History Literature / GreatExpectations

* AssholeVictim: Pip's sister.

* LoveAtFirstSight: The moment Pip sees Estalla for the first time, he's essentially [[LoveMartyr dooming himself to years of pain]].

It is one of his most famous works (along with ''Literature/AChristmasCarol,'' ''Literature/OliverTwist,'' and ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities''), as the multitude of high school students [[UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia assigned]] this [[DoorStopper 450+ page book]] will attest. Ironically, it is his most unconventional work; Dickens [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] many of his trademark plots and characters in it, including the MysteriousBenefactor and RagsToRiches tale. The main character Pip is also far from the simple minded innocents of ''Literature/DavidCopperfield'' and ''Literature/OliverTwist,'' and arguably has undergone the most CharacterDevelopment as a result.

* BrokenAesop: A point of contention against the RevisedEnding: a major point of Pip's CharacterDevelopment is learning he was never [[EntitledToHaveYou meant for Estella]] and that she is not the person he has [[LovingAShadow idealized her to be.]] This is undermined by having ''fate'' bring her back to him at Satis House, having just conveniently [[TookALevelInKindness Taken a Level in Kindness]] and ready to love him.

* SpeechImpediment: Abraham Lazarus, the little Jewish man who accosts Jaggers, has a prominent lisp, and adds Hs in front of vowels at the beginnings of words. One of the Pockets' children is too young to enunciate properly, despite being mature enough to make sure her idiot mother doesn't negligently let the baby hurt itself, and keep doing so even after she's been rebuked for her impertinence.

* SpeechImpediment: The little Jewish boy who accosts Jaggers has a prominent lisp, and adds Hs in front of vowels at the beginnings of words. One of the Pockets' children is too young to enunciate properly, despite being mature enough to make sure her idiot mother doesn't negligently let the baby hurt itself, and keep doing so even after she's been rebuked for her impertinence.

* PetTheDog: Despite cultivating the image of an AmoralAttorney, Jaggers' revelation of how he deliberately prevented the infant Estella from growing up among the "spawn" that he sees go to the gallows on a daily basis shows that he does have a heart.

* a 1934 sound film

* ManOnFire: Miss Havisham's death.

* OneSteveLimit: There is Georgiana, as in Pip's mother who he calls "Also Georgiana" early on, and a different Georgiana in the Pocket family. Of course, neither of them have much of an important role, so it's easily overlooked.

Pip starts the book as a [[AllLovingHero guileless]] orphan who lives [[AbusiveParents under the thumb]] of his shrewish older sister Mrs. Joe, only marginally mollified by her simple minded but good hearted husband Joe. His most eventful incident in his childhood is helping a convict on the marshes escape. But after being invited to play at the home of Miss Havisham, an eccentric spinster who's never recovered from being jilted at the altar long ago, and meeting her beautiful, but haughty ward [[StellarName Estella]] there, Pip's mindset changes. He begins to resent his simplistic upbringing and the middling blacksmith career and working-class life that seem inevitable for him.

Then, out of nowhere, a lawyer named Mr. Jaggers shows up at Pip's doorstep and tells his stunned family that he has "[[TitleDrop great expectations]]" bestowed upon him by a MysteriousBenefactor. Pip will spend the next couple of years training to become a proper gentleman. His benefactor's identity is a secret, but Pip is convinced that it is Miss Havisham. He meets the upper class members of London society including friendly Herbert and loathsome Drummle, forgets about his old life, and courts Estella with limited success. But it is not until Pip finally discovers who his benefactor is that the plot really begins to thicken and Pip is forced to confront a variety of surprises, disappointments, and unexpected revelations.

Pip starts the book as a [[AllLovingHero guileless]] orphan who lives [[AbusiveParents under the thumb]] of his shrewish older sister Mrs. Joe, only marginally mollified by her simple minded but good hearted husband Joe. His most eventful incident in his childhood is helping a convict on the marshes escape. But after being invited to play at the home of Miss Havisham, an eccentric spinster who's never recovered from being jilted at the altar long ago, and meeting her beautiful, but haughty ward [[StellarName Estella]] there, Pip's mindset changes. He begins to resent his simplistic upbringing, the middling blacksmith career, and life that seem inevitable for him.

* AffectionateNickname: Herbert nicknames Pip "Handel," after [[Music/GeorgeFredericHandel the composer]] of the piece "The Harmonious Blacksmith" (reasoning that Pip was originally a blacksmith, and they get along harmoniously). For that matter, "Pip" is already a nickname for Phillip.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Pip has unrequited feelings on Estella, who was raised by Miss Havisham to be an unfeeling IceQueen who breaks boys' hearts. When so many men fall in love with her, Estella elects to marry the absolute worst of all her suitors, just to spite and hurt the others (including Pip). She suffers in an abusive marriage for years. Pip, after realizing his feelings for his childhood friend Biddy, tries to start a relationship with her, only to learn that she was already in relationship with Joe.
* AlmostDeadGuy: Magwitch. Pip visits him for a last time to tell him about his daughter upon which the old man passes on peacefully. In the 1946 adaptation his head nods melodramatically to one side.
* AloneWithThePsycho: Pip is captured and imprisoned by violently insane Orlick.

