Flashcards for Great Expectations

Abel Magwitch

Abel Magwitch is a convict who first appears on the marshes, where young Pip steals food and a file for him.

convict on the marshes, Pip's secret benefactor

Bentley Drummle

Bentley Drummle is a classmate of Pip's, residing at Mr. Pocket's house in Hammersmith.

Pip's sullen, wealthy fellow pupil at Mr. Pocket's, who marries Estella

Biddy

Biddy is introduced as Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt's granddaughter and an orphan who, like Pip, was "brought up by hand."

Pip's childhood friend and teacher, later Joe's wife

Compeyson

Compeyson is a career criminal who secretly orchestrates some of the novel's most heinous acts.

criminal who swindled Miss Havisham and manipulated Magwitch

Estella

Estella is Miss Havisham's adopted daughter and the focus of Pip's intense, irrational love throughout the novel.

Miss Havisham's adopted daughter, object of Pip's love

Herbert Pocket

Herbert Pocket is Pip's closest friend and roommate in London.

Pip's roommate and closest friend in London

Joe Gargery

Joe Gargery is the blacksmith in the marsh country and Pip's brother-in-law, having married Pip's older sister, Mrs. Joe.

blacksmith, Pip's brother-in-law and surrogate father

Miss Havisham

Miss Havisham is the wealthy, reclusive owner of Satis House, a large, gloomy mansion described as the home of "an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion."

wealthy recluse who takes Pip in to play

Mr. Jaggers

Mr. Jaggers is a prominent lawyer in London, based in Little Britain close to Smithfield.

Pip's London lawyer and guardian

Mr. Pocket

Mr. Matthew Pocket is Pip's tutor in London and the father of Herbert Pocket.

Pip's tutor in London, Herbert's father

Mr. Pumblechook

Mr. Pumblechook is Joe Gargery's uncle, but Mrs. Joe often takes the lead when it comes to him.

Joe's uncle, self-important corn-chandler

Mrs. Joe

Mrs. Joe Gargery, originally named Georgiana and mostly known by her married title, is Pip's significantly older sister.

Pip's sister who raised him by hand

Mr. Wopsle

Mr. Wopsle is a minor but recurring character in Great Expectations, showing up at key moments throughout Pip's life, from childhood to his time in London.

church clerk turned actor

Orlick

He’s a broad-shouldered, dark-skinned man who always slouches, living alone on the marshes and serving as the novel's most threatening character.

Joe's journeyman, villain who attacks Mrs. Joe

Pip

Pip, whose full name is Philip Pirrip, serves as the first-person narrator and central character of the novel.

narrator and protagonist

Wemmick

Wemmick works as Mr. Jaggers's clerk at the Little Britain office and is one of Pip's most reliable friends in London.

Jaggers's clerk and Pip's friend

“A boy may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may tuck himself up, may draw the clothes over his head, may think himself comfortable and safe, but that young man will softly creep and creep his way to him and tear him open.”

In Chapter I, the convict uses a fabricated threat to scare young Pip into compliance.

The convict (Magwitch) · Chapter I

“I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.”

Instead of feeling relieved, the adult Pip looks back at his younger self with brutal honesty: he was too afraid to confess to Joe, just as he had been too afraid to stand up to the convict's demands at first.

Pip (narrator) · Chapter VI

“Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”

Placed at the end of Chapter IX, this direct address to the reader comes after Pip confesses to Joe that he lied about Miss Havisham's house.

Pip (narrator) · Chapter IX

““Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!””

This whispered command, which Pip overhears during his visits in Chapter XII, unveils Miss Havisham's true intention with Estella.

Miss Havisham · Chapter XII

“Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man’s a blacksmith, and one’s a whitesmith, and one’s a goldsmith, and one’s a coppersmith.”

Joe delivers this farewell speech at the end of Chapter XXVII during his visit to Pip at Barnard's Inn, recognizing that their lives have drifted too far apart for casual companionship.

Joe Gargery · Chapter XXVII

““Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces,—and as it gets older and stronger it will tear deeper,—love her, love her, love her!””

In Chapter XXIX, Miss Havisham grabs Pip and repeats her command—"Love her, love her, love her!"—insisting that he love Estella no matter whether she favors him, wounds him, or tears his heart apart.

Miss Havisham · Chapter XXIX

“Yes, Pip, dear boy, I’ve made a gentleman on you! It’s me wot has done it!”

This is the climactic moment of Chapter XXXIX, when Pip realizes that the rough convict from the marshes — not Miss Havisham — is his secret benefactor.

Magwitch · Chapter XXXIX

“The imaginary student pursued by the misshapen creature he had impiously made, was not more wretched than I, pursued by the creature who had made me”

Still in Chapter XXXIX, after Magwitch has gone to sleep in Herbert's room, Pip sits by the dying fire and reflects on a haunting comparison.

Pip (narrator) · Chapter XL

““I am what you have made me. Take all the praise, take all the blame; take all the success, take all the failure; in short, take me.””

In Chapter XXXVIII, during a heated argument between Miss Havisham and Estella, Estella delivers a chilling and cutting response to Miss Havisham's plea for love.

Estella · Chapter XXXVIII

“I only saw in him a much better man than I had been to Joe.”

This understated sentence appears in Chapter LIV, as Pip sits next to the injured, handcuffed Magwitch on the boat heading back to London after their botched escape.

