And I come to recount the final part of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in book form and the 1946 film and BBC 3 part series of 2012. Again as with the second part I must begin with something of a correction although this time I was more accurate than previously in stating that Herbert Pocket was overseas when Abel Magwitch descended upon the amazed and disappointed Pip. Technically Herbert was abroad but travelling back from his long absence, arriving some five days after Pip adjusted to reality of his position.
His visitor had been described to all those who attended to his rooms and as his uncle and on advising Jaggers of the development he immediately took his cue from Jaggers not to imply that that the contact was in person as it would have been the duty of the officer of the courts to report the arrival of someone who had been told they would be executed if returning to land of birth and the sentencing.
It was a few days later Abel told Pip how he had encountered Mr Campeyson. Abel admitted that he had lived as a tramp, begging, sometimes thieving and working when he could. Twenty years ago at the Epsom races he had encountered Campeyson a man who had been to a public school and had learning and dressed and lived as a gentleman but who also lived outside the law, forging, swindling and passing on stolen banknotes and such like. Campeyson lived with his wife and friend, also met at Epson who was dying. Abel and Campeyson formed an association but when they were apprehended and charged with a felon it appears that Campeyson made much of his background and lack of previous conviction, placing all responsibility on Abel where the judge and court were against him so he was convicted and sent away for life but the lead criminal escaped with a little sentence. Thus Abel had determined to escape to smash the man in the face and worse and thus he had been captured after being showed kindness by Pip and determined to repay that kindness.
Pip had set about visiting Estella to explain his new situation but also to declare his love but on reaching Richmond found she had returned to Miss Haversham on her own something she had not done before or indicated she would do again soon. He had made his way to the Inn on the excuse of keeping a promise to visit Joe and discovered the presence of Bentley Drummle who was scathing about the location saying he was bored and dismissing Pip’s suggestion that the country was similar to that of Shropshire, the man’s home county.
He then visited Miss Haversham who expressed surprise at his visit and who he reproached for misleading him by giving the impression she was his benefactor. Then as Estella reminded of her warnings in the past about the true nature of her mother by adoption and they way she been brought up she broke his heart by announcing it was her intention to marry Drummle with the blessing of her mother, despite Pip declaring that he had always loved her and always would.
He decided he could not face Drummle and made his way back to London arriving at midnight and arrival he received a note from a watchman at a Temple gateway who he knew well, in the hand of Wemmick the chief clerk of Jaggers, saying do not go home. He therefore went to lodgings in Covent Garden which he knew were open all hours and obtained a bed for the night. He had a troubled night after all the disappointments of the day with the words ring in his ears. At least he had managed to make a request to Miss Haversham, a closing of their account so to speak, to cover his expenditure owed on securing the position for his friend Herbert. She promised to give consideration.
At the first opportunity he made his way to Wemmick’s who was toasting sausages with his hot rolls and tea and said he had left a note with all the watchmen at the gates to the Temple area. Wemmick then provides lots of advice indirectly that is to say not return home, but to a place along the Thames that he could recommend. This was in fact the home of a woman who acted as a mother figure the girl friend of Herbert with whom Pip had established good relations and after helping Herbert gain position so he could marry the girl and set home on their own. The girl had no mother of her own or other kinsfolk. And here too they had secreted Abel under an assumed name. The plan was that he and Herbert who were already good watermen and enjoyed rowing on the Thames would continue to do so but this time with the purpose that when it was possible to join a ship making its way from the Thames to the continent they would take Abel to join it and get him thus safely out of country. It was at this point he returned to his lodging and set about acquiring a boat to put their plan into operation.
Weeks went by and he began to have problems with his finances having returned Abel’s pocket book of cash unopened because of the circumstances and uncertainty for the future. He made do by selling possessions while waiting to hear of ship from Wemmick. He avoided reading the papers for fear of seeing the announcement of the marriage between Estella and Drummle and he reacquainted himself with Mr Wopsle from his home area who he encountered before in London when the man acted in a performance of Hamlet. The contact was timely because Wopsle was able to tell Pip that he was being followed/watched... And then reminded Pip of the Christmas lunch all those years ago when Pip was still a boy and the soldiers had come and they gone out with them and come across the two convicts fighting in the ditch. It was one of them, and from further questions Pip established it was Campeyson.
