Great Expectations Chapter 12: Estella's Varied Moods...

Pip sums up a period of eight or ten months in this chapter, months that begin with Pip's worry over the pale young gentleman, who is nowhere in sight, and what punishment Pip might suffer for beating up this young gentleman. His summary ends with Miss Havisham telling Pip that she thinks his apprenticeship to Joe should begin, and that Joe should make a trip to Manor House to meet Miss Havisham. For some reason, news of this request throws Mrs. Joe into a rampage. Pip now spends every other day at Miss Havisham's, and much of their time together is spent with Pip wheeling the old woman around in a chair with wheels, making endless circuits around the dressing room and the room with the bridal table.

As with his guilt over stealing food for the convict, Pip's guilt about beating up the pale young gentleman torments him--he's again afraid to tell Joe, in fact, it is only Biddy in whom he can confide. Estella is still around, and Pip wonders what odd hope Miss Havisham has in the girl, to whom she often whispers: "Break their hearts, my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!" (109). Estella doesn't, however, ask Pip to kiss her again.

Topic Tracking: Love 3