Reuniting with the Devil

When Pip and Estella meet at the end of Great Expectations, it is a peculiar happenstance. Both said this is the first time they have been back to Satis House in years, and this prompts the reader to think it was Fate that brought them back together after all these years, and just as Pip was thinking of all the memories that he had of her. The ambiguity of their departure leaves the reader without a sense of conclusion, as Pip had already resigned himself to forever being a bachelor, only for the one girl he had ever loved to return and re-entangle his heart.The fact that she abstained from ever trying to intentionally entangle him shows her care of him and while she told him that she had no heart, her actions imply a different truth. Pip is the only chance at a normal life that she had, and in her older age she is trying to desperately find a meaning for her life.

The Wedding

Pip, returning home to tell Biddy of his feelings for her, is delightfully shocked to hear that Biddy and Joe will be wed. While he originally returned with the plan of trying to whisk Biddy away, he is glad to hear this news as they deserve each other, and truly are two of the best people that Pip knows. The fact he is so willing to let go of Biddy in favor of Joe perhaps shows that he felt no real emotions for Biddy other than that of siblings. This indicates that he only settled for Biddy because he was spurned by Estella, which, is rather a rude thing to do. She deserves better than that, and she receives it with Joe.

Post-Coma

When Pip awakens from his illness, he finds Joe at his bedside, showing that despite how he had treated Joe, Joe still considered them to family. His resolute faith in Pip, despite how he was treated speaks volumes about the man. Joe, however is unable to stay in London, due to his animosity towards city life, but before he goes, he pays off all of Pip's debts. Pip doesn't deserve half the kindness he is shown in his life, and it is merely through their continued affection that he finds any kind of redemption at all. He was lucky to have gotten so much, but he threw it all away in pursuit of Estella. It is only now, after the loss of Magwitch, that Pip truly sees what he always has. He decides to follow Joe and make amends with both of them.

Estella's Papa

While the tidbit about how all of the characters have a relationship to Magwitch is interesting the only real reason I can see for it existing is so that the reader can see that the illusion of class seperation that permeated these times were just that, an illusion. It showed that the child of a poor convict can be transformed into a cold, manipulative noblewoman simply by the whims of fate. It shows that contrary to what the nobility had been imposing upon the commoners for centuries, there was no fundamental difference between the two of them and given the right resources, anyone can become nobility. It also lets Magwitch die happy, knowing that his only child lived a happy life.

The death of Magwitch

Magwitch's death, strikes a solid blow to Pip, as Pip had grown thankful and loyal to the man and far from being frightened of him, now seems to admire him, much as Magwitch would have wished it. While Pip was saddened by this death, it is hard to think that Magwitch was displeased at the time of his death, as he had established an heir in Pip, dispatched the evil Compeyson, and learned of the daughter which he had long believed dead. It is the presence of Magwitch that matures Pip, and forces him to reassess his life. He turned Pip into a better person, although the money seems to corrupt the boy at first. He was a kind person, despite his profession, and showed Pip the kind of person that he should aspire to be.

Time to sneak out of the country....

Throughout the entire story, I have had a disliking for Pip, but by this point, he has changed from the arrogant brat he was into a genuinely kind person. He matured from his childish hopes and is now shouldering his burdens in life, and doing a good job of it. Despite the fact he was originally terrified of Magwitch, he realized that he owed this man, and that Magwitch wanted nothing more than to be accepted by Pip as a father figure. This sparks devotion from Pip and he finally grows up into being someone worth knowing.

Burning the Witch

When Pip forgives Miss Havisham for using Estella to break his heart, he does the one thing that she was never able to, that is, forget and try to move on. Whereas she held the grudge against Compeyson and spent the majority of her life sitting in Satis brooding upon her revenge, Pip manages to forgive, though he will never be able to forget the marks that Estella made upon his heart. She is then purged by both the metaphorical and literal flames and purified from her sins. After the fire, she bears an odd to Mrs. Joe, i.e. in that they both become mentally invalid. This is perhaps a sign that Ms. Havisham is consumed by her sins much as Mrs. Joe was in the form of Orlick. This is following the theme in the book of evildoers receiving a just end.

Pip confronts the old brood about tricking him.

Pip, realizing that he cannot keep Magwitch's money, goes to visit Estella and Miss Havisham one more time, as he will no longer be able to pursue Estella. While there he confronts Miss Havisham about her deception as to who was his sponsor, to which she feels no regret as she has suffered more than enough pain in her life. Pip then talks to Estella, professing his love to her one final time, only for her to flippantly turn him away, saying that she is promised to Drummle. She then says that there would never have been feelings between the two of them and that she always told him that she was unable to love. Pip is destroyed by this, as he now realizes what a waste his life has been, but even in this stupor, he still loves Estella. Miss Havisham recognizes this in his eyes and although it was what she had always aimed for, she repents due to the fact she was unprepared to deal with destroying another life just as her's was destroyed. She pities Pip for the unhappy life that he must trudge through, and I assume she regrets having set such an intricate trap for destroying a decent person. That or she really is just an old hag.

Guess whose the benefactor! Not Havisham that's who!

