Editing Great Expectations (section)

==Plot summary==
The book includes three "stages" of Pip's expectations.

===First stage===
Philip "Pip" Pirrip is a seven-year-old orphan who lives with his hot-tempered older sister and her kindly blacksmith husband Joe Gargery on the coastal marshes of [[Kent]]. On Christmas Eve 1812,<ref>{{harvnb|Jerome Meckier|1992|pp=157–197}}.</ref> Pip visits the graves of his parents and siblings. There, he unexpectedly encounters an escaped convict who threatens to kill him if he does not bring back food and tools. Pip steals a file from among Joe's tools and a pie and brandy meant for Christmas dinner, which he delivers to the convict.

That evening, Pip's sister is about to look for the missing pie when soldiers arrive and ask Joe to mend some shackles. Joe and Pip accompany them into the marshes to recapture the convict, who is fighting with another escaped convict. The first convict confesses to stealing food, clearing Pip.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=127}}, Chapters 1–5</ref>

[[File:"Well, Pip, you know, . . . . you yourself see me put 'em in my 'at" (ch. 13).jpeg|thumb|Pip is ashamed of Joe at Satis House, by [[Fraser family of artists|Francis Arthur Fraser]]]]
A few years later, [[Miss Havisham]], a wealthy and reclusive spinster who lives in dilapidated Satis House wearing her old wedding dress after having been jilted at the altar, asks Mr Pumblechook, a relative of the Gargerys, to find a boy to visit her. Pip visits Miss Havisham and falls in love with Estella, her adopted daughter. Estella is aloof and hostile to Pip, which Miss Havisham encourages. During one visit, another boy picks a fist fight with Pip, where Pip easily gains the upper hand. Estella watches and allows Pip to kiss her afterwards. Pip visits Miss Havisham regularly until he is old enough to learn a trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=127–128}}, Chapters 6–12</ref>

Joe accompanies Pip during the last visit to Miss Havisham, and she gives Pip money to become an apprentice blacksmith. Joe's surly assistant, Dolge Orlick, is envious of Pip and dislikes Mrs. Joe. Orlick also complains when Joe says he needs to take Pip somewhere midday, thinking this is another sign of favoritism, of which Joe assures him he can quit work for the day. When Pip and Joe are away from the house, Joe's wife is brutally attacked, leaving her unable to speak or do her work. When Pip sees a leg iron, the weapon used in the attack, he becomes worried, believing it was the same leg iron he helped liberate the convict from. Now bedridden, Mrs. Joe cannot be as "rampaging" towards Pip as before the attack. Pip's former schoolmate Biddy joins the household to help with her care.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=128}}, Chapters 13–17</ref>
[[Image:Breakhisheart.jpg|thumb|left|Miss Havisham with Estella and Pip. Art by [[H. M. Brock]]]]

Four years into Pip's apprenticeship, Mr Jaggers, a lawyer, informs him that he has been provided money from an anonymous patron, allowing him to become a gentleman. Presuming Miss Havisham is his benefactress, Pip visits her before leaving for London.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=128–129}}, Chapters 18–19</ref>

===Second stage===
Pip's first experience with urban England is a shock, for London is not the "soft white city" Pip imagined, but a place of heavy litter and filth. Pip moves into [[Barnard's Inn]] with Herbert Pocket, the son of his tutor, Matthew Pocket, who is Miss Havisham's cousin. Pip realizes Herbert is the boy he fought with years ago. Herbert tells Pip how Miss Havisham was defrauded and deserted by her fiancé. Pip meets fellow pupils, Bentley Drummle, a brute of a man from a wealthy noble family, and Startop, who is a more agreeable colleague. Jaggers disburses the money Pip needs.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=128–129}}, Chapters 20–24</ref> During a visit, Pip meets Jaggers's housekeeper, Molly, a former convict.

When Joe visits Pip at Barnard's Inn, Pip is ashamed to be seen with him. Joe relays a message from Miss Havisham that Estella will be visiting her. Pip returns there to meet Estella and is encouraged by Miss Havisham, but avoids visiting Joe. He is disquieted to see Orlick now in service to Miss Havisham. He mentions his misgivings to Jaggers, who promises Orlick's dismissal. In London, Pip and Herbert exchange their romantic secrets: Pip adores Estella, and Herbert is engaged to Clara. Pip meets Estella when she is sent to [[Municipal Borough of Richmond (Surrey)|Richmond]] to be introduced into society.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=129–130}}, Chapters 25–33</ref>

