Key Facts
full title · Great Expectations
author · Charles Dickens
type of work · Novel
genres · Bildungsroman, social criticism, autobiographical fiction
language · English
time and place written · London, 1860-1861
date of first publication · Published serially in England from December 1860 to
August 1861; published in book form in England
and America in 1861
publisher · Serialized in All the Year Round;
published in England by Chapman & Hall; published in America
by Harper & Brothers
narrator · Pip
climax · A sequence of climactic events occurs from about Chapter 51 to Chapter 56:
Miss Havisham's burning in the fire, Orlick's attempt to murder
Pip, and Pip's attempt to help Magwitch escape London.
protagonist · Pip
antagonist · Great Expectations does not contain
a traditional single antagonist. Various characters serve as figures
against whom Pip must struggle at various times: Magwitch, Mrs.
Joe, Miss Havisham, Estella, Orlick, Bentley Drummle, and Compeyson. With
the exception of the last three, each of the novel's antagonists
is redeemed before the end of the book.
setting (time) · Mid-nineteenth century
settings (place) · Kent and London, England
point of view · First person
falling action · The period following Magwitch's capture in Chapter 54, including
Magwitch's death, Pip's reconciliation with Joe, and Pip's reunion
with Estella eleven years later
tense · Past
foreshadowing · Great Expectations contains a great
deal of foreshadowing. The repeated references to the convict (the
man with the file in the pub, the attack on Mrs. Joe) foreshadow
his return; the second convict on the marsh foreshadows the revelation
of Magwitch's conflict with Compeyson; the man in the pub who gives
Pip money foreshadows the revelation that Pip's fortune comes from Magwitch;
Miss Havisham's wedding dress and her bizarre surroundings foreshadow
the revelation of her past and her relationship with Estella; Pip's
feeling that Estella reminds him of someone he knows foreshadows
his discovery of the truth of her parentage; the fact that Jaggers
is a criminal lawyer foreshadows his involvement in Magwitch's life;
and so on. Moreover, the weather often foreshadows dramatic events:
a storm brewing generally means there will be trouble ahead, as
on the night of Magwitch's return.
tone · Comic, cheerful, satirical, wry, critical, sentimental,
dark, dramatic, foreboding, Gothic, sympathetic
themes · Ambition and the desire for self-improvement (social,
economic, educational, and moral); guilt, criminality, and innocence; maturation
and the growth from childhood to adulthood; the importance of affection,
loyalty, and sympathy over social advancement and class superiority;
social class; the difficulty of maintaining superficial moral and
social categories in a constantly changing world
motifs · Crime and criminality; disappointed expectations; the connection
between weather or atmosphere and dramatic events; doubles (two
convicts, two secret benefactors, two invalids, etc.)
symbols · The stopped clocks at Satis House symbolize Miss Havisham's attempt
to stop time; the many objects relating to crime and guilt (gallows,
prisons, handcuffs, policemen, lawyers, courts, convicts, chains,
files) symbolize the theme of guilt and innocence; Satis House represents
the upper-class world to which Pip longs to belong; Bentley Drummle
represents the grotesque caprice of the upper class; Joe represents
conscience, affection, loyalty, and simple good nature; the marsh
mists represent danger and ambiguity.
