of Joe, Joe visits London awkwardly
- •Chapters 29-31: Pip pursues Estella hopelessly, she treats him with contempt
- •Chapters 32-35: Pip wastes money, falls into debt, lives beyond means
- •Chapters 36-39: Pip turns 21, learns details of his expectations, Magwitch returns
Why This Stage Matters:
This stage demonstrates Dickens' central argument: becoming a gentleman corrupts rather than elevates. Pip learns false class values that destroy his natural decency. His treatment of Joe—wanting him "less common"—shows how class ambition has corrupted him. He becomes morally worse precisely when society says he's becoming "better."
Stage Three: Moral Recovery (Chapters 40-59)
Overview:
The revelation that Magwitch (not Miss Havisham) is Pip's benefactor forces confrontation with class prejudice. Pip gradually overcomes disgust to care for Magwitch, recognizes Joe's true worth, and acknowledges his own shameful behavior. He loses his fortune but gains moral clarity—though his redemption remains deliberately incomplete.
Key Events:
- •Chapters 40-42: Pip horrified that convict is his benefactor, learns Magwitch's history
- •Chapters 43-46: Pip and Herbert plan to smuggle Magwitch out of England
- •Chapters 47-50: Pip learns Estella is Magwitch's daughter, Miss Havisham's remorse
- •Chapters 51-56: Escape attempt fails, Magwitch captured, Pip cares for dying Magwitch
- •Chapters 57-59: Pip falls ill, Joe nurses him, Pip's partial redemption, ambiguous ending with Estella
Why This Stage Matters:
Pip's moral education consists of unlearning everything Victorian society taught him. He overcomes class prejudice (caring for Magwitch despite initial disgust), recognizes true worth (Joe's gentility), and owns his corruption (narrating with full self-awareness). But redemption is incomplete—he improves without becoming whole. Dickens' realism: class corruption leaves permanent scars.
Critical Turning Points in the Novel:
Chapter 1: Meeting the Convict
Young Pip helps escaped convict Magwitch in the marshes. This act of kindness (done from fear but still compassionate) establishes Pip's moral baseline and sets in motion the entire plot. Magwitch never forgets.
Chapter 8: First Visit to Satis House
Pip meets Miss Havisham (still wearing her decaying wedding dress, all clocks stopped at 8:40) and Estella, who calls him "boy" and mocks his "coarse hands." This plants the seed of class shame that will corrupt him.
Chapter 18: The Great Expectations Announced
Jaggers announces that Pip has a mysterious benefactor who will make him a gentleman. Pip immediately assumes it's Miss Havisham preparing him for Estella. This false assumption corrupts him because it seems to validate his class ambitions.
Chapter 27: Joe Visits London
Joe, uncomfortable in his Sunday clothes, visits gentleman Pip. Pip is embarrassed by Joe's manners. Joe recognizes Pip's shame and leaves, writing that they are "not two figures to be together in London." This moment crystallizes Pip's corruption.
Chapter 39: Magwitch Returns
The convict from Chapter 1 returns, reveals he's Pip's benefactor. Pip is horrified—his wealth came from a criminal, not from respectable Miss Havisham. This revelation forces Pip to confront his class prejudices and begin his moral education.
Chapter 49: Miss Havisham's Fire
Miss Havisham, consumed by remorse, begs Pip's forgiveness. Her wedding dress catches fire. Pip tries to save her (showing his moral growth), but she's badly burned and dies. She's literally consumed by the revenge she couldn't release.
Chapter 56: Magwitch's Death
Pip holds dying Magwitch's hand, calls him "dear boy" (reversing Magwitch's term), tells him Estella lives and is a lady. Pip has overcome his class prejudice completely—he loves the convict society despises. This completes his moral education.