The Relationship of Pip and Magwitch Essay

After gaining his wealth, Pip becomes snobby and lets everything go to his head. Now, after losing his wealth, we, as readers see a new change in Pip's personality. As for himself, Pip appears to feel ashamed of himself and his new class. In ​Great Expectations​, explaining Pip's feelings, Pip thinks, "Next day, I had the meanness to feign that I was under a binding promise to go down to Joe; but I was capable of almost any meanness towards Joe or his name." (Dickens, 391) Pips thoughts here, represent how he starts to realize how he has changed since moving to London. In his childhood, Pip was practically best friends with Joe, then becoming a gentleman, he has this sense that he is above Joe and essentially wanted nothing to do with

Pip expresses that he "...loved Joe perhaps for no better reason than because the dear fellow let me love him" implying that Pip may have a problem expressing the way he feels about those in his life (Dickens 41). This lack of expression remains present in Pip’s character throughout the novel, especially with frustration for the way he feels about Estella. Pip earning his expectations put a strain on the already limited relationship that he had with Joe, once Pip began to realize that Joe’s occupation was meager and unfit for someone with Pip’s means.

Soon after the incident in the graveyard, Pip is introduced to a class of people deemed superior to his own only by virtue of their wealth. From them, Pip learns to judge others, and himself, by the quantity and quality of their material possessions, rather than the quantity and quality of their humanity. Thus blinded by the tangible, or material, Pip adopts the values of this better class and goes off in blind pursuit of such possessions as will make him an acceptable member of their numbers.

The main storyline has to do with Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. To do this he received help from a secret benefactor. For the first half of the novel Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the one doing this so one day he and Estella can be together. Dickens creates a story around Pip’s assumption to make this a very logical explanation. Coincidentally right after Pip realizes and confirms he was wrong about his benefactor, an unexpected character reappears. “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it!” (Dickens 248) These words ring out of his benefactor’s name. Who appears to be the escaped convict from the beginning who threatened him, known by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch reveals that ever since that day in the graveyard when Pip returned to give him what he requested he has found a job to help Pip out for what he did for him. By doing this secretly for all this

Pip’s loss of ignorance drives his dreams to become a gentleman in the hopes of one day marrying Estella. In addition, Pip becomes so self-conscious of his humble upbringings that he is embarrassed of the home that he lives in. He reflects, “It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home..., and I would not have had Miss Havisham and Estella see it

Mysterious and misunderstood, always captured and imprisoned but never free. At first glance he was starved and chained, deprived of his freedom. When he gains freedom he runs off to chase Compeyson. His actions caused him to be captured once more. His backstory is quite unfair compared to the 21 century. In fact he was punished more heavily than Compeyson, enraged he seeks revenge. To carry out his plan he turns Pip into a snob with high rank. Lastly when he tries to obtain freedom he is imprisoned once more. Thus Magwitch was destined to be imprisoned even during his last

The first character to play a big part in shaping Pip’s personality is his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery. His sister’s vicious attitude and harsh punishments force Pip to have an unfriendly childhood. This bringing up “by hand” has caused him to be a “sensitive” boy. The constant threat of being beaten with the Tickler has also instilled the fear of speaking out against adult’s treatment of him because it would send his sister into a “terrible Rage.” However, her brutality has also made Pip able to feel when something was a “keen injustice” because he himself feels so about her actions and words towards himself.

She implores Pip to forgive her for making him suffer heartbreak to satisfy her own “wild resentment, spurned affection, and wounded pride” (710). It is only after Miss Havisham’s death that Pip realizes that wealth—whether referring to his own wealth or Miss Havisham’s—often brings out the worst of a person’s character, including his own. He realizes that his dreams to become wealthy and “bestow…a gallon of condescension upon everybody in the village” are petty, and that he is slated to lose everyone he loves to his own greed

The evidence that Pip is an insecure, impressionable young boy is that Estella opinions in his coarse hands and thick boots made him break down and cry. He blames his sister for his insecurities because of his sisters’ bringing him up had made him sensitive.

