GCSE · English Literature · AQA · Spec 8702

Pip

A shivering boy in a churchyard becomes a gentleman — then finds out whose money made him one.

Great Expectations · Pip in his own words

Four moments, four Pips

Dickens planned that “The book will be written in the first person throughout”. So every line here is Pip describing himself — and the older Pip, looking back, is quietly judging the boy he was. Tap each moment and ask two questions: what is he ashamed of, and who has he let down?

Pip's sense of himself — Chapter I to Chapter LIX

Each dot sits where its chapter falls in the novel, first chapter to last; the line stays flat because it marks position, not how strongly Pip feels. Select a moment to hear Pip at that point in his life.

Moment 1 · Chapter I · the churchyard

“the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.”

Looking at himself from outside

What to notice

Pip has no parents — he knows them only from their tombstones — and even his name is a child's invention: his 'infant tongue' squashed Pirrip and Philip into 'Pip'. Then a man with 'a great iron on his leg' seizes him among the graves.

Effect

Pip doesn't say 'I was frightened'. He looks at his small self from a distance — 'the small bundle of shivers ... was Pip' — as if pointing at a stranger. That distance is the older Pip, looking back at the boy.

Meaning

He starts with nothing: no parents, no power, just fear. Ashamed of? Nothing yet. Let down? Nobody yet. Keep that in mind — it is the baseline for everything that follows.

Moment 1 of 4: Chapter I · the churchyard. technique Looking at himself from outside. Pip has no parents — he knows them only from their tombstones — and even his name is a child's invention: his 'infant tongue' squashed Pirrip and Philip into 'Pip'. Then a man with 'a great iron on his leg' seizes him among the graves.. effect: Pip doesn't say 'I was frightened'. He looks at his small self from a distance — 'the small bundle of shivers ... was Pip' — as if pointing at a stranger. That distance is the older Pip, looking back at the boy.. meaning: He starts with nothing: no parents, no power, just fear. Ashamed of? Nothing yet. Let down? Nobody yet. Keep that in mind — it is the baseline for everything that follows.

Chapter I — “the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.” Chapter VIII — “I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair.” Chapter XXXIX — “The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread I had of him, the repugnance with which I shrank from him, could not have been exceeded if he had been some terrible beast.” Chapter LIX — “I work pretty hard for a sufficient living, and therefore—yes, I do well.”
Exam line: Pip's story runs shivers → shame → shock → a sufficient living. Tie each quotation to its moment, and say what the older narrator thinks of the boy.
Watch out: Keep the two voices apart. When Pip calls himself 'the small bundle of shivers', that is the grown man describing the boy — write 'the older Pip looks back on...', not 'Pip thinks...'.

The secret behind the expectations

?

Reason it through

Why does Pip end up believing the wrong person made him a gentleman?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Go back to the churchyard. What does the terrified child agree to do for the convict?

2
Locked — reveal the link above first
3
Locked — reveal the link above first
4
Locked — reveal the link above first

Chapter XXXIX · find the proof

The night the convict comes back

Lines from Chapter XXXIX of Great Expectations, in story order, with short linking notes between them.

At first, Pip tells the returned convict coldly that “our ways are different ways” and hopes he has shown his gratitude “by mending your way of life.”

Then the convict explains where Pip's money came from: “I lived rough, that you should live smooth; I worked hard, that you should be above work.” “Yes, Pip, dear boy, I’ve made a gentleman on you!”

Pip sees that his belief in Miss Havisham's plans was “all a mere dream”, that Estella was “not designed for me”, and that, for the convict, he “had deserted Joe.”

“O that he had never come!” “That he had left me at the forge,—far from contented, yet, by comparison happy!”

The convict warns: “It’s death to come back.” Pip gives him Herbert's room, and his first care is “to close the shutters, so that no light might be seen from without”.

Question 1 of 4

Find the words that show Pip holding the convict at a cold distance.

Tap the words in the passage that prove your answer.

Exam line: Pick the shortest words that prove your point. A four-word quotation you can analyse beats a sentence you can only copy out.

