Pip goes home and Herbert takes care of Pip’s burns Herbert has been spending some time with Magwitch while at Clara’s house and has told Magwitch the whole story Magwitch was the husband of Jaggers’ servant woman, Molly – Molly had come to Magwitch the day she murdered the other woman and told him that she was going to kill their child and that Magwitch would never see the baby again – Magwitch never did see the baby again

 Pip puts it all together and tells Herbert that Magwitch is Estella’s father › It turns out that Estella – wealthy, beautiful, uncommon – is more closely related to the world of criminals that even Pip is…yet he does not love her any less › INTERESTING REVELATION:  Pip feels he is not the gentlemanly son that Magwitch had hoped for…BUT  He unknowingly already has a lady for a daughter – she is in all ways very upper-class and uncommon

Pip wants to make sure he has the whole story straight, so he goes to see Jaggers the next morning – Pip tells Jaggers that he knows Molly is the mother of Estella and that Jaggers brought her to Miss Havisham – Also tells him that he knows Magwitch is the father Jaggers was even not aware of this fact…he is amazed – Pip asks for more details on the story from Jaggers and Wemmick In turn Pip ends up revealing things about Wemmick’s home life…this amazes Jaggers even more

 Jaggers goes on to say that he had talked/threatened Molly out of keeping Estella…he knew that Miss Havisham was looking to adopt › He says that he wanted to save her and give her a chance to live – he had seen too many other children in her situation grow up in and out of jail…surrounded by a dangerous world of crime  Pip and Wemmick are amazed by this act of humanity by Jaggers – they didn’t think he had it in him

Wemmick sends Pip a note indicating that is may be a good time to escape with Magwitch and get him out of the country Herbert and Pip plan to take the boat out to Magwitch in a few days, take him down the Thames until they run into a steamer headed for a foreign port Pip gets another letter (anonymously) telling him to come down to the marshes that night

Pip heads out to the marshes alone – While in his village again, he hears a many telling a story about him He says…there was a young man from the village who had come into property He would often come back, but would give the cold shoulder to the man who had been his initial benefactor and protector – He was talking about Pumblechook – This story is apparently the story that Pumblechook has been telling around town Pip now realizes that Joe was really his first benefactor and he never asked for anything in return…unlike Pumblechook

 Pip goes out to the marshes to a shack where his is to meet the writer of the note  Pip is attacked by Orlick, who ties him up and tells him that he is going to kill him › Pip does not want to die…not because he values his life, but because he still has moral obligations to fulfill  Magwitch – getting him out of the country  Joe – asking for forgiveness

Orlick admits to hitting Mrs. Joe over the head, but says that is was Pip’s fault because Pip was the favored one and Orlick was jealous – Says he is working for Compeyson and assures Pip that Compeyson will make sure that Magwitch does not leave the country Just as Orlick is about to kill Pip, Herbert, Startop, and Trabb’s boy burst through the door Orlick escapes Pip had dropped the letter Orlick sent at home and Herbert found it – He and Startop came to the town and got Trabb’s boy to show them where the shack was Pip rests at home…the following day they plan to escape with Magwitch

 The next morning they begin rowing down the river to pick up Magwitch at the predetermined time › Magwitch is content to be free for the moment and sitting next to the boy he considers a son  They row all day and pull in on shore at an inn for the night

The pull out the next day and are within a few feet of a steamer that they hope to boards when another boat pulls alongside to stop them – Pip sees Compeyson leading the other boat, but the steamer is on top of them – The steamer crushes Pip’s boat…at that moment, Compeyson and Magwitch disappear under the water – Pip, Startop, and Herbert find themselves in a police boat – Magwitch finally comes up from the water He and Compeyson wrestled for a while, but Magwitch let him go and then Compeyson presumably drowned – Magwitch is then shackled and arrested

 Pip sits down next to the injured Magwitch and feels he will stay by his side until the end › Pip too feels that he is where he should be…sitting next to his adopted father  Pip also realizes that the English government will take all of Magwitch’s fortune › Although he realizes this fact, he is not bothered by it…Pip will not live of the money of another again

Magwitch is in jail and is quite ill Herbert is leaving for Egypt with the firm in the position that Pip and now Miss Havisham have secretly set up for him – Herbert plans to marry Clara as soon as her father dies – He offers Pip a job as his clerk in the company as well as a place to stay with he and Clara once they get settled – Pip cannot give his answer for the job until he sees the situation with Magwitch through, but asks Herbert to keep the position open for a few months for him

