Great Expectations

On the way back to his childhood home, Pip stops at Miss Havisham’s old house. The rooms of her house and the belongings within them are tagged for a public auction.

Pip also stops at the Blue Boar, where he runs into Mr. Pumblechook. Even after everything he has been through, Pumblechook is his usual condescending self. Eventually, Pip decides he can’t tolerate being around Mr. Pumblechook for another minute, and he leaves to find Joe and Biddy.

Neither Joe nor Biddy are in the usual respective spaces: the forge or the schoolhouse. Pip finds them at the house which someone has decorated with white curtains and flowers. Biddy happily proclaims that it’s her wedding day, and she has married Joe. Pip feels grateful that he never told Joe about his plans for marrying Biddy. He warmly congratulates her, saying that she has the best husband in the world.  

Pip pays off the rest of his debts and decides to take the job with Herbert. He lives frugally and gradually becomes a partner alongside Herbert. The third partner decides he can no longer keep the secret that Pip helped finance the business. Herbert is moved to discover Pip’s generosity.

After 11 years in Cairo, Pip returns to England. He visits Biddy and Joe to find that they’ve had a child and named him Pip. Joe expresses the hope that his son will grow up to be much like his namesake. Biddy tells Pip that he should marry and have a family of his own. She asks him if he still thinks of Estella, and Pip says that dream is dead.

Pip visits the empty space where Miss Havisham’s home once was. Though the house and brewery no longer stand, he notices ivy is growing there. He also finds Estella wandering among the ruins. He observes that the “freshness” of her has bone, but she still looks majestic and charming.

Drummle has recently died after years of unhappy marriage, and Estella warmly tells Pip that she has often thought of him. Pip replies that she’s always had a piece of his heart. Estella then tells Pip that she was sad to part from him and hopes that her miserable marriage has made her a better person. She adds that she hopes they can return to their separate lives as friends. Pip takes Estella’s hand, and they leave the ruined landscape of Satis House surrounded by cool mist. Pip reflects that the atmosphere is much the same as the morning when he left Joe’s forge to become a gentleman years ago. He feels that now he will never part from Estella.