summary on great expectations2

The second stage of Pip's expectations
On his arrival in London, Pip's initial impression is London is unattractive and dirty. Nonetheless, his great expectations lie before him, and he is informed by Jaggers and his clerk, Wemmick, of his new living quarters. When Pip reaches his house, he meets his roommate, Herbert Pocket, a member of Miss Havisham's extended family. Herbert was also one of many acquaintances Miss Havisham chose to be in the company of Estella, although she did not favour him. Miss Havisham detests the Pockets as she believes they only pay tribute to her because they expect to inherit her money when she dies, though this is untrue of Herbert's father. Pip and Herbert quickly become close friends, and Herbert teaches him the ways of polite company, including dining etiquette. Pip confides in Herbert of his love for Estella, but Herbert warns him that Estella was adopted and raised by Miss Havisham to "wreak revenge on all the male sex" after Miss Havisham's fiancé jilted her on their wedding day, the event which also caused Miss Havisham to stop time at Satis House. Pip, however, does not heed Herbert's warning. During Pip's training to be a gentleman, he becomes more deeply involved with his acquaintances, gaining a perspective on their personal lives. He dines with Herbert's large and disorganized family, including Matthew Pocket, Pip's tutor and the person who warned Miss Havisham about her lover; he was disowned by her therefore. Pocket's other students include Startop, whose mother's pampering led to him being physically frail, and Bentley Drummle, a contentious and thuggish "blockhead," who is dubbed "the Spider" by Jaggers. Pip also spends time with Wemmick, Jaggers's clerk, and learns Wemmick has an entirely different personal life from his strict business life. Outside of work, he lives in a cottage with many whimsical features. In the cottage resides Wemmick's deaf and elderly father, referred to as the "Aged Parent", or simply "the Aged", whom he treats compassionately and amusingly. Pip next has dinner with Jaggers who, in contrast to Wemmick, deals with his personal life as seriously and tightly as his public life. On a Monday, Pip receives a letter from Biddy. The letter informs Pip that Joe wishes to visit him in London tomorrow, and Biddy says she hopes Pip will accept Joe as an important visitor, even though he is now a gentleman. Despite this reminder, Pip reacts to this news not with pleasure, but dreads the common and unrefined Joe will be seen and associated with him. The social disparity between the two former companions is further emphasized when Joe, uncomfortable in the luxury of Pip's place, frequently addresses him as "Sir," not "Pip." Joe informs Pip Miss Havisham asked him to tell Pip that "Estella has come home and would be glad to see him." His first instinct in his realization is he humiliated Joe and he must stay at Joe's home, but as he goes, he makes excuses to himself why he must stay at the inn instead. When Pip reaches Satis House, he finds to his surprise Orlick is now Miss Havisham's porter for protection. Pip locates Miss Havisham in the same dilapidated room and sees Estella for the first time in many years, who has grown up into a beautiful and elegant lady. Her beauty and self-possession cause him to feel inadequate in her presence again. Estella shows little memory of Pip as a child, cautioning him she has no heart that can be touched by emotions, which Pip refuses to believe. Once alone with Miss Havisham, Miss Havisham asks Pip if he admires Estella. After Pip remarks all who see her must admire her, Miss Havisham fiercely admonishes him to love her, even if she breaks his heart. In the passion of this outburst, Miss Havisham declares she raised Estella to be loved and reiterates in a vehement fashion Pip must love her. This causes Pip to observe that if words of hatred had been substituted for "love", it could not have sounded more like a curse. After Pip returns to London, he tells Jaggers of his suspicions of Orlick. Jaggers resolves immediately to fire Orlick, which alarms Pip, who does not want Orlick to know of his hostility towards him, but Jaggers brushes aside his objections. Sometime later, Pip receives a letter from Estella bearing the news she will arrive in two days in London, and it has been settled Pip will meet her there. Unfortunately, she does not understand the identity of the boy, as she knows Pip only by his nickname, Pip. On the appointed day, Pip meets Estella's coach, and finds her even more delicately beautiful than ever. She is shocked to find him there, but attempts to hide it, as she finds herself unsettlingly pleased at his appearance. She tells Pip that she is to go to Richmond Surrey by carriage and Pip is to escort her and pay for all expenses out of her purse. She also states "We have no choice, you and I, but to obey our instructions. We are not free to follow our own devices, you and I." On hearing this, Pip hopes there was an inner meaning to those words. Estella is to live with a lady at Richmond, who is to introduce her to society. She speaks of the Pockets and her amusement they have been stoked into hatred of Pip, whom they see as their rival. She assures Pip that no harm can come to him from this animosity but that she is delighted such mean people are made unhappy and she is beholden to Pip for causing this displeasure. She offers Pip her hand upon it, and when Pip kisses it, she scorns this romantic gesture. Pip asks her if he might kiss her again if he affirms that he did this in only a friendly