Explanation

Considered by many to be Dickens' finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens' most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook. As Pip unravels the truth behind his own 'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his most important discovery of all - the truth about himself. Wordsworth Collector's Editions are compact cloth-bound hardbacks with matching coloured end papers, embossed gold and coloured blocking to enhance their beautiful, bespoke cover illustrations.

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quotes (9)
Language

English

ISBN

9781840228014

Number of pages

512

Category

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.
My guiding star always is, Get hold of portable property.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth.
It is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.
I'll tell you ... what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter -- as I did!
Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule.
In the little world in which children have their existence whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt, as injustice. It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small, and its rocking-horse stands as many hands high, according to scale, as a big-boned Irish hunter.
Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together.
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.