Two endings for Pip

The published ending (Chapter LIX)vsThe original ending (preserved by Forster)

Dickens wrote one ending, then changed it. Read across each row: how different is Pip's future?

Focus

Do Pip and Estella marry?

The published ending (Chapter LIX)

The text never says so. They leave the ruined place together, and Pip 'saw no shadow of another parting from her'.

The original ending (preserved by Forster)

No — Estella has married again, to someone else.

The insight

This is the most common slip about the novel: neither ending marries Pip to Estella. The published one only leaves the door open.

Where they meet

The published ending (Chapter LIX)

In the ruins of Satis House, where Pip first learned to be ashamed.

The original ending (preserved by Forster)

Briefly, in London.

What Estella says or shows

The published ending (Chapter LIX)

That 'suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be'.

The original ending (preserved by Forster)

The meeting is brief, and she is married to another man.

What is left for Pip

The published ending (Chapter LIX)

Hope: he takes her hand and sees 'no shadow of another parting'.

The original ending (preserved by Forster)

He is left a solitary man.

Why it is this way

The published ending (Chapter LIX)

Dickens rewrote the close after Bulwer Lytton objected to an ending that left Pip a solitary man.

The original ending (preserved by Forster)

Forster thought this first ending 'more consistent' — his opinion, not a fact.

Judging Pip

Was Pip a snob?

The claim

“With all his virtues Pip was a snob.” — G. K. Chesterton

Place each piece of evidence to load the balance. Mark the strong ones — they count double.

  1. Chapter VIII: “I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.”

    Evidence 1: does it support or challenge the claim?

  2. Chapter VIII: on the walk home Pip decides he is “in a low-lived bad way.”

    Evidence 2: does it support or challenge the claim?

  3. Chapter XXXIX: he tells the returned convict coldly that “our ways are different ways”.

    Evidence 3: does it support or challenge the claim?

  4. Forster: Pip acts “very shabbily to his early friends”, and tells himself he is setting them a moral example.

    Evidence 4: does it support or challenge the claim?

  5. Chapter VIII: “My sister’s bringing up had made me sensitive” — the older Pip says her “capricious and violent coercion” left him “morally timid and very sensitive.”

    Evidence 5: does it support or challenge the claim?

  6. Chapter XXXIX: his deepest pain is realising that for the convict he “had deserted Joe.”

    Evidence 6: does it support or challenge the claim?

  7. Forster: Pip is good-hearted, but “as unexpected a stroke of good fortune turns the head” of the boy.

    Evidence 7: does it support or challenge the claim?

  8. Forster: Pip's horror of the convict shows even in his most generous efforts to protect him — yet the story closes with 'poor Pip' helping to get him off.

    Evidence 8: does it support or challenge the claim?

Exam line: A strong judgement uses 'but' honestly: say what supports the claim, what complicates it, and where you land.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

How a frightened orphan learns shame, loses his way with Joe, and finally judges the boy he was.

What you need to know

  • Pip is an orphan who knows his parents only from their tombstones; he is brought up by his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, 'who married the blacksmith'.
  • Pip's shame at his class starts in Chapter VIII, when Estella scorns his 'coarse hands' and 'thick boots' — and it quickly turns into wishing Joe were 'more genteelly brought up'.
  • Pip's expectations are paid for by the convict (Magwitch), who made a fortune in Australia; because the money reaches Pip through an attorney, Pip wrongly imagines Miss Havisham is his patron.
  • In Chapter XXXIX the truth horrifies Pip, and his deepest pain is realising that for the convict he 'had deserted Joe'.
  • The published ending leaves Pip and Estella's future open ('no shadow of another parting'); it does not say they marry. Dickens changed it after Bulwer Lytton objected to an ending that left Pip a solitary man.
  • Chesterton argues that 'with all his virtues Pip was a snob'; Forster argues that Pip is good-hearted but that 'a stroke of good fortune turns the head' of the boy.

