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Description
'Great Expectations is up there for me with the world's greatest novels' Howard Jacobson. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Charles Dickens's Great Expectations charts the course of orphan Pip Pirrip's life as it is transformed by a vast, mysterious inheritance. A terrifying encounter with the escaped convict Abel Magwitch in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decrepit Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella at Satis House; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - these form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble station as an apprentice to blacksmith Joe Gargery, beginning a new life as a gentleman. Charles Dickens's haunting late novel depicts Pip's education and development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his identity, and his 'great expectations'. This definitive version uses the text from the first published edition of 1861. It includes a map of Kent in the early nineteenth century, and appendices on Dickens's original ending and his working notes, giving readers an illuminating glimpse into the mind of a great novelist at work. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Read more
Publisher : Penguin Classics
Publication date : December 31, 2002
Edition : Revised
Language : English
Print length : 544 pages
ISBN-10 : 0141439564
ISBN-13 : 63
Item Weight : 13.2 ounces
Reading age : 12 years and up
Dimensions : 5.05 x 0.96 x 7.77 inches
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Paperback
Pip, the main character in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, writes the story in first person as a middle aged man looking back on his life. Pip's parents die when he is young making him an orphan. Pip is "brought up by hand" by his sister, who treats him with scorn. His sister's lack of love, however, is tempered by her husband Joe, a blacksmith. Joe is a simple, uneducated man and Pip's only "friend" during childhood. Pip commiserates with Joe about his sister's verbal thrashings, trying to make the best of his unhappy upbringing. Early in the story, Pip has an encounter with a convict in the cemetery among the marshes near his home. Unbeknownst to him, this man would be the source for his "Great Expectations" later in life. One day Pip is invited to the home of Ms. Havisham. Ms. Havisham is a single, eccentric, old woman who stopped living in the real world many years earlier when she was spurned by her lover on her wedding day. Ms. Havisham has adopted the beautiful Estella, and from the moment Pip meets her, he is infatuated with her beauty. Estella represents wealth, education, success, and opportunity--things Pip values but thinks he will never have. Dissatisfaction within himself grows as he wants to be more in life than a partner with Joe in the forge. Pip becomes unhappy not only with himself, but also with Joe, who represents what he does not want to be--uneducated and simple. Failing to appreciate Joe's moral character, Pip's world view begins to change as he sees education as something to be attained--the sure way out of his wretched life and the means by which he could woo the object of his unmerited affections, Estella. Pip's life changes dramatically when he is visited by a well respected and fiercely admired lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, who brings him an unusual message. Mr. Jaggers tells Pip he is to receive "Great Expectations," but the benefactor is to remain anonymous until and only if they choose to reveal their identity. Pip mistakenly assumes the benefactor is Ms. Havisham, and the manipulating, self serving woman does nothing to dissuade him from his incorrect assumptions. The story takes Pip to London where he lives a life of excess and discards many virtues from his childhood. He no longer wants anything to do with Joe and believes his future course has been immutably set--that he is to marry the beautiful Estella. He shares his indulgences with his new friend, Herbert, whose acquaintance he had made years earlier at Ms. Havisham's place. The two of them rack up excessive debt as Pip sees himself as "a man in waiting" for all his fortunes to come to pass. Things are not what they seem, however. It is eventually revealed that the benefactor is not Ms. Havisham but the convict, Mr. Magwitch, whom Pip had met in the cemetery many years earlier when he was a young, impressionable boy. Pip is confronted face to face with the despised convict, hounded by the remembrances of him torturing him in the cemetery, dreams that lingered, causing him much consternation. But now he has to accept the undeniable truth that his turn of fortune is not because of Ms. Havisham's provision, but the despicable convict's desire to make him a gentleman. The convict wants his life to be redeemed for something good and chooses Pip to be that vehicle. Through a series of events, Pip acknowledges the inexcusable way he has treated Joe and wants to make amends. Before he can accomplish this, however, other happenings complicate his life. The convict, now in England, needs Pip's protection. Pip must make a way for Magwitch to leave England without being discovered. While Pip hides him with a trusted friend, Pip comes to realize that the convict he had earlier despised has more redemptive qualities than Pip has within himself. As he makes provision for the convict's escape, Pip sees Magwitch change for the better, and in so doing, Pip also changes. Instead of hating the convict, Pip grows to love him. The self centeredness of Pip's indulgences is replaced with care, not only for the convict, but in growing degrees, for others. In the process of trying to escape, the convict is attacked by his long-time archrival and enemy. As a result, Magwitch is severely injured, discovered by the authorities, put on trial and convicted, but dies from his injuries before his death sentence can be carried out. Magwitch's estate is turned over to the authorities to make restitution for past wrongs. Pip is left penniless and obligingly accepts that his Great Expectations and source of income have dissipated into nothing. Meanwhile, Estella marries someone else--a man whom Pip despises. A few years earlier, Pip had secretly made arrangements for his friend Herbert to have a small expectation out of his "Great Expectations," amounting to a sizable sum of money. When it becomes known to Pip that he will lose his "Great Expectations" to the authorities, his only thought is for his friend. Pip returns to visit Ms. Havisham and requests, in a show of repentance for the wrongs she had done to him, a sum of money that Pip could again secretly provide to Herbert. Herbert wisely uses this money to successfully buy into a business venture. He later marries and moves overseas in his business pursuits--none of which would have been possible without Pip's anonymous provision to Herbert. Pip credits this as the only redeeming thing he has accomplished, reflecting on all the other things he did or didn't do that could