Pip arrived back home after midnight and held Counsel with Herbert although there was nothing to be done until he reported the development to Wemmick.
There was then an event which commenced to complete the background picture and which was to achieve a most unexpected illumination for he encountered Jaggers who establishing that he had no plans for his evening meal invited him to his home where also Mr Wemmick would be participating. The meal provide opportunity for his closer study of the woman acting as the maidservant and he suddenly realised why he been so fascinated before because of the eyes and a look which he had come to know so well. Afterwards he questioned Wemmick about the circumstances of the woman that he had saved from the gallows and who he had previously described as a tamed wild beast. The charge had been that of murdering an older, larger and more powerful woman and Wemmick tells the story in such a way as to suggest the woman was guilty but by dressing her differently and in such a way as to disguise her strength she had been acquitted. There was also a child which had disappeared as was believed to have been murdered. There was also reference to both women having been associated with the same tramping men. The child was female.
Pip had also been given a note from Miss Haversham to visit, This was also to have various important consequences. He made his way but this time did not stay at the main Inn but selected another because of the association with Drummle and the information that he was being watched by the enemy of his benefactor. Miss Haversham was willing to make available to him a sum of £900 payable by Mr Jaggers to settle his debt in arranging employment for Herbert Pocket and this in effect settled his account with Miss Haversham, claiming nothing for himself.
Then there i an exchange in which Pip comes to ask whether Estella has married and in which Miss Haversham admits with great feeling the realization that of the impact of her approach to the raising of Estella had on the young woman and on their relationship. her approach has had the opposite effect to what had been. She had originally meant to save her from a similar misery to her own.
The opportunity was taken to question Miss Haversham about the parentage of the child but she said that after years of shutting herself away alone she had intimated her desire and Jaggers had brought her the child possible two or three years of age, who as asleep at the time and was said to be an orphan. Pip then left an fortunately before departing from the property he looked back and say the room in which he had been with Miss Haversham was on fire and he returned to rescue her, badly burning his hands but saving the life although the woman was very ill as a consequence.
It was while he also recovered from the experience under the care of Herbert Pocket and the friend had also obtained information from Abel which was to change his understanding of the situation for Magwitch had told Herbert a version of the same tale that Wemmick had stated thus revealing that Magwitch was the father of Estella although that she was alive and married and Pip not only had known her but loved her he remained unaware of this.
Recovered sufficiently he had visited Jaggers to present the authority for the payment of funds to settle the position of Herbert and had also given an account of the accident. Mr Jaggers appeared concerned that Pip had not gained financially from the visit. Pip took the opportunity to press Jaggers about the parentage of Estella pretending that the information gained from Wemmick had come from Miss Haversham as well as relayed by Herbert from Magwitch. Jaggers in his fashion as an experienced man of law speculated the reason why it had been best and remained best for none of the parties know the placement and what had subsequently happened. Pip was persuaded that there was no good to be gained from changing decisions made in the past now.
It then time to pursue the plan to leave England for the continent without worrying about the port of destination of the first ship available to them and which they could join from along the river rather than the official point of embarkation. It was shortly after the arrangements were made that he received a letter requesting him to return to his the area of his childhood for information concerning his uncle under the name that Magwitch had been using.
This led him to meet old Orlick again who disclosed his knowledge of the plan and the events leading to the proposed flight and his resentment of Pip since the boy’s childhood, including getting the man the sack from his position with Miss Haversham. Orlick planned to end the life of Pip revealing that he had been responsible for the injuries to the sister. It was therefore fortunate that with the help of a local contact of Pip, Herbert and another friend from his arrival in London had decided that Pip should not venture alone and had kept their distance. Pip had lost consciousness while Orlick struggles with some men who only when he recovered did Pip appreciate they were his friends. Orlick had gone off and although Herbert had wanted the magistrate Pip made the priority Magwitch who he realised was under even great threat than had was previously appreciated.
