Dickens text extract commentary

Pip is now an apprentice to Joe, but as we learn in this passage, far from happy with his lot in life. Since his introduction to the upper class world of the Havishams, he is haunted by images of the beautiful Estella and cannot help seeing himself and the world through her unkind eyes. He seems to have become obsessed with the idea of winning her, even though in his current social position, this is impossible.

In this passage, Pip and Biddy take a summer stroll in the local countryside, leaving Joe at the forge tending to his disabled wife. Pip decides to confide in Biddy, revealing his dissatisfaction with his lowly station in life, his admiration for Estella, and his desire to become a gentleman. In doing so, he shows how much he has has been altered by the fateful meeting at Satis House.

The setting is a familiar one for both the reader and Pip, however the description of the marshes and riverside here contrasts dramatically with previous scenes. Dickens depicts a beautiful quiet summer day, with ‘’lovely weather’’ and ‘’rippling’’ water. As Pip recalls the scene, everything seems to be bathed a warm glow, reflecting perhaps Pip’s rose-tinted view of Estella as pictures her in his mind in his ‘’usual way’’, underlining his obsession. In contrast to the beginning of the novel, the sea is a calm and peaceful presence. The threatening Hulks have been replaced by sailing ships, and any association with the criminal Magwitch is forgotten. The peaceful scenery gives him the confidence to reveal his secret, but is perhaps just the calm before the storm. Dickens uses the river motif to highlight the importance of this key scene. Constantly present in Pip’s life, here, it serves to witness Pip’s ‘’lunatic confession’’ that ‘he loves Estella and wants ‘’to be a gentleman on her account’’ which foreshadows the imminent news of his ‘’great expectations’’ in the next chapter.

In this scene, Pip reveals how ‘’miserable’’ he is to his good friend Biddy; once happy to pursue the path of modest blacksmith, he finally admits out loud that he sees himself, his friends and his family as inferior. He conveys his self-loathing with a catalogue of strong adjectives such as   ‘’disgusted’’, ‘’dissatisfied’ ’and uncomfortable’’ and seems unaware that he is insulting Biddy, who shares his humble working-class roots. Rather than taking offence, she tries to help Pip explore his feelings, and displays all the qualities of a loyal friend, while Pip behaves erratically, plucking at the grass, and betrays signs of arrogance and rudeness.  He declares he wants to be a gentleman, and her response of ‘’don’t you think you are happier as you are?’’ shows her concern for his well-being. Pip, however, dismisses her ‘’impatiently’’, calling her ‘’absurd’’ and by the end of the passage, can only answer her ‘’moodily’’ when she asks him to reflect on whether he wants to be a gentleman to ‘’spite’’ Estella, or ’gain her over’’. His inability to answer her shows his lack of maturity and self-awareness. The reader senses that Biddy would very much like to save Pip from his hopeless infatuation, and jumps immediately to his defence when he mentions that he has been called ‘’coarse and common’’. She quickly points out that whoever said this was very rude, a fact seemingly lost on her friend. Instantly wary of this other young woman, Biddy looks carefully at Pip and seems concerned that he will be hurt.  Although in the passage Pip acknowledges Biddy’s virtues, even going so far as to say she would once have been ‘’good enough’’ as a wife, he makes it very clear to her that she is no match for Estella, whose astonishing beauty seems to override her rudeness in Pip’s eyes. From this point in the novel, Pip’s relationship with Biddy, Joe and the forge will be irrevocably altered by his determination to win her hand as he chooses to sacrifice his closest relationships and turn his back on his home in the pursuit of his goals.

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