Page 177 - DENG404_FICTION

Unit 14: Great Expectations: Detailed Study of Text-III

his reflections on Joe and on Magwitch, Pip is now examining the great relationships in his Notes
life as opposed to his great expectations.

Part III: Chapter 14
Pip goes to the marshes to a shack near the limekiln where he is to meet the anonymous
writer. There Pip is jumped by Orlick who ties him up and tells him that he is going to
promptly kill him. Pip does not want to die, not because he values his own life, but because
he still has moral obligations to fulfill with Magwitch (getting him out of the country) and Joe
(asking for forgiveness).
Orlick admits to hitting Mrs. Joe over the head, but says it was Pip’s fault because Pip was
the favored one and Orlick was jealous. Orlick says he is working for Compeyson and assures
Pip that Compeyson will make sure that Magwitch does not leave the country.
Just as it appears Orlick is going to kill him, Herbert, Startop and Trabb’s boy burst through
the door. Orlick escapes.
Pip had dropped the anonymous letter 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 a day at home;
the following day they plan to escape with Magwitch.

Analysis

Orlick represents random violence and is probably the only truly evil character in the novel.
He acts simply on his anger — first with Mrs. Joe, now with Pip. At the same time, if there
is a character that Pip would truly like to kill, it would be Orlick. Orlick, after all, was
responsible for the death of his sister and was considered a threat to Biddy. Now Orlick
threatened to take away the time Pip wants to set his life straight with the important people
in his life.

Hatred begets hatred. The only way Pip sees as dealing with Orlick is violently. Fortunately,
the only expression of violence that Pip is capable of in his current predicament is a ferocious
scream.

Part III: Chapter 15

They get up the next morning and start rowing down the river, picking up Magwitch at the
preappointed time. They row downstream all day and put in on shore at an inn for the night.
They start off the next day and are within a few feet of a steamer that they hope to board when
another boat pulls alongside to stop them. In the confusion, Pip sees Compeyson leading the
other boat, but the steamer is on top of them. The steamer crushes Pip’s boat, Compeyson and
Magwitch disappear under the water, and Pip, Startop and Herbert find themselves in a police
boat of sorts.
Magwitch finally comes up from the water. He and Compeyson and wrestled for a while, but
Magwitch let him go and now Compeyson is presumably drowned. Once again, Magwitch is
shackled and arrested.

Pip sits down next to the injured and exhausted Magwitch, and feels that he will stay by
Magwitch’s side until the end. Pip also realizes that the English government will take all of
Magwitch’s fortune.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 171