The novel is more successful that in either films in conveying the tension experienced by Pip as they got Abel to their rowing boat and proceeded down the Thames to the point when they would meet the vessel that had agreed to pick them up, In the 1946 film there is reference to reaching a point when the authority of the London warrant/ court decision had no effect while the BBC this year added the plan that Magwitch would be dressed as pilot and board the vessel at the point where such a move was usually made.
The climax comes when as their ship is sighted and they make way another craft approaches and demands the giving up of Abel; The man making the demand is none other than Campeyson his long standing enemy. Then two adversaries get into a fight in which Campeyson dies and Magwitch is captured. Pip and his associates return to the land. It has also been revealed that Campeyson was he man who cheated and ruined the life of Miss Haversham, and consequentially that of Esteela.
This is an important moment for Pip because on one hand he assesses the care and concern which Abel Magwitch had shown to him over many years because of a brief encounter and some kindness and on the other he evaluates his own behaviour over recent years towards Joe.
There followed the process by which evidence against Magwitch was presented and he committed to the assizes and consideration given by his friend to the future of Pip including offer of employment and a home with Herbert. Pip says he needs two to three months to decide on his future. He finds himself unexpectedly acting as best man Mr Wemmick when he says he is taking his first holiday for 12 years and insists they take a walk in London that morning.
As in the 1946 film Abel is condemned to death with thirty one others, the trial not having been postponed for a session despite the knowledge that because of injuries Abel was unlikely to live until then and was being kept in the prison infirmary. Pip was able to visit him daily and attempt to bring comfort. It is as the life draws to its end that Pip decides to reveal to his benefactor that his child had lived and become a beautiful young woman, who Pip loved and always would, omitting the unhappy aspects of the position.
Following the death Pip struggles to settle his affairs and then became ill with fever at the point it was about to be arrested for debt. He breaks from the fever to find that he is being cared by Joe and this fills him again with guilt at his treatment of the man over recent years. As his health improves he learns that Joe is to marry Biddy who has become the village school mistress and taught Joe to read and write and that it was she that had insisted Joe took care of Pip as soon as they heard he was so ill and among strangers. He was able to give an account that Miss Haversham had been given varying sums of money to individuals of their acquaintance and that Orlick was in the County Jail after breaking in to the premises of Pip’s real uncle. Pip in turns tells Joe about his benefactor not being Miss Haversham, as he grows in strength and is able to go out of the home. Pip then discovers that it is Joe who settled the debt for which he had been arrested.
Discovering this after Joe had departed he decided to return to the forge first staying at the Blue Boar only to find that being an individual without expectation he was assigned to inferior accommodation. He then discovered that the former home of Miss Haversham and Estella was up for auction for its building materials and demolition. Returning to the coffee shop of the Inn he encounters his uncle who is disturbed at his appearance and circumstances.
Pip then encounters Joe and Biddy as they are married. There is a postscript more than epilogue that Joe accepted the offer of employment with Herbert and accordingly settled all his debt being given due time to discharge them, He resided with Herbert and his wife and several years went by before he also became a partner in the firm as he had purchased for Herbert in secret.
Eleven years were to pass before he visited Joe and Biddy and found they had a boy who they had named Pip. He had then visited with the home of Miss Haversham and Estella had been because this had long since been knocked down and cleared with only the outer walls and fencing remaining. It is here he is said to encounter Estella who like him claims this is the first she has returned since the decades have passed. They agree to be friends but at a distance. It is left to the reader to decide if the chance meeting is real or one of the imagination.
The ending is different from that in the films where they meet and embrace. Estella husband has died in a riding accident in the BBC rendering and she praises the horse for giving her the freedom. It is understandable that in both productions as one of two hours and the other of three, incidents are telescoped such as the number of visits made to see Miss Haversham after Pip becomes an adult and some characters and events are not included. There have been occasion when I have considered that a film is true to a fictional work and even enhanced the original text. In this instance both films do more that provide the essence of the story and portrayal of the period, and some parts are a vivid re-enactment, but in this instance there is much reward in reading the book as it was written one hundred and fifty years ago. That I suggest is a unique achievement for a writer and not an isolated example in relation to his body of work.