Pip (narrator) · Chapter LIV

“My Lord, I have received my sentence of Death from the Almighty, but I bow to yours”

Magwitch delivers these words in Chapter LVI, standing before the judge after receiving a death sentence for returning from transportation.

Magwitch · Chapter LVI

“I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.”

In the final chapter, Chapter LIX, Estella and Pip find themselves in the ruins of Satis House's garden.

Estella · Chapter LIX

Joe's forge and the blacksmith's song

The forge symbolizes hard work, loyalty, and the simple goodness that Pip leaves behind in his quest for refinement.

Newgate Prison and the Hulks

Newgate Prison and the prison ships, known as the Hulks, symbolize the pervasive influence of crime in Pip's life.

the file

The file that Pip takes from Joe's forge to give to Magwitch is the novel's most enduring symbol of hidden connections and unintended consequences.

the marshes and mist

The marshes surrounding Pip's childhood home highlight his modest and unavoidable beginnings.

the stopped clocks and decaying wedding feast

Miss Havisham's clocks — all stuck at twenty minutes to nine — and the decaying wedding cake on the table symbolize her unwillingness to let time progress after being left at the altar.

Wemmick's Castle

Wemmick's small castle in Walworth — featuring a drawbridge, cannon, and garden — represents the essential divide between public and private life.

Irony

Dickens creates a sharp irony throughout the story, highlighting the gap between Pip's beliefs and the reality that unfolds for readers.

Symbolism

Objects and settings carry profound symbolic weight throughout the story.

Foil

Joe Gargery serves as Pip's main foil throughout the novel.

Motif

The motif of hands runs throughout the novel, representing class, guilt, and human connection.

Simile

Dickens frequently employs similes to vividly convey moral and psychological states.

Pathetic Fallacy

The natural and built environment often mirrors the emotional tone of the narrative.

Extended Metaphor

This metaphor deepens as Pip takes on the roles of both the creature—who has become a gentleman thanks to Magwitch—and the reckless creator who has shaped his own misery.

Foreshadowing

Details introduced early pave the way for later developments.

stepping-places

Flat stones or raised spots placed in a marshy or flooded area so a person can walk across without sinking into the wet ground.

noun · Chapter 1

gibbet-station

A spot where a gibbet stood — a wooden post with an arm from which the bodies of executed criminals were hung in chains as a public warning.

noun · Chapter 2

imprecations

Spoken curses or angry, bitter words calling down harm on someone or something; here, muttered oaths of frustration.

noun · Chapter 3

interposition

The act of stepping in between two parties to prevent something from happening; physical intervention that stops a confrontation.

noun · Chapter 5

contumaciously

In a stubbornly defiant or rebellious way, refusing to comply with what is expected or demanded of one.

adverb · Chapter 4

excommunicated

Formally expelled or shut out from a group or community; here used loosely to mean he would have banned or cast out the whole party.

verb · Chapter 6

counteraction

Something done to oppose or cancel out a harmful effect; a remedy or corrective response to a bad influence.

noun · Chapter 8

circumstantial

Describing evidence that does not directly prove guilt but strongly suggests it through a chain of related facts and details.

adjective · Chapter 6

hail-fellow-well-met

Describing a manner that is loudly and instantly friendly in a way that feels forced or overly familiar rather than genuinely warm.

phrase · Chapter 19

sticking-plaster

An adhesive bandage or strip of sticky material used to cover a wound; here used as a metaphor for something cheap and makeshift.

noun · Chapter 13

turnpike-keeper

A person employed to operate a toll gate on a road, collecting fees from travellers before allowing them to pass.

noun · Chapter 18

hand-portmanteau

A small travelling bag or case, carried by hand, used to hold clothes and personal items when journeying away from home.

noun · Chapter 19

tobacco-stoppers

Small carved tools used to press down and tamp the tobacco in a pipe bowl; here displayed as decorative or sentimental objects.

noun · Chapter 25

dispositions

The natural tendencies or weakest points of a person's character — the parts of one's personality most easily exploited or exposed.

noun · Chapter 26

architectooralooral

Joe's comically mangled pronunciation of 'architectural,' meaning relating to the design or structure of a building; used humorously to show his lack of education.

adjective · Chapter 27

plenipotentiary

An official given full authority to represent a government or powerful body and act on its behalf; here used mockingly of a theatrical character.

noun · Chapter 47

superscription

Words written on the outside or top of a letter or package, typically the address or a special instruction to the recipient.

noun · Chapter 44

ballast-lighters

Flat-bottomed river barges used to carry ballast — heavy material like gravel or stone — typically to stabilise larger ships.

noun · Chapter 54

hackney-chariot

A horse-drawn carriage available for hire to the public, the Victorian equivalent of a taxi cab.

noun · Chapter 52

coasting-traders

Small cargo vessels that sail along the coastline from port to port, carrying goods over short distances rather than making ocean voyages.

noun · Chapter 54

irreconcilability

The state of two things being so opposed to each other that they cannot be made to fit together or exist at the same time.

noun · Chapter 32

compassionating

Feeling or showing deep pity and sorrow for someone who is suffering; regarding another person with sympathetic grief.

verb · Chapter 49

stumbling-block

An obstacle or difficulty that causes someone to make mistakes or fail to progress; here a word whose spelling trips up the writer.

noun · Chapter 57