have been used for good. Pip falls ill following the death of his convict friend, Magwitch, and Joe comes to England to care for him until he is well. Joe surreptitiously leaves early one morning when Pip is sufficiently recovered, and when Pip wakes up, he discovers Joe has paid off all his creditors. Pip immediately returns home in penitence to confess to Joe all his past wrongs, realizing that Joe is a better man than he. He recognizes in his now humble state that his "Great Expectations" deceived him into using it as a source of pride against Joe. Upon arriving home, Pip's expectations are not what he envisioned. His sister who raised him by hand has long since died as a result of an attack on her by the evil Orlick. His childhood friend and confidant, Biddy, has just married Joe. In the end, redemption works its way for good. Joe and Biddy are happily married and the sore memories of Pip's sister are forgotten. Pip returns to London and within a month, leaves England and joins Herbert's firm, Clarriker and Company, overseas. Pip lives abroad with Herbert and his wife, and after successfully making partner, eleven years later, returns to his boyhood home in England. He discovers Joe and Biddy now have a son who reminds him of himself. Before bidding Joe and Biddy a final farewell, Pip makes one last trip to the Havisham place, the old woman having died many years earlier. Pip discovers Estella in the garden, a chance meeting since she no longer lives there. The old house and brewery have been torn down and sold off except for the garden enclosed by the ivy covered wall. Years of a stormy, failed marriage have softened Estella's vindictive, prideful nature, and she confesses that "suffering has been stronger than all other teaching and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be." The reader is left to ponder whether Pip and Estella ever marry because Pip says, "I saw no parting from her." In the end, Pip learns much about what matters--wisdom he would not have possessed if he had stayed working at Joe's forge. As a middle aged narrator looking back, there is sadness but sweetness about what he has lost because of what he has gained. Perhaps the reader is the real winner, having seen redemption on so many levels within each character. In the end, if we are honest, we can identify these shortcomings in ourselves. If Pip can work out his "Great Expectations" to bring redemption, perhaps we can, also--that is, again, if we are honest. Our sinful nature will always be there, but if we look for good, God will not disappoint us. Maybe "Great Expectations" will not only find us, but redemption will be there, too, just as it was in Pip.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2010 by Lorilyn Roberts
Format: Paperback
A Christmas Carol has long been my all-time favorite book, but with Great Expectations, I finally and properly met Charles Dickens. And what an introduction it was. We've probably all heard about Pip and his "great expectations," but what this really is is a rags-to-riches-to-somewhere-in-between story. Pip is an orphan, being raised by his horrible older sister and his caring brother-in-law. When he comes into money from a generous, yet unknown, benefactor, his life is changed. In this novel, Dickens masterfully weaves themes of ambition, class, love, and forgiveness through Pip's journey from the marshes to the heart of London society. There is a lot to love about this book. First, I always imagined this would be a "difficult" read - you know the kind: old-timey, Victorian language that describes each wrinkle on a person's face. However, I found Great Expectations surprisingly approachable and readable. Yes, Dickens is vivid in his characterizations and settings, but never to the point of being overwhelming. In fact, the character of Pip is so well done that he even feels older by the end of the book. His growth and complexity throughout this novel are second to none. I've never read a child character, who acts and speaks like a child, grow up before my eyes into a well-formed, thinking adult. Other characters are just as vivid, like Joe, Miss Havisham, Herbert, Magwitch, and all the others. And the locations are spectacularly visualized, from Joe and Mrs. Joe's home, to Joe's shop, to Miss Havisham's decaying rooms, and especially Wemmick's "castle," the clerk's quirky and fortified home. Dickens's balance of humor, tragedy, and heart shows just what kind of author he was. That a story could hold up so well after over 160 years is a true testament to his vision. And the ending was at the same time bittersweet, thoughtful, and open to interpretation. By the end, I was struck by how Dickens manages to portray real humanity - the flaws, regrets, and capacity for change - so vividly. Pip's journey is one I'll be thinking about for a long time. Overall, this book deserves 5 stars and its place in history. There is no other rating I could give this book. It is a true masterpiece. To be so involved in a character's journey was a privilege. I was frustrated, saddened, and delighted at multiple points throughout and that, to me, is what books are supposed to do. I cannot wait to get into more of the works of Charles Dickens.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2025 by Casey L. Pettitt
A past reviewer complained about pages being uneven and some longer than others. This is called DECKLE Edges and it was intentional. It honors a a vintage retro special look. Not all books have this feature but I LOVE them and book was sent in perfect condition.
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2025 by Abi
Format: Hardcover
I bought a few of these beautifully bounded Penguin Classic books. Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Eyre. They are beautiful on my book shelf but I wish that the quality was better. Gosh in this day and age with Kindle and computers I miss the art of book binding and printing. Don't get me wrong I love my computer and I love modern technology but I will never, ever give up having books. I love the smell and feel of paper. I think that the Everymans Library cloth bound hardcover books are better quality but these get points for the printing on the books. By the way Amazon has the best prince on these. I saw them at Anthropologie for almost $10 more.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2009 by Cali in the valley
Format: Paperback
Dickens at his best takes the reader on the adventures of a young English lad from his life with a humble blacksmith to his coming into wealth from a mysterious benefactor.
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2025 by Maggie Blyth Klein
Format: Hardcover
Unbelieve price for what you obtained!. Bought Great Expectations as a gift so was very impressed with all aspects of the quality of this book. Quality paper stock, book marker ribbon and beautiful cover. Additionally is one of Penguin's "Classic Books" collection so if you plan of building a library the books will match. No negatives.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2025 by Kermit Cain