Great Expectations

Pip

The narrator, a young orphan raised by his sister and Joe. He loves Estella, secretly helps Herbert establish himself in business, and later works abroad with him.

Philip Pirrip

Pip’s deceased father, identified by his tombstone.

Georgiana

Pip’s deceased mother, wife of Philip Pirrip.

Alexander

One of Pip’s five deceased infant brothers.

Bartholomew

One of Pip’s five deceased infant brothers.

Abraham

One of Pip’s five deceased infant brothers.

Tobias

One of Pip’s five deceased infant brothers.

Roger

One of Pip’s five deceased infant brothers.

Convict

Also known as my convict · the man with the iron on his leg · Pip’s convict · Abel Magwitch · Magwitch · Provis · Mr. Provis · uncle · Mr. Campbell · Tom, Jack, or Richard

Abel Magwitch, an escaped prisoner transported to New South Wales, where he made a fortune and secretly funded Pip. Estella’s father, he died in prison after being sentenced to death, reconciled with Pip after learning Estella lived and that Pip loved her.

The other convict

Also known as young man · the young man

A second escaped prisoner who accused Magwitch of trying to murder him and later became Compeyson’s criminal partner. He was apprehended alongside Magwitch and drowned after they went overboard struggling together.

Joe Gargery

Also known as Joe

Pip’s kind brother-in-law, a blacksmith who takes Pip as his apprentice. He nurses Pip through a severe illness, pays the debt that had led to Pip’s arrest, and marries Biddy.

Mrs. Joe Gargery

Also known as Mrs. Joe

Pip’s older sister and guardian, whose sight, hearing, memory, speech, and movement were impaired after an attack. She dies after a long decline.

Tickler

Mrs. Joe’s wax-ended cane, used to punish Pip.

Mr. Wopsle

The church clerk who leaves the Church to pursue acting; he performs Hamlet in London and later recognizes Compeyson in the audience behind Pip.

Mr. Hubble

An older wheelwright and Christmas guest at the Gargerys’.

Mrs. Hubble

Mr. Hubble’s much younger wife and a Christmas guest at the Gargerys’.

Uncle Pumblechook

Also known as Mr. Pumblechook

Joe’s prosperous corn-chandler uncle, close to Mrs. Joe; he arranges Pip’s visits to Miss Havisham and later falsely claims credit for Pip’s fortune.

Dunstable

The butcher, mentioned by Pumblechook.

The sergeant

The sergeant who leads the search for the escaped convicts and oversees their capture.

The black ox

An ox Pip encounters on the marshes.

The large dog

Also known as the dog

A dog at the Gargerys’ whose eating reminds Pip of the hungry convict.

Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt

An elderly woman who runs a village school and shop; Biddy helps her.

Biddy

An orphan and Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt’s granddaughter, who teaches Pip and cares for Mrs. Joe. She becomes Joe’s wife and schoolmistress, and urges Joe to visit Pip during his illness.

Joe’s father

Also known as Joe’s abusive father

Joe’s deceased, abusive father, who beat Joe and his mother.

Joe’s mother

Joe’s deceased mother, who tried to escape her abusive husband.

Miss Havisham

A wealthy recluse in a faded bridal dress who raises Estella to break hearts and urges Pip to love her. She fostered Estella’s coldness and sought revenge on men for her own jilting; in remorse, she asks Pip to forgive her and dies after a fire at Satis House.

Estella

Also known as Miss Estella · Mrs. Bentley Drummle · the little girl

Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter, raised without tenderness. Pip loves her, but she says she cannot return his love; she marries Bentley Drummle, who treats her cruelly, and later meets Pip again as a changed woman. She is the daughter of Magwitch and the housekeeper, though she was raised believing herself an orphan.

The shopman

An employee in Pumblechook’s corn-chandler’s shop.

The strange man

Also known as the secret-looking man

A stranger who recognizes Joe, questions Pip about the convict, and secretly stirs his drink with Joe’s file; Pip suspects he may have attacked Mrs. Joe.

Camilla

Miss Havisham’s relative, married to Raymond and sister to Matthew Pocket.

Raymond

Also known as Cousin Raymond · Mr. Camilla

Camilla’s husband and a relative of Miss Havisham.

Sarah Pocket

Also known as Miss Sarah Pocket

A shrewd older relative of Miss Havisham who flatters her.

The grave lady

An unnamed relative of Miss Havisham who challenges Camilla’s claims of devotion.

Georgiana, Miss Havisham’s relative

An unmarried cousin of Miss Havisham.

Matthew

A relative of Miss Havisham, expected by her to attend after her death.

Tom’s wife

A woman mentioned by Camilla as deceased; she was mother of Tom’s children.

Tom’s children

Also known as the bereaved little things

The children of Tom and his deceased wife, mentioned by Camilla.

The pale young gentleman

Also known as Herbert Pocket · Mr. Herbert Pocket · Mr. Pocket, Junior · Handel · the prowling boy

Herbert, son of Mr. Matthew Pocket and Pip’s close friend. He once fought Pip and later says Miss Havisham considered him as a possible match for Estella; Pip secretly funds his start in business, and Herbert later offers Pip work in his Cairo branch.