The entire reason that Pip wished to be a gentleman laid in the fact that he believed it was all part of his training so that he might be betrothed to Estella. Through this line of reasoning he believed that it was Miss Havisham who sponsored him to come to London and learn the necessary skills to be a gentleman. All of this is thrown to the wind when Pip discovers his real sponsor to be none other than the convict whom he had helped in the marshes. Since it was not Miss Havisham providing the money, Pip realizes that he was never meant for Estella, and that Ms. Havisham merely used his confusion on the identity of his sponsor to further entangle his heart. With no chance of gaining Estella, Pip realizes that he has no reason to become a gentleman anymore, and that he has wasted his life in pursuit of something he can never have. At this point most would give up, but Pip is too attached to Estella and will never be able to let her go. And so Miss Havisham succeeds in not only breaking, but ripping apart his heart.

Pip doesn't understand how women work.

Estella is constantly abusive of our hero, and he is fine with it as long as he can be with her. But in this instance, Estella wishes Pip to know that the proof behind her care of him lies in the fact that she does not trap him as she does so many others. He takes this to mean that she doesn't like him while in fact it shows that she respects him too much to lie to him. She poorly explains this however, as Pip still believes her to have a heart despite her protests to the contrary. He fails to see that while she shows favor to all her suitors but him, they all fade away as quickly as a passing breeze, while he remains. In a year she will not remember any of their names, but Pip and her will always be friends. He lacks the wisdom to see this however, and is ill content with his position in her life, viewing himself as forever stuck in the "friend zone" with a girl that he loves.

Orlick, while a bad guy, deserves a high-five

I've never liked Mrs. Joe. She is a meddlesome shrew that was never tamed. In fact behind Estella and Miss Havisham she is my least favorite character. I fully think that she deserves everything she has coming to her. And Orlick, while finding a dishonorable way to exact his revenge, does stand up to her, something she isn't prepared for and seems to enjoy too much. While perhaps not the most elegant solution for Mrs. Joe, I can't pretend to be displeased at the way things turn out, much like Pip is. She was a self-important gossip, and despite the kindness of raising Pip, shows him nothing but contempt, using him as proof that shes a good person for raising him by hand as well as beating him and verbally abusing him. With Mrs. Joe out of the way, there is nothing stopping Joe from searching out a happier remarriage. The world is a better place without her, to be brutally honest.

Super-Lawyer saves the day! Or does he?

Pip, desolate that he will never be able to rise above his station in life is thrilled by the fact that Mr. Jaggers has declared him the heir to a sizable fortune and that his benefactor has decided for him to go to London to train as a gentleman. Pip immediately assumes that this means Miss Havisham has changed her mind and now wants him to be a gentleman so that he may court Estella, despite Jaggers' warning to not do so. This is merely wishful thinking on Pip's part, as the only basis for his case being that Mr. Jaggers is also the lawyer of Ms. Havisham. It is merely wishful thinking on his part, as Estella has already told him that they can never be together as she has no heart. Despite this he loves her all the more strongly, and ignores the good advice of those close to him to forget about Estella and move on. But Alas! He is irrevocably stuck in her web.

Mysterious Money from a Mysterious Man

One day, whilst at the Three Jolly Bargemen, Pip is given back the file as well as a twopound note for helping out Magwitch, though nobody but Pip knows who it was from. They are given to him by a mysterious friend of Magwitch, and although Pip never sees a cent of the money given to him, this is the first real sign that Magwitch intends to pay Pip back for his help. While it could have ended here, at this point all Magwitch had done was pay Pip back for the vittles and file, and while all Pip wanted was to be done with this business of the convict, Magwitch still intends to pay him back for taking the time and care to help a man whom he just as easily turned away. Magwitch sees this a hugely noble deed and intends to pay him back for it.

Estella: I don't like her

Before we first meet Estella and Miss Havisham, Pip is only slightly embarrassed of Joe for his illiteracy, but after the contempt and arrogance that Estella shows him, these tendencies increase greatly. For years afterward he maintained a disregard of those belonging to the lower class that Estella had shown to him. Perhaps one of the most important parts of the book, when Estella inflicts him with her arrogance, he keeps it, and it is one of the reasons that he is so driven to be a gentleman. By what Estella has shown him, he assumes that the aristocracy is a better class of person, and he tries his best to join their ranks. She inspires in him a dissatisfaction for his life that irrevocablely harms him, as he could have been very happy in his life with Biddy and Joe, but is instead forever strung upon the fishhook that he willingly bit into for Estella. While he could have married some other girl that he had met, he decided to stay a bachelor always waiting for her. He loves her with a deep, abiding passion and in return she spurns him and breaks his heart. Yet still he loves her. She is truly a despicable creature.

Scary Oldguy!

When our boy Pip is strolling throughout the tombstones, he is apprehended by a strange man whom he identifies as a convict. The old man thoroughly scares the young Pip and sends him on the task to get him a file and vittles. While these things appear a simplistic wish, it is through Pip's completion of this that he first embarks on the path to becoming a gentleman, as it is Magwitch, or this convict, who will eventually sponsor Pip on his journey towards the upper class. While he obviously means nothing by this gesture, as he was simply acting out of fear, it does betray his then kind nature and this is recognized and perhaps blown out of proportions by Magwitch.
While it was out of fear that Pip acted, he still was still as polite to Magwitch as he would be with any adult. It is because of his care for the convict that he eventually gets his wish to be a gentleman, albeit without the sponsorship of Miss Havisham he really doesn't care about the money. This is one of the defining moments in the book, for if it had not been for Estella, he could have lived happily with the money that Magwitch gave him.