way. Estella complies, but glides away as soon as he touches her cheek. When he and Estella part, Pip ponders on how happy he believes he would be if he lived with her, but on how she always made him miserable in his company. Later on, Pip unexpectedly receives word his sister has died, which leads him to realize he had thought little of his previous home lately, which further fuels his anger against Orlick, whom he suspects as the cause of her suffering and now death. Pip returns home to attend the funeral and comfort Joe. He has a walk with Biddy in which he promises to visit Joe more often. Biddy expresses doubt at this, which Pip replies with righteous indignation, but he avoids her for the rest of the day, subconsciously realizing that she is correct in her doubt. When Pip turns 21 years old, he visits Jaggers for further information on his expected fortune and hopefully the identity of his benefactor. Jaggers tells him he will have an annual allowance of 500 pounds until his benefactor is made known to him, but refuses to tell him when his benefactor will be revealed to him. He also tells Pip that when his benefactor is revealed, Jaggers' business will end, and he need not be informed about it. With extra money in his pocket, Pip decides to secretly help Herbert secure a job, Herbert having come of age earlier but having nothing to show for it and being still unsure of his future. Pip discusses this with Wemmick, who arranges for Pip to influence a firm in hiring Herbert. Herbert's elation at discovering this is so profound Pip is moved to tears of happiness that his expectations had finally done good for someone else. Meanwhile, Pip continues to pursue Estella who continually places him "on terms of familiarity without placing [him] on terms of favour." Estella uses Pip's presence to tease her admirers to jealousy, and their attentions in turn inspire Pip to jealousy and constant misery. Despite this, and Estella's indirect warnings for him to give up on her, Pip continues to imagine himself as married to her and writes off her warnings as bitterness against Miss Havisham's intent for them to be paired together. He further convinces himself Miss Havisham will only use Estella to torment her other suitors until she officially becomes his. On a visit with Estella to see Miss Havisham, Pip witnesses the first time he has ever seen Estella in opposition to Miss Havisham. While Estella is sitting beside her with Miss Havisham clutching her hand, she gradually disengages herself from her grip, moving away. Miss Havisham reacts angrily: "What! are you tired of me?" Estella's mild response only enrages Miss Havisham more, and her adopted daughter's cool composure induces Miss Havisham to accuse her of having no heart. Estella replies she is only what Miss Havisham made her; when Miss Havisham says she wants love from her daughter, Estella says she cannot return what she has never gotten, leading Miss Havisham to cry out to Pip, "Did I not give her love?" After that confrontation, Estella and Miss Havisham show no further hint of the argument, although Pip notes that from then on, Miss Havisham seemed to regard her with a little fear. Pip discovers Bentley Drummle is also courting Estella when he proposes a toast to her at a meeting of "The Finches of the Grove," an organization Pip and Herbert joined. When Pip confronts Drummle, accusing him of associating himself with a lady he barely knows, the other Finches agree if Drummle can provide evidence of his acquaintance with Estella, Pip must apologise to him. When Drummle shows up the next day with a letter from Estella confirming she had the honour of dancing with him many times, Pip is forced to make the proposed apology. Pained Estella would choose a boorish suitor over him, Pip admonishes Estella at a dance for giving special attention to Drummle. When Estella replies she cannot help if so many men are attracted to her, Pip complains she treats him with an affection she never shows to him. Estella's unexpected response is an angry look and the retributal, "Do you want me then [...] to deceive and entrap you?" She then states Pip is the only person with whom she has been completely honest. Having devoted his chapter to Estella, Pip now turns to focus on the event that would destroy all his assumptions and planning of his future. The critical event takes place on a day of heavy rain and storms, when a grey-haired stranger comes into his house late in the night, who greets him cordially with both arms outstretched. When Pip questions him, the stranger reveals he is none other than the convict he had helped when he was a child. The convict had never forgotten Pip's generosity that day and was the benefactor behind his plan to make him into a gentleman. This revelation shocks Pip, who feels not gratitude, but disgust and repulsion at the fact all his wealth had come from a criminal. Even as a stunned Pip tries to collect his thoughts, the convict further informs him he must be hidden in Pip's home because he violated his terms of exile to Australia to see his "London Gentleman," and he would be hanged if caught in England. Pip allows the convict to stay for the night but stays up to ponder on this sudden turn of events. As he thinks, the enormity of wrecked fantasies come home for him: Miss Havisham, not his benefactor as he had assumed, had no purpose for him, other than another object for Estella to toy with and make the people around her miserable. The thing that sticks in his mind the most is on how his great expectations led him to desert Joe.

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