CHAPTER 38

Summary
Pip accompanies Estella on a visit to Satis house. Much to Pips
surprise, Miss Havisham and Estella quarrel. Miss Havisham is
troubled by Estellas lack of devotion toward her, but Estella retorts
that Miss Havisham has made her cold and unfeeling. Pip knows
Estella has been trained to break his heart, but he feels compelled
to continue in his obsessive admiration of her.

Pip and Drummle are members of a prestigious and snobbish mens

club called The Finches of the Grove. In one meeting, much to
Pips horror and outrage, Drummle, the Spider, proposes a toast to
Estella. The two fight and Drummle shows Pip Estellas note
confirming her favors for him. Pip is devastated.

Notes
The meeting between Miss. Havisham and Estella is crucially
important. Miss Havisham has obsessively raised Estella to wreak
havoc in the lives of men. She has trained her beautiful young
charge to toy with and destroy men by making them love her with
no hope of reciprocation. But Miss Havisham makes a mistake when
she asks that Estella love her. Miss Havisham becomes the victim of
the sharp weapon that she has created to hurt others. Estella is
brought up without love and Miss Havishams demand for love can
never be met.

Pip is close to realizing his dreams are futile when he sees

Drummle, of all men, proposing a toast to Estella. What is worse is
that Estella encourages this. Pip and Estella have a conversation in
which she warns him that she is out to entrap and deceive men,
and does not mind doing so to Drummle. She tells Pip she has
never victimized him because he does not understand the way
things are. He is nave. Estella confesses that Pip is the only man
whom she has not tried to injure and deceive. Ironically, he is most
injured of all, despite her warnings.

CHAPTER 39

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Summary
Pip is twenty-three when his convict visits him. The man is old
and gray, and at first Pip fails to recognize him as the man for
whom he furnished food and file so many years ago. The man
greets Pip with open arms, but it is not until he produces the file
that Pip realizes his identity. The man tells Pip that he has done
quite well for himself, and Pip tries to hurry him off by repaying him
the two one-pound notes given to him in The Jolly Bargemen. The
man burns them and reveals himself as Pips benefactor. Oblivious
to the shock and repulsion his announcement causes in Pip, the
man says he is hiding from his death sentence and asks for help.

Pip is consumed by shock, horror, disappointment, and, finally,

shame; he realizes how he has been betrayed and how he has
betrayed others. At the close of this chapter, Dickens proclaims
THIS IS THE END OF THE SECOND STAGE OF PIPS
EXPECTATIONS.

Notes
This chapter can be considered as the climax of the novel. Pip, who
has always believed Miss Havisham to be his provider, receives the
rudest shock of his life. He realizes that not only has he
embarrassed himself by fawning in gratitude for the old lady, he has
been tricked by her encouragement to do so. He knows with
certainty now that she has not set him aside to marry Estella; she
has toyed with him as she does all men.

Fortunately, the convict is so full of love for Pip he fails to notice the
horrible effect his announcement has on the boy. While Pip is
regretting everything about that meeting long ago, the convict is
expecting a grateful reception and shelter from the storm and from
death.

The irony that forms the base of the plot of Great Expectations is
here played out in its entirety. Pip, with his soaring expectations,
has become a gentleman and has been allowed to take part in the
world of snobbery and false pride. He now realizes that his great
ascent has been tainted by criminal fortunes of less than
respectable characters. The fountainhead of his good fortune is a
man who makes a complete mockery of his gentlemanly pretensions
by being a criminal sentenced to death.
As the second of three stages in Pips development, this one is
characterized by the weight of responsibility placed on Pip. How he
reacts to this news and the new expectations he forms will shape
the rest of his destiny.

CHAPTERS 40 - 42

Summary
Pip goes to Jaggers to confirm the name of his patron without
revealing his visitor. Jaggers confirms it to be Abel Magwitch, the
convict. Jaggers tells Pip he has never encouraged him to think it
was Miss Havisham. Pip sees someone outside his door and realizes
Magwitch might be in danger. So he finds him a place to live nearby
and provides him with new clothes. He tells the servants that
Magwitch is his uncle Provis.

When Herbert returns, Pip takes him into his confidence and reveals
the identity of his Uncle. He tells Herbert he will not accept
anything else from Magwitch. Further, he says they need to move
Magwitch away from London to a safe place.

Magwitch tells them about his past, beginning with the fact that he
does not know anything about his parents. He spent a lot of time in
and out of jail. He associated himself with a man called Compeyson
and began working for him, stealing, forging, and defrauding
people. They were both tried for felonies, but since Compeyson
looked the part of a gentleman, he got a lesser sentence. Herbert
helps Pip put the facts together and deduce that Compeyson was
Miss Havishams cheating fiance long ago. Magwitch and
Compeyson are sworn enemies. Compeyson is probably in London
as well, posing an immediate threat.

Notes
For the first time, the convict is given a name--Abel Magwitch. Till
now, he has been a two-dimensional figure in the novel known only
as Pips convict, but Dickens humanizes him by giving him a name
when he comes into Pips life directly. Here Magwitch is also given
human emotions in striking contrast to his brutal animalistic
qualities from years past. Here he is proud, thankful, and happy; in
the past he was angry and menacing.
A lot of exposition takes place that paves the way for even more
revelations. Of significance is the mention of Magwitchs wife. She is
not named, or even explained, but her existence is a clue to the
great unfolding mystery that binds the novel together.