The book includes three "stages" of Pip's expectations.
First stage
Philip "Pip" Pirrip is a seven-year-old orphan who lives … See more

As Dickens began writing Great Expectations, he undertook a series of hugely popular and remunerative reading tours. His domestic … See more

Robert L. Patten estimates that All the Year Round sold 100,000 copies of Great Expectations each week, and Mudie, the largest circulating library, which purchased about 1,400 copies, … See more

The narrative structure of Great Expectations is influenced by the fact that it was first published as weekly episodes in a periodical. This … See more

Pip and his family
• Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, an orphan and the protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations. In his childhood, Pip dreamed of … See more

In periodicals
Dickens and Wills co-owned All the Year Round, one 75%, the other 25%. Since Dickens was his own publisher, he did not require a contract … See more

Great Expectations's single most obvious literary predecessor is Dickens's earlier first-person narrator-protagonist David Copperfield. The two novels trace the psychological and … See more