 Hello friends, welcome to arpatakarwa.com India's finest online coaching for English Literature. Friends, today we'll talk about a famous novel by Victorian novelist Charles Dickens titled Great Expectations. Before we discuss the story, let me just introduce the novel to you. The novel was first published as a serial in 1860 and 61. Then in 1601, it was released as a novel. This novel was released after Dickens other novels such as Bleak House, Hard Times, The Tale of Two Cities had already gained popularity. This novel revolves around the life of an orphan boy named Pip and some of the recurring themes in this novel are social class, wealth, poverty, love, rejection and the victory of Kudu Abad. So mostly in his novels you will see that people can relate to him because he talks about the general things that happen in most people's life. You know, poverty, wealth, love, betrayal, victory, these are what the themes are. You have discussed all the lessons and his works. That's the common thing. He is not into nature, nature, he is not into God. He is into people and their problems. And definitely the good and bad, not only the problems. So moving on, this novel by Dickens was read all over the world and received praise as well as criticism. Thomas Carlisle called it that Pip Nonsense whereas it was greatly praised by George Bernard Shaw. Peter Carey's novel Jack Mags is inspired by this novel. Now that's all the brief that I had to give you about this novel. Now let's get into the summary. The story is narrated by Philip Pipp or Pip from the future as he recounts his past. The story starts when Pip is seven years. He lives in Kent with his hot-tempered sister Georgiana Gargory or simply Mrs. Joe and her kind husband Joe Gargory who works as a blacksmith. One day Pip is visiting his family members grave in the churchyard when suddenly a runaway criminal Abel Magwitch comes to him and orders him to bring food and something to open the chain on his ankle. Pip obliges. However, Magwitch and his former partner and now enemy, Compi's son get caught. A few years pass and one day a relative of the Gargory's sends Pip to visit a woman named Miss Havisham at Satis House. She has been a bitter woman since the day she was left alone at the altar by her fiance many years ago. She still wears her old wedding dress. Along with Mrs. Joe, Miss Havisham is another mother figure in the story. She has an adopted daughter named Estella who she is training to be cruel-hearted and torture men with her beauty. Pip immediately falls for Estella but she does not feel the same way. So a lot of characters, a lot of stories, just pay attention to the storyboard as I always tell you. Try to you know soak it in who is who, kiska kya major feature hai and with that you will know. This person is the criminal, this person is the mother figure, she is the sister then you will not have to actually you know memorise the text. Now moving ahead Pip hopes to become a gentleman and winner over Estella. However he starts resenting his brother-in-law due to their low social status. As the story progresses Mrs. Joe has a stroke which leaves her immobile and mute. A young girl named Biddy comes to the house to take care of her. Now several years later a lawyer comes and informs Pip that an unknown person is sponsoring Pip to go to study in London. Now Pip thinks that the sponsor is Mrs. Havisham as she wants Estella to marry Pip. She too does not deny it. So once in London Pip learns how to be a gentleman and becomes a little arrogant. He starts behaving rudely towards Joe who has always been kind to him. It is later that Pip learns that the actual sponsor of his education in London was Abel Magwitch. Pip is horrified to discover that as being sponsored by a former criminal might ruin his social standing and reputation. The rinse as the story progresses Pip grows close to Magwitch and comes to respect him. This is followed by other surprising discoveries. Magwitch turns out to be Estella's father and his enemy Kompishan is Ms. Havisham's ex-fiancé who left her on the wedding day. So you see how the dots are connecting. The person who sponsored his education could be his future father-in-law. Moving further Pip gets to know that Kompishan is helping the police find Magwitch so he decides to save him by helping him escape from London by sea route. However they are caught and Magwitch and Kompishan fight and Magwitch kills him. So this leads to him receiving a death penalty. Meanwhile Pip too is arrested because of his heavy debts. However he falls seriously in and is eventually not jailed. So during this time Joe takes great care of Pip and also pays off his debts. Pip realises how kind and good Joe is. Pip also learns that Ms. Havisham has died and 10 years pass and Pip is living a simple but happy life. He has a respectable job as well and one day he comes back to London hoping to marry Biddy. But learns that she has married Joe after the death of Pip's sister. Biddy and Joe have a son and they also named him Pip. So then he visits the status house there he meets Estella who had married a businessman but is a widow now. The two reconcile and Pip takes her hand not to part from her again and that my friends how the story ends. So this is not Dickens originally planned to end the story. His close friend Wilkie Collins objected to the original ending of Great Expectations. Originally Estella remarries and Pip remains single but on Collins advice Dickens revised to a more conventional ending which suggests that Pip and Estella marry. As I told you he was popular among people and general tendency of you know most people is to see happy endings in movies. So which is why they changed it and his friends Wilkie Collins advised him to do so. Now some facts and quotes friends Bernard Shaw praised the novel describing it as all of one piece and consistency truthful. Now this novel contains some moving quotes which I have compiled for you. They read as suffering has been stronger than all other teaching and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken but I hope into a better shape. The next one goes as in a word I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong. So that's how the chapter ends and we'll meet soon in the next one till the time we meet next happy learning keep loving literature and stay tuned to arpitaakarva.com