Published 1860–1861

Scene:London, Neighboring Towns and the Country
Time:1830 to 1860

CHARACTERS

Philip PirripAn orphan boy
Known as "Pip"
Joe GargeryA blacksmith
"Mrs. Joe"His wife
Pip's sister
Uncle PumblechookJoe's pompous uncle
WopsleClerk of the village church
Later, an actor
OrlickA workman of Joe's
BiddyA girl friend of Pip's and Mrs. Joe's nurse
Later, Joe's wife
Abel MagwitchA convict
Miss HavishamAn eccentric woman once disappointed in love
EstellaHer ward
In reality, Magwitch's daughter
CompeysonMiss Havisham's former suitor and deceiver
A convict
Mr. JaggersLawyer for Miss Havisham and for Magwitch
WemmickHis clerk
Mr. PocketPip's tutor
Mrs. PocketHis wife
Herbert PocketHis son. Pip's comrade in London


GREAT EXPECTATIONS

I
PIP AND THE CONVICT

In England, in a lonely village not far from London, there once lived a little orphan boy named Philip Pirrip, whom everybody called, for short, "Pip." His parents had died when he was a baby, and he had been brought up by his older sister, the wife of Joe Gargery, a blacksmith whose forge looked out across wide marshes and a river that flowed through them.