The big picture

Pip tells his own story, so the older Pip is always looking back and judging the boy he was. Follow him through four moments: a frightened orphan (Chapter I), a boy suddenly ashamed of his 'coarse hands' (Chapter VIII), a young gentleman horrified to learn his fortune came from the convict (Chapter XXXIX), and a man who works 'pretty hard for a sufficient living' (Chapter LIX). At each one, ask what Pip is ashamed of and who he has let down — above all, Joe. Then use Forster and Chesterton to judge him: a good-hearted boy with his head turned, or, 'with all his virtues', a snob?

Key points

1Pip narrates in the first person, so the older Pip keeps judging the boy he was.
2Chapter I: the 'small bundle of shivers' — frightened, small, alone.
3Chapter VIII: 'I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before' — shame is taught to him by Estella's scorn.
4Chapter XXXIX: the fortune is the convict's, not Miss Havisham's — and Pip's worst guilt is about Joe.
5Chapter LIX: back at the forge, Joe and Biddy's son sits on Pip's old stool, named Pip 'for your sake'.
6The last line promises 'no shadow of another parting' — hope, not a wedding.

Worked example

Problem

How does Dickens use the older Pip, looking back, to explain the child Pip's feelings in Chapter VIII? Use: “My sister’s bringing up had made me sensitive” and the older Pip's judgement that her “capricious and violent coercion” left him “morally timid and very sensitive.”

⚠ Watch out

Saying Miss Havisham paid for Pip's expectations, or that the novel ends with Pip and Estella married. Pip only imagined Miss Havisham was his patron — the money was the convict's — and the final line leaves their future open.

🧠

Memory hook

Four S's for Pip's four moments: SHIVERS (Chapter I) → SHAME (Chapter VIII) → SHOCK (Chapter XXXIX) → SUFFICIENT living (Chapter LIX).

✓

Check yourself

Chapter VIII: Pip is ashamed of his 'coarse hands'. Chapter LIX: 'I work pretty hard for a sufficient living'. What has changed in the way Pip sees work — and himself?

Flashcards

(14)
How did Pip get his name?
His father's family name was Pirrip and his Christian name Philip, but his 'infant tongue' could make nothing longer of both than 'Pip'.
Who brings Pip up, and what does he know of his parents?
He is an orphan who never saw his parents and learns about them from their tombstones; he lives with his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, 'who married the blacksmith'.
What does Estella mock Pip for in Chapter VIII?
She calls him 'a common labouring-boy' and mocks him: he calls the knaves Jacks, and has 'coarse hands' and 'thick boots'.
Once he is ashamed of his hands, what does Pip wish about Joe?
'I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.' His shame turns on the man who loves him.
Who really pays for Pip's great expectations?
The convict, Magwitch. Recaptured and transported, he makes a fortune in Australia and resolves to make his 'little friend' a gentleman.
Why does Pip imagine Miss Havisham is his patron?
Because the convict's money reaches him through the Old-Bailey attorney who defended the convict at his trial, so Pip never sees where it really comes from.
Complete the convict's line: “I lived rough, that you should live smooth; …”
“… I worked hard, that you should be above work.”
In Chapter XXXIX, what hurts Pip most of all?
Realising that for the convict he 'had deserted Joe'.
The convict warns “It’s death to come back.” What is Pip's first care?
To close the shutters, 'so that no light might be seen from without' — he hides the man he dreads.
What does Pip find when he returns to the old kitchen in Chapter LIX?
Joe and Biddy's son sitting on his own little stool: 'We giv’ him the name of Pip for your sake, dear old chap.'
Does the published novel say Pip and Estella marry?
No. They leave the ruined place together and Pip 'saw no shadow of another parting from her' — the future is left open.
What was Dickens's original ending, and why was it changed?
Pip meets Estella only briefly in London after she has married again. Dickens changed it after Bulwer Lytton objected to an ending that left Pip a solitary man.
What is Chesterton's judgement of Pip?
'With all his virtues Pip was a snob' — and Pip is meant to show how circumstances can corrupt men.
What is Forster's judgement of Pip?
Pip is good-hearted, but a sudden stroke of good fortune 'turns the head' of the boy, and he acts 'very shabbily to his early friends'.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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