All of this Pip did for his best friend; he took money out of his own pocket and used it to make his friend's life better. The friends cared deeply for each other and loved each other sincerely. Every incident they found themselves in served to deepen their friendship.

In the beginning of the book, a somber tone is set. The audience is introduced to Pip, a young orphan who lives with his livid and cruel sister. Pip visits the graves of his family members (which he never saw) and feelings of sympathy and grief are drawn from the audience. While there, he encounters a strange man who demands that Pip brings him food and a file. If he fails to comply, the man insists that he will kill him and eat his heart. Fearful, the young boy runs home with the intent to steal food for the man. When he reaches home, Pip gives an artful description of Joe, his uncle. Pip has been raised mostly by his sister and her husband. However, she is very harsh. As a result, Pip sees Joe as a kind and understanding man who acts as his

Throughout the book Pip was not happy with his life and wanted to become something more; his name meant “seed”, like a seed Pip was “planted” and the reader watches him grow. Estella told Pip that he was just a common-labouring boy. (chapter 8) Pip had never thought as himself as common, but now he wanted to become a gentleman so that he would be worthy of Estella. However once Pip becomes a gentleman he realizes that it is not what he thought it would be. Consequently he starts to neglect Joe and Biddy, however in the end, Pip starts to change back to the person he used to be and tries to repair his relationship with Joe and Biddy. In addition he gives his money to Herbert so that he can go to merchant school and Herbert ends up giving Pip a job in the end. This shows that you gain from giving, if Pip would not have gave Herbert the money he would not have gotten the job offer.

The entire story is told through the eyes of an adult Pip, even though Pip is a small child during parts of it. In his early years, Pip was strongly influenced by his guardians, Joe Gargery and his wife, Mrs. Joe. Joe instills a sense of honesty, industry, and friendliness in Pip, while Mrs. Joe does a great deal to contribute to his desires and ambitions through her constant emphasis on pomp and property. Pip is generally good-natured and thoughtful, and very imaginative. His false values, which are bolstered by his love of Estella, decrease the amount of respect that he has for Joe. His alienation from Joe and Joe's values builds through the second part of the novel, as Pip becomes selfish, greedy, and foolish. During the period when his expectations are intact, his only morally positive act was to secretly help Herbert Pocket into a good position. Upon discovering that Magwitch is his benefactor, a new phase begins in Pip's moral evolution. At first, Pip no longer feels the same human compassion for Magwitch that he did the first time he saw him out on the marshes. Gradually, Pip changes his perception of Magwitch, unlearning what he has learned. Pip becomes concerned with the man, and not the expectations that he could provide. When Jaggers presents the thought that there may be a way for Pip to get his hands on Magwitch's property, the idea sounds hollow and utterly empty to Pip. Pip learns about Estella's parentage through

Pip’s mindset regarding classes and success in life is drastically altered after his initial visit to the aristocratic Miss Havisham. “She said I was common” (69) spurs the realization in Pip that he is indeed innocent but unfortunately much oppressed. Pip is very distraught with his birth place into society, to the point that he “was discontented” (130) -- he increasingly desires to be a gentleman. He primarily desires this as a means of impressing Estella and winning her over. At this point in the novel, Pip is willing to give away what he loves (Joe – family setting) to obtain a superficial and insulting girl. One day Pip receives word that he now has the ability to grow up to be his ultimate dream, to be a gentleman. Pip awakens to a new world and those he once loved are no longer good enough for Pip. Moving to London, he becomes far more sophisticated, but at the same time loses his natural goodness. (Chesterton 142). Pip is leaving happiness and his real family to attain a life he thinks will make him more content. Before departing, he dreams of “Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing” (148). This relates the dream that Pip has just before he sets out to London for the first time, with all of his "great expectations" before him. Pip’s dream is permeated with the sadness and guilt caused by his imminent departure from Joe and Biddy and his aspirations for a new social station.

effect on Pip through his love. Pip loves Joe for what he is and in