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* a 1998 film which [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to contemporary Miami, starring Creator/EthanHawke, Creator/GwynethPaltrow, Creator/ChrisCooper, Creator/HankAzaria, Creator/AnneBancroft, and Creator/RobertDeNiro

''Great Expectations'' has been subject to many a film adaptation. The one most likely to have been viewed in a high school English class is [[Film/GreatExpectations1946 the 1946 film]] directed by Creator/DavidLean. There also have been a 1974 MadeForTVMovie, a 1989 {{miniseries}}, a 1998 film which [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to contemporary Miami, a 1999 miniseries, a 2011 miniseries, and a 2012 film directed by Creator/MikeNewell that features ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' veterans Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/JessieCave, and Creator/RobbieColtrane, as well as Creator/JeremyIrvine, Creator/JasonFlemyng, Creator/HollidayGrainger, Creator/DavidWalliams and Creator/RalphIneson. There has also been a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' parody.

!! Tropes:

''Great Expectations'' has been subject to many a film adaptation. The one most likely to have been viewed in a high school English class is [[Film/GreatExpectations1946 the 1946 film]] directed by Creator/DavidLean. There also have been a 1974 MadeForTVMovie, a 1989 {{miniseries}}, a 1998 film that [[SettingUpdate updates the setting]] to contemporary Miami, a 1999 miniseries, a 2011 miniseries, and a 2012 film directed by Creator/MikeNewell that features ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' veterans Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/JessieCave, and Creator/RobbieColtrane, as well as Creator/JeremyIrvine, Creator/JasonFlemyng, Creator/HollidayGrainger, Creator/DavidWalliams and Creator/RalphIneson. There has also been a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' parody.

''Great Expectations'' has been subject to many a film adaptation. The one most likely to have been viewed in a high school English class is [[Film/GreatExpectations1946 the 1946 film]] directed by Creator/DavidLean. There also has been a 1974 MadeForTVMovie, a 1998 movie that is a modern day adaptation set in Miami, a 1999 miniseries, a 2011 miniseries, and a 2012 movie adaptation that features ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' veterans Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/JessieCave, and Creator/RobbieColtrane, as well as Creator/JeremyIrvine, Creator/JasonFlemyng, Creator/HollidayGrainger, Creator/DavidWalliams and Creator/RalphIneson. There has also been a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' parody.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Wemmick's has turned his house into a miniature castle complete with moat and drawbridge. To modern readers this may seem eccentric, but this was actually quite common for wealthy Victorians. Then again, it may also seem like the act of a rich idiot who wants to impress other rich idiots

* TeasingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier: In the 1998 movie, after spending a night with Pip, Estella tells him in French "Je vais aller en France demain" ("I have to go to France tomorrow"), assuming he wouldn't understand. He doesn't, and is really surprised the next day when he finds out that she left him.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Dickens altered the book after its original serial publication. Readers and fellow writers disagreed with what they saw as a DownerEnding where Pip DidNotGetTheGirl. So Dickens wrote a new ending, which hints MaybeEverAfter. Most reprints and publications use Dickens' changed ending and it often shows up in adaptations. The original ending is published separately.

* RevisedEnding: The book originally had a {{Bittersweet|Ending}} / DidNotGetTheGirl ending in which Pip meets Estella one last time and finds out she has [[HappilyMarried Happily Remarried]], after which they part as friends. Dickens' friend and colleague Creator/EdwardBulwerLytton--that's right, the ItWasADarkAndStormyNight guy--got a sneak preview of the original ending, and recommended Dickens write a different ending which wasn't so downbeat. Dickens then wrote a more hopeful MaybeEverAfter which was published. Dickens himself seemed [[http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/dickens/ending.html content with the result]]. Modern printings of the novel commonly include the original, more downbeat ending as an appendix (see DeletedScene in the [[Trivia/GreatExpectations Trivia]] section).

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Hoo boy. Over 50 named characters, and numerous other ones that aren't. Truth be told, only about 15 of them are actually vital to the plot.

* BastardGirlfriend: Estella is molded into becoming one by Miss Havisham.

* GenreBusting: Anyone who calls this a romance is ''greatly'' oversimplifying matters. It has romance, drama, comedy, suspense, a bit of action, a bit of adventure, it's a rags to riches story and a coming of age story, a possible satire of this and that or even SelfParody, and it has strong elements of mystery and horror. Figure ''that'' out!

''Great Expectations'' has been subject to many a film adaptation. The one most likely to have been viewed in a high school English class is [[Film/GreatExpectations1946 the 1946 film]] directed by Creator/DavidLean. There also has been a 1974 MadeForTVMovie, a 1998 movie that is a modern day adaptation set in Miami, a 1999 miniseries, a 2011 miniseries, and a 2012 movie adaptation that features ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' veterans Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/JessieCave, and Creator/RobbieColtrane, as well as Creator/JeremyIrvine, Creator/JasonFlemyng, Creator/HollidayGrainger, Creator/DavidWalliams and Creator/RalphIneson. There has also been a [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent Completely Different]] ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' parody.

It is one of his most famous works (along with ''Literature/AChristmasCarol,'' ''Literature/OliverTwist,'' and ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities''), as the multitude of high school students [[SchoolStudyMedia assigned]] this [[DoorStopper 450+ page book]] will attest. Ironically, it is his most unconventional work; Dickens [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] many of his trademark plots and characters in it, including the MysteriousBenefactor and RagsToRiches tale. The main character Pip is also far from the simple minded innocents of ''Literature/DavidCopperfield'' and ''Literature/OliverTwist,'' and arguably has undergone the most CharacterDevelopment as a result.