Abel Magwitch, the convict, resembles Joe as he is a big man. He also thinks in terms of common sense rather than academic smarts. He eats without manners, but enjoys his food. He is a pipe smoker.

Magwitch says he will get pleasure from seeing Pip spend his money as this is what he wanted for Pip. His dream was to turn him into a gentleman.

Magwitch talks to Pip about money and then apologises for being low. The talking about money in public is regarded as being ‘low’. This shows that people thought it was uncouth to talk about money. Magwitch gets violently excited when he discusses Australia and then apologises for it. Magwitch knows it is bad manners to show aggression.

Pip needs to disguise Magwitch if he is to be safe in London. This is difficult though because there are people in London who would recognise Magwitch. Also he needs a place to live as he cannot stay with Pip as there are too many servants and tradespeople that pass through his home. There is also the issue of agreeing on a disguise as Magwitch has already decided on an outfit which Pip thinks would actually draw attention to him.

Magwitch makes Herbert swear to secrecy on a bible. He makes him do it as this means he has sworn an oath. It seems less to do with a religious belief and more to do with creating a word of trust between Magwitch and Herbert.

At the end of Chapter 38 Pip tells the story of an Eastern Sultan who is crushed to death by a heavy slab of stone that he has had quarried. This is a metaphor for Pip discovering that Estella has chosen Drummel to be her victim/husband.

The weather in this chapter is stormy and dark. The land has become a thick mud soup and this mirrors Pip’s inability to find work for himself or do anything even though he is now 23. The storm foreshadows that troubled times are ahead.

Pip receives a visitor in the middle of the night. Pip’s initial reaction to his visitor is to be agitated that his night has been interrupted. He also feels put out because the man seems to recognise him yet Pip does not recognise the man.

Pip quickly realizes that the visitor is actually the convict from the graveyard all those years ago.

The man has returned to England to see Pip and see the gentleman he has made.

Pip is upset and disgusted by the visitor by the end of the chapter.

Pip’s physical expectations have not changed as he still has the convict’s fortune. However, Pip feelings right now is that because the money comes from the convict it is some how no longer great. He only thought it was great because Miss Havisham was the one giving him it.

Suspense is added to this section of the novel as we are told by the convict that he shouldn’t be in the country and that to be caught in Britain would mean execution for him. Pip starts to hear things in the night that he thinks are people hunting for the convict.

Miss Havisham is described as being a ghost.

Miss Havisham is pleased with Estella’s behaviour because Estella’s behaviour is having the exact effect on men that Miss Havisham desired. All men seem to fall in love, or are attracted to, Estella and then they become jealous as they see her with other men and feel they can’t have her entirely.

Pip finally realises what we have known all along – that Estella “was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on men, and that she was not to be given to [Pip] until she had gratified it full term.” He finally becomes aware that Estella is Miss Havisham’s tool to hurt all men and was never destined to marry him.

Pip learns that Estella is incapable of love whilst at Satis house visiting.

Pip is infatuated with Estella. He will take any form of attention from her, even when it drives him mad with jealousy. He knows she is playing him and her other suitors off one another, but he would rather take any form of attention at all from her than none.

The Finches of the Grove are a group of young men who have formed a club. They spend extravagant amounts of money on frivolous things. Pip associates with them because he aspires to be like them.

Pip’s spending habits are getting out of control. He spends even when he doesn’t have the money to do so. They get a lot of items ‘on tick’ meaning that they are running up debts with tradesmen. This is not a helpful practice as the spender may not be able to pay the debt and will end up in debtors prison and the tradesman ends up out of pocket.

Mrs Joe’s death is significant because she represented a time when his life plan was clear and had set rules – he would become a blacksmith and work hard. Pip actually feels a fondness for his dead sister even though she was horrible to him because she is linked with a simpler time in his life. Her death fails to bring Pip and Joe closer because Pip can still not acknowledge that his behaviour is self-entitled and weird.

Pip’s claim that Biddy has done him an ‘injustice’ and an ‘injury’ is ironic because Pip has stayed away from Joe and Biddy and not helped them out in any way. He is actually being quite cruel to Biddy and doesn’t even thank her for caring for Mrs Joe.

Pip meets Estella’s coach so early because he is anxious about meeting Estella. It shows how nervous and fixated he is on Estella.

Wemmick’s ‘greenhouse’ is the prison Newgate. It is an odd but fitting metaphor as Wemmick moves among the prisoners and speaks to them much like a gardener would pay attention to his plants.

The beautiful and refined image of Estella is juxtaposed with the griminess of Newgate Prison.

Pip seems attracted to Estella because she represents everything he is not. She is at the height of society and seems so refined and
polished. These are things he wished he was confident in being.

Even though Estella treats Pip badly, Pip has hope because Miss Havisham has planned for Pip to visit Estella often. This suggests to Pip that there is a plan for him and Estella.

To get even with Orlick, Pip informs Jaggers about his untrustworthy nature and gets Orlick sacked from his post as guardsman at Satis House.

Trabb’s boy mocking Pip is actually extremely funny because it is so disrespectful. Pip admits that he ignores the tradespeople in the street. This is what Trabbis mocking, Pip’s pretensions of grandeur where he refuses to acknowledges that this is where he comes from. Trabb’s boy takes the joke a little too far but Pip cannot recognise his actual behaviour in Trabb’s boy’s actions.

Pip relieves his guilt about not visiting Joe by having a cod and barrel of oysters sent to the forge.

Pip confesses that he loves Estella when he returns to Herbert in London. Herbert advises that Pip wait and see what happens as he too believes that Miss Havisham is Pip’s benefactor and has a plan for Pip and Estella. Herbert’s advice would have been better if it told him to move on from Estella.

