The great expectation of Pip and Magwitch
We all know that chapter 39 is the turning point of the whole novel. Pip knows that his sponsor is not Miss Havisham, but the escaped prisoner Magwitch, who is saved by Pip. This truth makes Pip’s great expectation shattered. From the context, we can see that “the great expectation” is a kind of ambition from both Pip and Magwitch. It is such an ambition that hold up the life of both two people and bring a lot of change to their character. And the ambition is also the indication of one’s life.
First, let’s see Pip’s ambition. Although the text don’t illustrate it clearly, we can infer from several details. At the beginning of the text, Pip states that “I had a taste for reading, and read regularly so many hours a day.” This state can fully demonstrate that Pip has a strong eager to learn knowledge, which means that he wants to become a real gentleman in the upper class. And when Pip is told that his benefactor is Magwitch, rather than Miss Havisham. He is shocked, disappointed as well as heart-broken. He repeats “Estella, Estella”, which tells us that his intention to become a gentleman was because of Estella, he wants to be able to match with her. From the above, we can conclude that Pip’s ambition
is to be a gentleman and get access to Estella.
The great expectation describes not only Pip’s ambition, but also other people’s ambition, including that blacksmith Joe’s, Pip’s friend Herbert and his benefactor Magwitch’s. Let’s take Magwitch’s ambition in the text for example. I think his is rather complicated than Pip’s. There are two mainly ambitions: one is that he wants to repay Pip for saving his life, another is that he wants to show his greatness for making a little boy into a gentleman in upper class, which is also a kind of dissatisfaction to the society. Just as he mentioned in the text, “ I tell it, fur you to know as that there hunted dunghill dog wot you kept life in, got his head so high that he could make a gentleman”. The society treat him as a nasty dog and he is looked down upon those people in the upper class. But he has an ability to turn a village boy into a gentleman, and he thinks himself is nobler and greater than those people. He uses his action to satirize them.
The ambition in people’s heart is like a guiding light in their way. As one’s ambition changes, people’s behavior may change accordingly and unconsciously. Pip studies hard in order to get access to Estella. But at the same time, bad characters like selfishness and mammonism arises from him. In the front part
of the text, when Pip sees Magwitch, he pays attention to his clothing first and emphasizes his substantially dress, but roughly. Suppose if Magwitch is not well-dressed and looks like poor just as the first time they meet, will Pip accept him and let him in? When Pip recognized Magwitch, his astonishment is more than his pleasance and he supposes there will be no connection between them. Why Pip becomes so indifferent? It is because of the “different circumstances”he mentioned in the text. The circumstances that he is an upper class member now and he cannot have any connection with underclass people, let alone an escaped prisoner. Between social class and old relationship, he chooses social class. We can say that it is money that tempts him and makes him indifferent, or the money distorts his ambition, which misleads his behavior.
To conclude, I think Pip is more misfortunate than any other people. It is not because he is an orphan or he lost his money in the end, it is because he is treated as a tool by other people, unknowingly. He is treated as a money machine by his sister when he is little, and he is played by Estella as a tool to please Miss Havisham. Later, although being endowed with a large fortune, Pip is indeed an example who is made by Magwitch to manifest his greatness and to revenge to the world. Pip’s great
expectation is made by Miss Havisham, Estella, Magwitch and himself, and ruined by them.。