Pip and Herbert build up debts. Mrs Joe dies and Pip returns to his village for her funeral. Pip's income is fixed at £500 ({{Inflation|UK|500|1826|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}) per annum when he comes of age at 21. With the help of Jaggers' clerk, [[John Wemmick]], Pip plans to help advance Herbert's prospects by anonymously securing him a position with the shipbroker, Clarriker's. Pip takes Estella to Satis House, where she and Miss Havisham quarrel over Estella's coldness. In London, Drummle outrages Pip by proposing a toast to Estella. Later, at an Assembly Ball in Richmond, Pip witnesses Estella meeting Drummle and warns her about him; she replies that she has no qualms about entrapping him.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=130}}, Chapters 34–38</ref>

A week after his 23rd birthday, Pip learns that his benefactor is the convict he encountered in the churchyard, Abel Magwitch. He had been [[Penal transportation|transported]] to [[New South Wales]] after being captured. He has become wealthy after gaining his freedom there, but he cannot return to England on pain of death. However, he returns to see Pip, who was the motivation for all his success.

===Third stage===
A shocked Pip stops taking Magwitch's money, but devises a plan with Herbert to help him escape from England.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=130–131}}, Chapters 39–41</ref> Magwitch shares his past with Pip, and reveals that the escaped convict whom he fought in the churchyard was [[Compeyson]], the fraudster who had deserted Miss Havisham.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=131}}, Chapter 42</ref>
 
Pip returns to Satis House to visit Estella and meets Drummle, who has also come to see her and now has Orlick as his servant. Pip confronts Miss Havisham for misleading him about his benefactor, but she says she did it to annoy her relatives. Pip declares his love to Estella, who coldly tells him she plans to marry Drummle. A heartbroken Pip returns to London, where Wemmick warns him that Compeyson is looking for him.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=131–132}}, Chapters 43–47</ref>

At Jaggers's house at dinner, Wemmick tells Pip how Jaggers acquired his maidservant, Molly, rescuing her from the gallows when she was accused of murder.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=131–132}}, Chapter 48</ref> A remorseful Miss Havisham tells Pip how she raised Estella to be unfeeling and heartless ever since Jaggers brought her in as an infant with no information on her parentage. She also tells Pip that Estella is now married. She gives Pip money to pay for Herbert's position at Clarriker's and asks for his forgiveness. As Pip is about to leave, Miss Havisham's dress catches fire, and Pip injures himself in an unsuccessful attempt to save her. Realising that Estella is the daughter of Molly and Magwitch, Pip is discouraged by Jaggers from acting on his suspicions.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=132}}, Chapters 49–51</ref>

[[File:Pip-magwitch.jpeg|thumb|right|Magwitch makes himself known to Pip]]
A few days before Magwitch's planned escape, Pip is tricked by an anonymous letter into going to a sluice-house near his old home, where he is seized by Orlick, who intends to murder him and freely admits to injuring Pip's sister. As Pip is about to be struck with a hammer, Herbert and Startop arrive and save him. The three pick up Magwitch to row him to the steamboat for Hamburg, but they are met by a police boat carrying Compeyson, who has offered to identify Magwitch. Magwitch seizes Compeyson, and they fight in the river. Seriously injured, Magwitch is taken by the police. Compeyson's body is found later.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=132}}, Chapters 52–54</ref>

Aware that Magwitch's fortune will go to the Crown after his trial, Pip visits a dying Magwitch in the prison hospital and tells him that his daughter Estella is alive. Herbert, who is preparing to move to [[Cairo]], Egypt, to manage Clarriker's office, offers Pip a position there. After Herbert's departure, Pip falls ill in his room and faces arrest for debt. However, Joe nurses Pip back to health and pays off the debt. After recovering, Pip then returns to propose to Biddy, only to find that she has married Joe. Pip apologises to Joe, vows to repay him, and leaves for Cairo. There, he moves in with Herbert and Clara, eventually advancing to become third in the company. Only then does Herbert learn that Pip paid for his position in the firm.<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|pages=132–133}}, Chapters 55–58</ref>

After working for eleven years in Egypt, Pip returns to England and visits Joe, Biddy, and their son, Pip Jr. Then, in the ruins of Satis House, he meets the widowed Estella, who asks Pip to forgive her, assuring him that her misfortune and her abusive marriage to Drummle until his death have opened her heart. As Pip takes Estella's hand, and they leave the moonlit ruins, he sees "no shadow of another parting from her".<ref>{{harvnb|Paul Davis|2007|page=133}}, Chapter 59</ref>