His visitor had been described to all those who attended to his rooms and as his uncle and on advising Jaggers of the development he immediately took his cue from Jaggers not to imply that that the contact was in person as it would have been the duty of the officer of the courts to report the arrival of someone who had been told they would be executed if returning to land of birth and the sentencing.
It was a few days later Abel told Pip how he had encountered Mr Campeyson. Abel admitted that he had lived as a tramp, begging, sometimes thieving and working when he could. Twenty years ago at the Epsom races he had encountered Campeyson a man who had been to a public school and had learning and dressed and lived as a gentleman but who also lived outside the law, forging, swindling and passing on stolen banknotes and such like. Campeyson lived with his wife and friend, also met at Epson who was dying. Abel and Campeyson formed an association but when they were apprehended and charged with a felon it appears that Campeyson made much of his background and lack of previous conviction, placing all responsibility on Abel where the judge and court were against him so he was convicted and sent away for life but the lead criminal escaped with a little sentence. Thus Abel had determined to escape to smash the man in the face and worse and thus he had been captured after being showed kindness by Pip and determined to repay that kindness.
Pip had set about visiting Estella to explain his new situation but also to declare his love but on reaching Richmond found she had returned to Miss Haversham on her own something she had not done before or indicated she would do again soon. He had made his way to the Inn on the excuse of keeping a promise to visit Joe and discovered the presence of Bentley Drummle who was scathing about the location saying he was bored and dismissing Pip’s suggestion that the country was similar to that of Shropshire, the man’s home county.
He then visited Miss Haversham who expressed surprise at his visit and who he reproached for misleading him by giving the impression she was his benefactor. Then as Estella reminded of her warnings in the past about the true nature of her mother by adoption and they way she been brought up she broke his heart by announcing it was her intention to marry Drummle with the blessing of her mother, despite Pip declaring that he had always loved her and always would.
He decided he could not face Drummle and made his way back to London arriving at midnight and arrival he received a note from a watchman at a Temple gateway who he knew well, in the hand of Wemmick the chief clerk of Jaggers, saying do not go home. He therefore went to lodgings in Covent Garden which he knew were open all hours and obtained a bed for the night. He had a troubled night after all the disappointments of the day with the words ring in his ears. At least he had managed to make a request to Miss Haversham, a closing of their account so to speak, to cover his expenditure owed on securing the position for his friend Herbert. She promised to give consideration.
At the first opportunity he made his way to Wemmick’s who was toasting sausages with his hot rolls and tea and said he had left a note with all the watchmen at the gates to the Temple area. Wemmick then provides lots of advice indirectly that is to say not return home, but to a place along the Thames that he could recommend. This was in fact the home of a woman who acted as a mother figure the girl friend of Herbert with whom Pip had established good relations and after helping Herbert gain position so he could marry the girl and set home on their own. The girl had no mother of her own or other kinsfolk. And here too they had secreted Abel under an assumed name. The plan was that he and Herbert who were already good watermen and enjoyed rowing on the Thames would continue to do so but this time with the purpose that when it was possible to join a ship making its way from the Thames to the continent they would take Abel to join it and get him thus safely out of country. It was at this point he returned to his lodging and set about acquiring a boat to put their plan into operation.
Weeks went by and he began to have problems with his finances having returned Abel’s pocket book of cash unopened because of the circumstances and uncertainty for the future. He made do by selling possessions while waiting to hear of ship from Wemmick. He avoided reading the papers for fear of seeing the announcement of the marriage between Estella and Drummle and he reacquainted himself with Mr Wopsle from his home area who he encountered before in London when the man acted in a performance of Hamlet. The contact was timely because Wopsle was able to tell Pip that he was being followed/watched... And then reminded Pip of the Christmas lunch all those years ago when Pip was still a boy and the soldiers had come and they gone out with them and come across the two convicts fighting in the ditch. It was one of them, and from further questions Pip established it was Campeyson.