Pip and Herbert visit the theatre because Wopsle is performing in his play that night.

Wopsle’s performance in Hamlet is so bad it actually becomes incredibly funny to watch. Here Wopsle has tried to turn himself into a new person for the stage and has failed miserably. Everyone else can see it but him. (Remind you of anyone?)

Miss Havisham wants Pip to love Estella so she can add Pip’s heart to the tally of hearts she will make Estella break.

Pip imagines that he is to be betrothed to Estella and become Lord of the manor.

Estella has changed in that she has become a beautiful young woman. She is much more flirtatious than when she was younger, but it is a controlled flirting. She knows what she is doing.

Miss Havisham torments Pip with questions about Estella not because she wishes to harm Pip but because she wishes to confirm how well Estella works as a tool to ‘hurt’ men.

Pip decides not to visit Joe even though he is in his home town because Estella talked about how he shouldn’t associate with his old life anymore.

Estella is pretty believable when she talks about having ‘no heart, no softness, no sentiment’. She appears to be everything Miss Havisham wanted her to be, she behaves almost like a puppet.

Joe calls Pip sir in recognition of his ‘gentleman’ status. It also suggests the disconnect between Joe and Pip that now exists because Pip has become a snob.

Pip’s snobbish nature is horrible. He has become disdainful towards people who he now deems beneath him. He sucks up to most people who are above him. He has a strange attitude that has developed from his fear of ‘being found out’ as his money is new money and he is not an established gentleman nor has he been brought up as one.

Biddy finds the phrase ‘what larks’ confusing as she has never heard the expression before. The phrase is one special to Joe and Pip, and it was used between them to refer to them having a good time.

Joe has come to London to see Wopsle and to tell Pip that Miss Havisham wishes to see him as Estella has returned home.

Pip is embarrassed for Joe to see how he has spent his wealth. He acknowledges that he has bought a lot of frivolous, unnecessary things. He is
also embarrassed about the boy he employs as a house servant for their small set of rooms.

Joe tells Pip that Wopsle has left the church to become an actor. It is debateable whether he will be any good as his speech is broken all the time with him saying ‘Amen’.

The metaphor ‘life is made of ever so many partings welded together’ is in reference to the fact that life is shaped by the relationships we have
with the people we meet. The idea of different smiths – black, white, gold, – refers to the different ways relationships are formed. Joe acknowledges that not all relationships last forever, and that we have to accept this.

Pip is unable to recognise Joe’s intelligence at this point because he doesn’t see the common sense in Joe’s words. He only wants to recognise ‘book smartness’ at this point.

Mr Pumblechook is often seen as comical. However, he does have a darker side to him. For example he always tries to take the glory when something works out well. He is also very interested in making money and networking to better himself, even if it means letting others down or abusing others.

When Pip says ‘all other swindlers on earth are nothing to the self-swindlers’ he is really saying that those who cheat or lie to themselves are the worst because they can’t see what they are doing to themselves. Pip is referring to himself here because he cannot see that he is lying ot himself about Estella’s love for him, or Miss Havisham’s involvement in his money. He is also lying to himself about his connection and love for Joe and his enjoyment of London.

On Pip’s way back to Kent he is put in a coach with two convicts. One of the convicts turns out to be the one who gave Joe the money in the pub all those years ago. Pip overhears him tell the other convict that Pip’s convict from the start of the book gave him the money in Australia to give to Pip.

Pip becomes close friends with Herbert, and they share a house and a boat together.

Pip goes to visit Wemmick for dinner. Wemmick treats the butcher with politeness as he collects meat for dinner. As Pip and WEmmick walk home, Wemmick’s mood lightens and he becomes less stiff and professional and more friendly.

Walworth reflects WEmmick’s personanlity because from the front it is closed off and defensive with its maze and its gun. However, once you get inside the property you realise how cosy and homely and friendly it is – just like WEmmick.

Jagger’s home makes clear that he is a workaholic. The house is a good one in Soho, but it is need of a paintjob. Inside is similar, in that the finish is of a high quality, but it has not been kept up. The house is large but Jaggers only uses three rooms and Pip reports that he brings work home with him. All the books are law/criminality books.

Jaggers’ housekeeper, Molly, is a quiet but strong woman. She seems wary of Jaggers, as if waiting for his disapproval. She has deep scars cutting across her wrists, and Jaggers tells the boys that she has stronger wrists than any other woman or man.

Jaggers refers to Drummle as ‘the spider’. It makes us think that he is someone to be aware of as he might try and trick people.

The narrator says that the servants have the real power in the Pocket’s house as the two adult Pockets are so inept at structuring anything. In the relationship, Mr Pocket probably has more sway as he has been brought up to think for himself whereas Mrs Pocket has always been cosseted.

Mrs Coiler is the Pocket’s neighbour. She is elderly and asks questions all the time. She is very similar to Miss Havisham in her vulnerability and questioning.

The dinner scene at the Pockets house is funny because everyone seems to be there, including the Pocket children. However, the Pocket children seem to be the sensible ones, with one of the daughters taking the baby from Mrs Pocket as she is holding it upside-down.

Mr Pocket is to give Pip lessons in how to be a gentleman – manners and knowledge he should have.

Drummle and Startop are two other young men who are being ‘taught’ by Mr Pocket. Drummle is big and bullyish and the rumbling thunderous-ness of his name matches this. Startop is much brighter in his personality, and he suits the lightness of his name.

Wemiick talks about ‘portable property’. He is referring to his gold and silver jewellery. He can carry it with him, and sell it when he needs to in order to get ready money.

Wemmick respects Jaggers because he is very clever. He describes him as being deep and says he often looks like he has ‘set a trap from a man and is waiting’