Featured Reading Guide
Charles Dickens
Pip s life as an ordinary country boy is destined to be unexceptional until a chain of mysterious events lead him away from his humble origins and up the social ladder. His efforts to become a London gentleman bring him into contact not just with the upper classes but also with dangerous criminals. His desire to improve himself is matched only by his longing for the icy-hearted Estella, but secrets from the past impede his progress and he has many hard lessons to learn.
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topAbout the Book
Pip s life as an ordinary country boy is destined to be unexceptional until a chain of mysterious events lead him away from his humble origins and up the social ladder. His efforts to become a London gentleman bring him into contact not just with the upper classes but also with dangerous criminals. His desire to improve himself is matched only by his longing for the icy-hearted Estella, but secrets from the past impede his progress and he has many hard lessons to learn.
topStarting Points for Discussion
- Discuss the theme of ‘expectations’ – how are Pip’s expectations in life different from those of his brother-in-law Joe, Estella, Miss Havisham and Herbert Pocket?
- How different do you think Pip’s life would have been had he never left the forge and travelled to London? Are the lessons he learnt on his journey necessary for him to be happy in his later life?
- Why do you think Pip falls in love with Estella when she is so cruel to him, and what keeps him loving her despite her apparent indifference to him? Compare Estella and Biddy’s characters, and Biddy and Joe’s relationship with that of Estella and Pip.
- Great Expectations explores themes of suffering and guilt but there are also many moments of irony and humour. Were you surprised that in a serious novel the author included more humorous characters like Wemmick and his Aged Parent?
- Consider the characterisation of Miss Havisham and her treatment of Estella: do you feel sorry for her and the way she ended her life?
- Discuss how Dickens creates a sense of atmosphere: which settings were most vivid to you?
- How important is the theme of social class to the novel? Do you think Pip’s desire to be a gentleman to win Estella’s hand is still relevant today?
- Why do you think Magwitch is so affected by Pip’s behaviour that he dedicates his life to making him into a gentleman?
- Who was your favourite character in the novel?
- In the novel’s original conclusion, Estella and Pip were finally separated from one another, but on the suggestion of a friend Dickens changed the ending to the present one: do you think he was right to follow his friend’s advice? Which ending do you prefer?
Other Books by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol
The most popular of all ghost stories was first published on 17 December 1843,…
A Tale of Two Cities
Lucie Manette has been separated from her father for eighteen years while he…
Barnaby Rudge
The first of Dickens’s historical novels, Barnaby Rudge , written in 1841, is…
Bleak House
The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself …
Suggested Further Reading
- Middlemarch ~ George Eliot (Vintage Classics, 2007) – read our guide
- Dickens ~ Peter Ackroyd (Vintage, 2002)
- London ~ Peter Ackroyd (Chatto and Windus, 2000)
- Great Expectations ~ 1917, 1946 and 1998 film versions