Wemmick invites Pip to his castle on a Monday, the first holiday Wemmick has taken off in over twelve years – He asks Pip to take a walk with him – They walk to a church where Miss Skiffins and Wemmick’s “Aged” relative are waiting – With Pip as a witness, Miss Skiffins and Wemmick get married Pip’s best friends have found happiness…yet Pip couldn’t be worse off – he has no employment, no pending fortune, Estella has married someone else, his adoptive father is dying in prison – Herbert – his new job and pending marriage to Clara – Wemmick – marrying Miss Skiffins

 Amazingly Pip is learning how to be a gentleman without money › He’s gaining respect for good relationships and is beginning to reject societal judgments › He’s starting to learn what is really important in life – and this has NOTHING to do with being rich or of being of high social status

Pip attends to the ailing Magwitch daily in prison Magwitch is condemned to die and the sentencing is carried out with thirty-two other convicts also condemned to die – Pip holds Magwitch’s hand throughout the trial and assists him out of the chambers while onlookers point their fingers at him Pip is no longer a proud boy afraid of what people will think of his associates and his past – he honestly loves Magwitch This is a different Pip who would not visit Joe and Biddy in the privacy of the forge for fear that people would talk about him

 Within ten days of sentencing, Magwitch dies in prison › Before this happens, Pip whispers to him that the daughter he thought was dead is alive  “She is a lady and very beautiful. And I love her.”  Magwitch kisses Pip’s hand in response and passes away

 Pip falls into a fever for nearly a month › He has been weakened by his burns, the struggle with Orlick, and just general stress › Through his illness he vaguely sees Joe and creditors – is not sure what is dream and what is reality › When he finally regains his senses he sees that Joe was there all along nursing him back to health

Joe fills him in on a variety of news – Miss Havisham died during his illness – She left Estella nearly everything and also left Mathew Pocket a great deal – the rest of the relatives were given very little – Orlick had been put in jail because he broke into Pumblechook’s house Pip slowly regains his strength…seeing this Joe slips away one morning leaving only a note – Joe is most comfortable around Pip when Pip is at his weakest – He later realizes that Joe has paid off all his debt

 Pip is committed to returning to the forge to ask for forgiveness for everything – however, it is clear to us that Joe has already forgiven Pip › He also wants to ask Biddy to marry him

Pip returns to his home town and is treated with coldness by the town that was so kind to him when he was on his way to his great expectations He meets Pumblechook, who tells him that his misfortune is due to him because he was ungracious and ungrateful to his earliest benefactor and friend – meaning, of course, not Joe, but HIMSELF

 Pip walks toward the forge, thinking about the simple, happy life he will have with Biddy › He comes to forge and finds happiness – just not the happiness he had expected  Today happens to be Joe and Biddy’s wedding day  This should teach Pip a HUGE lesson – one should not have expectations at all  If he hadn’t been so caught up in his expectations and his view of what society wants, he may have seen Biddy’s love for Joe and Joe’s love for Biddy – he would have seen that his place at the forge was not as a husband or a brother, but as a friend › Pip truly wishes them well and asks them for their forgiveness in all his actions – they happily give it

 Pip goes to work for Herbert’s firm and lives with the now married Clara and Herbert › Within a year Pip becomes a partner, pays off his debts, and works hard › Pip’s life is really now just beginning – he’s going to work honestly for his money, he’ll be loyal to his friends, he’ll be generous and kind to those who society may have a low opinion of › Pip has made the past a part of his life and has a more realistic outlook on the future

 Being out of the country for Herbert’s firm, Pip has not seen Joe and Biddy for eleven years › He visits them and meets their son, a little Pip, sitting by the fire just like Pip had himself sat so many years ago › Pip tells Biddy that he is settled as a bachelor and thinks he will never marry

 While in town he goes to Satis House to remember the love he had for Estella › Estella happens to be there  Drummle has treated her roughly and he recently died  She tells Pip that she has learned the feeling of heartbreak the hard way and she now seeks his forgiveness for what she did to him › They walk out of the garden hand in hand  It appears that because of their difficulties, they seem both to have come to a realization of what it means to be happy and are ready for a healthy relationship with each other – the final reward for a true Victorian gentleman

 Although we are not witness to Estella’s transformation, we must forgive her › She represents the abused child – a true victim of circumstance › She had no choice in her lot in life – she was born to criminals and brought up to be emotionless by a cold, vengeful woman