Pip arrived back home after midnight and held Counsel with Herbert although there was nothing to be done until he reported the development to Wemmick.
There was then an event which commenced to complete the background picture and which was to achieve a most unexpected illumination for he encountered Jaggers who establishing that he had no plans for his evening meal invited him to his home where also Mr Wemmick would be participating. The meal provide opportunity for his closer study of the woman acting as the maidservant and he suddenly realised why he been so fascinated before because of the eyes and a look which he had come to know so well. Afterwards he questioned Wemmick about the circumstances of the woman that he had saved from the gallows and who he had previously described as a tamed wild beast. The charge had been that of murdering an older, larger and more powerful woman and Wemmick tells the story in such a way as to suggest the woman was guilty but by dressing her differently and in such a way as to disguise her strength she had been acquitted. There was also a child which had disappeared as was believed to have been murdered. There was also reference to both women having been associated with the same tramping men. The child was female.
Pip had also been given a note from Miss Haversham to visit, This was also to have various important consequences. He made his way but this time did not stay at the main Inn but selected another because of the association with Drummle and the information that he was being watched by the enemy of his benefactor. Miss Haversham was willing to make available to him a sum of £900 payable by Mr Jaggers to settle his debt in arranging employment for Herbert Pocket and this in effect settled his account with Miss Haversham, claiming nothing for himself.
Then there i an exchange in which Pip comes to ask whether Estella has married and in which Miss Haversham admits with great feeling the realization that of the impact of her approach to the raising of Estella had on the young woman and on their relationship. her approach has had the opposite effect to what had been. She had originally meant to save her from a similar misery to her own.
The opportunity was taken to question Miss Haversham about the parentage of the child but she said that after years of shutting herself away alone she had intimated her desire and Jaggers had brought her the child possible two or three years of age, who as asleep at the time and was said to be an orphan. Pip then left an fortunately before departing from the property he looked back and say the room in which he had been with Miss Haversham was on fire and he returned to rescue her, badly burning his hands but saving the life although the woman was very ill as a consequence.
It was while he also recovered from the experience under the care of Herbert Pocket and the friend had also obtained information from Abel which was to change his understanding of the situation for Magwitch had told Herbert a version of the same tale that Wemmick had stated thus revealing that Magwitch was the father of Estella although that she was alive and married and Pip not only had known her but loved her he remained unaware of this.
Recovered sufficiently he had visited Jaggers to present the authority for the payment of funds to settle the position of Herbert and had also given an account of the accident. Mr Jaggers appeared concerned that Pip had not gained financially from the visit. Pip took the opportunity to press Jaggers about the parentage of Estella pretending that the information gained from Wemmick had come from Miss Haversham as well as relayed by Herbert from Magwitch. Jaggers in his fashion as an experienced man of law speculated the reason why it had been best and remained best for none of the parties know the placement and what had subsequently happened. Pip was persuaded that there was no good to be gained from changing decisions made in the past now.
It then time to pursue the plan to leave England for the continent without worrying about the port of destination of the first ship available to them and which they could join from along the river rather than the official point of embarkation. It was shortly after the arrangements were made that he received a letter requesting him to return to his the area of his childhood for information concerning his uncle under the name that Magwitch had been using.
This led him to meet old Orlick again who disclosed his knowledge of the plan and the events leading to the proposed flight and his resentment of Pip since the boy’s childhood, including getting the man the sack from his position with Miss Haversham. Orlick planned to end the life of Pip revealing that he had been responsible for the injuries to the sister. It was therefore fortunate that with the help of a local contact of Pip, Herbert and another friend from his arrival in London had decided that Pip should not venture alone and had kept their distance. Pip had lost consciousness while Orlick struggles with some men who only when he recovered did Pip appreciate they were his friends. Orlick had gone off and although Herbert had wanted the magistrate Pip made the priority Magwitch who he realised was under even great threat than had was previously appreciated.
