Great Expectations VIDEO STYLE *shocked gasp*

So I just made my first Youtube video! Admittedly my inspiration was somewhat lacking and didn't really come up with anything original

BUT STILL

it's on the web and I have to say I'm pretty proud of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOMcIL2T_jQ
if you're interested



So here is the plot as promised.

'Great Expectations' is written in the form of retrospective narration, which is just a fancy way of saying it's being looked back on rather than happening as we read it. As the narrator is Pip, and we aren't told exactly when the book is being written in relation to the rest of the novel, you have to question whether Pip is a reliable narrator, and whether we are being told facts or just interpretations/opinions.

The novel starts with Pip as a young boy, living with his sister Mrs Joe and her husband Joe, a blacksmith. We don't know what has killed their parents, but it is clear that Mrs Joe isn't happy about having to raise her brother from birth. Mrs Joe is very violent, often beating Pip and Joe, bragging about how she brought him up by hand. Joe is the absolute opposite to this. He is more like a brother to Pip, even though he should be a father if Mrs Joe has brought him up. This is because Joe is dominated by his wife and so is reduced to a child.

One day, Pip is visiting his parents' graves, a convict jumps up and threatens him if he won't get him a file. Pip is terrified, but he later returns with a file and some food for the convict. The convict is later caught, but he saves Pip taking the blame. This is a key event in the novel.

After a few years, Pip is taken by Uncle Pumblechook (who is Joe's uncle) to Satis House, the home of the mysterious Miss Havisham, who has requested a child to entertain her adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham is the ghost of a bride, the house is decorated as the ghost of a wedding. Pip plays with Estella who is mean to him, but Pip still falls hopelessly in love with her and is convinced Miss Havisham will make him a gentleman so that he can marry her. However, she decides to make him a blacksmith instead, which Pip is quite upset about.

Pip is made Joe's apprentice and learns to be a blacksmith. He hates his life and low position and is generally just rather depressed. One night after an altercation with Orlick, another labourer, Mrs Joe, is viciously attacked and become a mute invalid. Pip feels guilty for this because she is assaulted with a leg iron , which reminds him of the convict.

A lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and he must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip is convinced all this money is from Miss Havisham and , like a fairy godmother wishes to make him worthy to marry Estella.

Pip moves to London leaving his life behind him and befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jagger's law clerk, Wemmick. He shares with Herbert how ashamed he is for his former friends and loved ones, especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herbert's father. Herbert also helps Pip learn how to act like a gentleman.

When Pip turn 21 and begins to receive an income from his fortune, he secretly helps Herbert buy his way into the business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts.

One Day Pip decides to travel back to Kent and runs into Orlick who is employed as Miss Havisham's porter, but Pip tells her to fire him. Mrs Joe dies and Pip goes to the funeral, feeling remorse and grief - which seems silly considering how much he hated her while she was alive.

Many years go past and the convict stumbles into Pip's apartment. Magwich (convict) reveal that he is the benefactor. Pip is devastated realising he isn't meant for Estella, who is just as gorgeous as when she was a child.

Magwich was moved by Pip's boyhood kindness - which is rather good considering he is such a snob now - and dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and made a fortune in Australia for that purpose.
Pip is appalled but is morally bound to help Magwich escape London, who is pursued by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in crime, who was the other convict Pip was threatened with because he ate people.

Dickens creates a mystery when Pip discovers that Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the alter and that Estella is Magwich's daughter. Miss Havisham, was was rather upset at the fact her boyfriend dumped her at the altar, adn raises Estella to break hearts, as revenge for her own. Pip finds out that he was merely practise and Miss Havisham was just extremely happy to find out Estella's ability to toy with his affections.

Weeks pass, and Pip begins to see the good in Magwich, beginning to care for him deeply. Before Magwich's escape attempt, Estella married Bentley Drummle, an upper-class ... meanie. Pip visits Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness for the way she has treated him and he forgives her. However, later she bends over the fireplace, and her clothes catch on fire and she goes up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her last days she continues to repent her misdeeds and pleas forgiveness.

Magwich is meant to sneak down the river on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off.  Magwich and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned.


Magwich is sentenced to death, and Pip looses his fortunes.Magwich feels that he is being forgiven by God and dies in peace. Pip falls ill and Joe comes to London to care for hm, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and leftmost of her fortune to the Pockets. Pip then returns to Kent to see Joe remarry.

We learn that Pip has joined Herbert abroad to work in the mercantile trade. returning years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis house. Drummle, her husband, treated her badly but is now dead. Pip finds that Estella's coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.