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Unit 13: Great Expectations: Detailed Study of Text-II

13.1 Part II, Chapters 1–10 (20–29) Notes

Part II: Chapter 1
Pip goes to London and, compared with his last images of the marshes, finds it “ugly, crooked,
narrow and dirty.” He meets with Jaggers, who tells him that he will be boarding with Matthew
Pocket. He meets Wemmick, Jagger’s square-mouth clerk.

Analysis

Once again, Dickens is using place, and Pip’s attitude toward it, as symbolism. In this case,
London is the setting for Pip’s great expectations, but immediately we find it rather ugly,
unnatural, and suffocating, giving us an indication of how those great expectations may be
played out. Ironically, Jagger’s office is located in a place called “Little Britain” and it has all
the trappings of death: a chair that looks like it was made of the same material as a coffin and
death masks on the hearth. This, then, is Pip’s grand future.

Part II: Chapter 2

Wemmick brings Pip to Bernard’s Inn, where he will be staying when he is in town. The Inn
appears to Pip to be a fairly run-down, decrepit place. There he meets his guide and roommate
for the next few days, Matthew Pocket’s son Herbert. Herbert Pocket and Pip recognize each
other when they meet: Herbert is the pale young gentleman that Pip fought in the garden of
Miss Havisham’s so long ago.

Task Who was Mr. Jaggers? Explain about his character.

Analysis

Though Pip grew up in what might be considered rural poverty, his new digs in the city seem
much more poor in nature than the warmth of the forge. The only warm spot appears to be
Herbert, whom Pip had first met under strange, and violent, circumstances.

Part II: Chapter 3

Herbert Pocket prepares a simple dinner and explains his relationship to Miss. Havisham. His
father, Matthew Pocket, is Miss. Havisham’s cousin. Miss. Havisham was doted on by her
father her whole life and shared her only with a half brother, the son of her father and the
cook. Miss. Havisham fell in love with a swindler and Matthew Pocket tried to warn her about
him. Angrily, she demanded that Matthew leave the house and not return. Miss Havisham is
then jilted on the day of her wedding, her fiancé leaving her only a letter. The rumor was that
the fiancé had worked in conspiracy with her younger brother, who may have wanted to exact
revenge on the more favored.

Did u know? Miss. Havisham adopts Estella and raises her to wreak revenge on the male
gender by making them fall in love with her, and then jilting them.

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