The novel is more successful that in either films in conveying the tension experienced by Pip as they got Abel to their rowing boat and proceeded down the Thames to the point when they would meet the vessel that had agreed to pick them up, In the 1946 film there is reference to reaching a point when the authority of the London warrant/ court decision had no effect while the BBC this year added the plan that Magwitch would be dressed as pilot and board the vessel at the point where such a move was usually made.
The climax comes when as their ship is sighted and they make way another craft approaches and demands the giving up of Abel; The man making the demand is none other than Campeyson his long standing enemy. Then two adversaries get into a fight in which Campeyson dies and Magwitch is captured. Pip and his associates return to the land. It has also been revealed that Campeyson was he man who cheated and ruined the life of Miss Haversham, and consequentially that of Esteela.
This is an important moment for Pip because on one hand he assesses the care and concern which Abel Magwitch had shown to him over many years because of a brief encounter and some kindness and on the other he evaluates his own behaviour over recent years towards Joe.
There followed the process by which evidence against Magwitch was presented and he committed to the assizes and consideration given by his friend to the future of Pip including offer of employment and a home with Herbert. Pip says he needs two to three months to decide on his future. He finds himself unexpectedly acting as best man Mr Wemmick when he says he is taking his first holiday for 12 years and insists they take a walk in London that morning.
As in the 1946 film Abel is condemned to death with thirty one others, the trial not having been postponed for a session despite the knowledge that because of injuries Abel was unlikely to live until then and was being kept in the prison infirmary. Pip was able to visit him daily and attempt to bring comfort. It is as the life draws to its end that Pip decides to reveal to his benefactor that his child had lived and become a beautiful young woman, who Pip loved and always would, omitting the unhappy aspects of the position.
Following the death Pip struggles to settle his affairs and then became ill with fever at the point it was about to be arrested for debt. He breaks from the fever to find that he is being cared by Joe and this fills him again with guilt at his treatment of the man over recent years. As his health improves he learns that Joe is to marry Biddy who has become the village school mistress and taught Joe to read and write and that it was she that had insisted Joe took care of Pip as soon as they heard he was so ill and among strangers. He was able to give an account that Miss Haversham had been given varying sums of money to individuals of their acquaintance and that Orlick was in the County Jail after breaking in to the premises of Pip’s real uncle. Pip in turns tells Joe about his benefactor not being Miss Haversham, as he grows in strength and is able to go out of the home. Pip then discovers that it is Joe who settled the debt for which he had been arrested.
Discovering this after Joe had departed he decided to return to the forge first staying at the Blue Boar only to find that being an individual without expectation he was assigned to inferior accommodation. He then discovered that the former home of Miss Haversham and Estella was up for auction for its building materials and demolition. Returning to the coffee shop of the Inn he encounters his uncle who is disturbed at his appearance and circumstances.
Pip then encounters Joe and Biddy as they are married. There is a postscript more than epilogue that Joe accepted the offer of employment with Herbert and accordingly settled all his debt being given due time to discharge them, He resided with Herbert and his wife and several years went by before he also became a partner in the firm as he had purchased for Herbert in secret.
Eleven years were to pass before he visited Joe and Biddy and found they had a boy who they had named Pip. He had then visited with the home of Miss Haversham and Estella had been because this had long since been knocked down and cleared with only the outer walls and fencing remaining. It is here he is said to encounter Estella who like him claims this is the first she has returned since the decades have passed. They agree to be friends but at a distance. It is left to the reader to decide if the chance meeting is real or one of the imagination.
The ending is different from that in the films where they meet and embrace. Estella husband has died in a riding accident in the BBC rendering and she praises the horse for giving her the freedom. It is understandable that in both productions as one of two hours and the other of three, incidents are telescoped such as the number of visits made to see Miss Haversham after Pip becomes an adult and some characters and events are not included. There have been occasion when I have considered that a film is true to a fictional work and even enhanced the original text. In this instance both films do more that provide the essence of the story and portrayal of the period, and some parts are a vivid re-enactment, but in this instance there is much reward in reading the book as it was written one hundred and fifty years ago. That I suggest is a unique achievement for a writer and not an isolated example in relation to his body of work.
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