What happens in Chapter XXXIX of Great Expectations?
Pip, now twenty-three and living alone in Garden-court, Temple—Herbert is away in Marseilles—sits reading on a wild, stormy night. At eleven o'clock, he hears a footstep on the darkened stair and calls out; a rough, weather-beaten man of about sixty slowly emerges into the lamplight. Pip doesn’t recognize the stranger at first, who extends both hands with an air of genuine delight. Gradually, through the man’s gestures and demeanor, Pip is jolted with the realization that this is the convict he helped on the marshes when he was a child. The convict takes Pip's hands, kisses them, and says, "You acted noble, my boy." Pip attempts to dismiss him politely, offering rum and suggesting they lead different lives; the convict burns the two one-pound notes Pip tries to give him, then begins to ask pointed questions about Pip's income and his lawyer whose name starts with "J." The full truth hits Pip hard: the convict—not Miss Havisham—is his secret benefactor. The man confirms this joyfully, stating that he made Pip a gentleman, swearing that every guinea he earned would go to Pip, and has now risked his life (returning is a capital offense) to see his creation. Pip is overwhelmed with disgust and fear. He settles the convict in Herbert's room, locks him in, and sits by the dying fire through the night, grappling with the destruction of his illusions about Miss Havisham and Estella, and the shame of having abandoned Joe for this man's money. The chapter closes with the narrator's note: "THIS IS THE END OF THE SECOND STAGE OF PIP'S EXPECTATIONS."
Analysis
The chapter centers on a single, devastating reversal, and Dickens brings it to life with impressive atmospheric detail. The storm—described through a repetitive, almost chant-like refrain ("stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud")—is more than just a setting; it mirrors the chaos that will soon invade Pip's inner world. The comparison of the lighthouse and the image of coal fires drifting away like "red-hot splashes in the rain" give the scene a breathtaking, disorienting quality that prepares the reader for the impending shock.
The arrival of the stranger unfolds slowly, revealing his identity: Pip first sees just a circle of lamplight, then notices physical characteristics (iron-grey hair, tanned skin, sea-worn clothing), and finally, a sense of recognition washes over him without a particular feature triggering it. This illustrates how deep memory works beneath our conscious awareness.
Dickens adeptly shifts tone through sharp contrasts. The convict's speeches are warm, proud, and tender; Pip's responses are cold, formal, and increasingly horrified. The convict's act of burning the two-pound notes—a silent gesture—destroys Pip's attempt to define their relationship and shows that it cannot be reduced to a simple transaction.
The chapter ends with a reflective moment beside a dying fire while the storm continues to rage, turning introspective. Pip's three losses—his dream of Miss Havisham, his hopes for Estella, and his moral bond with Joe—are prioritized, with Joe's abandonment identified as the sharpest and deepest pain of all. The locked door, the pistol resting on the pillow, and Pip waking on the floor at five o'clock with the candles burned out signal the chapter's shift from comfortable expectation to stark realization.
Key quotes from Chapter XXXIX
“Yes, Pip, dear boy, I’ve made a gentleman on you! It’s me wot has done it!”
The convict kneels before the near-fainting Pip on the sofa and reveals himself as the true source of Pip's fortune.
“I lived rough, that you should live smooth; I worked hard, that you should be above work.”
The convict continues his exultant declaration of his years of sacrifice on Pip's behalf.
“it was for the convict, guilty of I knew not what crimes … that I had deserted Joe.”
Pip, sitting alone by the fire after locking the convict in Herbert's room, identifies his deepest shame.
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