The sluice-keeper

Also known as the sluice-keeper at whose house Orlick lodges

An unnamed keeper of a marsh sluice who lodges Orlick.

Dolge Orlick

Also known as Orlick · Old Orlick · Dolge

Joe’s surly journeyman blacksmith, who resents Pip and Mrs. Joe; later he becomes porter at Miss Havisham’s. He admits to attacking Mrs. Joe and abducts Pip intending to kill him, but escapes when Herbert, Startop, and Trabb’s boy intervene; he is later jailed for breaking into Pumblechook’s house.

The mild and benevolent tract-giver

An unnamed person who gives Pip a tract at the Town Hall.

The powdered-headed Justice

An unnamed magistrate present when Pip’s apprenticeship indentures are signed.

The other Justices

Also known as the Justices

Unnamed magistrates present when Pip is bound as Joe’s apprentice.

Collins

The author or subject of an ode recited by Mr. Wopsle; no further identity is given.

George Barnwell

Also known as Barnwell

The central character in the tragedy read by Mr. Wopsle; Pip plays him in the reading.

Millwood

A character in George Barnwell, played in Mr. Wopsle’s dramatic reading.

Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt’s daughter

Also known as Mr. Wopsle’s master’s daughter

An unnamed daughter who plays Millwood in Mr. Wopsle’s reading.

The piano-forte tuner

An unnamed tradesman whom Camilla says heard her sobbing.

The pale young gentleman’s relatives

Also known as his injudicious relatives

Unnamed relatives Pip imagines might seek revenge for his fight with Herbert.

The surgeon

An unnamed medical practitioner called to the Gargerys’ after Mrs. Joe is attacked; later attends Miss Havisham after she is burned.

The farm-labourer

An unnamed worker who saw Mrs. Joe on the evening she was attacked.

Mr. Jaggers

Also known as the strange gentleman

A London lawyer and confidential agent of Pip’s benefactor, also Miss Havisham’s solicitor. He defended Estella’s mother against a murder charge, secured her acquittal, took her into his service, and arranged for Estella to be adopted by Miss Havisham.

Mr. Matthew Pocket

Also known as Mr. Pocket

Miss Havisham’s cousin, Herbert’s father, and Pip’s tutor; he is educated but financially strained. Miss Havisham leaves him four thousand pounds in a handwritten note.

Mr. Matthew Pocket’s son

Also known as young Mr. Pocket

An unnamed son of Mr. Matthew Pocket whom Pip was to meet in London.

Mr. Trabb

A prosperous local tailor who makes Pip a fashionable suit and arranges Mrs. Joe’s funeral.

Trabb’s boy

Also known as Mr. Trabb’s boy

An audacious boy employed by the tailor who mocks Pip in the street. Now grown, he guides Herbert and Startop to Pip and helps rescue him from Orlick.

Brag

Joe’s dog, mentioned by Jaggers.

The young carter

An unnamed young carter whom Joe orders out of Pip’s way as they part.

The hackney-coachman

An unnamed London coachman who takes Pip to Jaggers’s office.

The clerk

Also known as Mr. Jaggers’s clerk

An unnamed clerk in Jaggers’s office who receives Pip and identifies Wemmick.

Mike

Jaggers’s one-eyed client in a velveteen suit, who brings a witness. Later he comes to the office distressed because his eldest daughter has been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting.

The two secret men

Two unnamed men waiting to discuss a case with Jaggers.

Amelia

Also known as ’Melia

A woman who seeks Jaggers’s help for her Bill.

The other woman with Amelia

An unnamed woman accompanying Amelia to Jaggers.

Abraham Lazarus

Also known as Habraham Latharuth

An excitable man who asks Jaggers to act for his cousin in a plate-suspicion case.

Abraham Lazarus’s cousin

Also known as my own cousin

An unnamed person represented by Abraham Lazarus in a case involving suspected plate.

The pastry-cook witness

Also known as the guileless confectioner

An unnamed, inebriated man brought by Mike as a witness; Jaggers rejects him.

The tall man in white linen

An unnamed, murderous-looking man seen with Mike’s proposed witness.

John Wemmick

Also known as Wemmick

Jaggers’s clerk, who keeps Pip’s money and befriends him. At home he maintains a fortified cottage and lovingly cares for his deaf father; he warns Pip about surveillance and helps hide Magwitch. He later marries Miss Skiffins.

The one-eyed man

Also known as the man in velveteen · the man with the fur cap

An unnamed man in Jaggers’s office, later identified as Mike.

Mrs. Pocket

Also known as Belinda

Mr. Matthew Pocket’s daughter and wife, raised to expect a titled marriage; she neglects household and childcare duties.

Alick

Also known as Master Alick

One of the Pocket children, said by Herbert to have made childhood marriage plans.

Jane

Also known as Miss Jane · little Jane

A Pocket daughter who attends to the younger children and is said to be eager to marry.

Flopson

One of the Pocket family’s nursemaids.

Millers

One of the Pocket family’s nursemaids.

The baby

The youngest Pocket child, often left in the care of nursemaids and Jane.

The other Pocket children

Also known as the little Pockets

The unnamed Pocket children apart from Alick, Jane, and the baby.

The seventh Pocket child

An unnamed Pocket child present in the garden and at a family gathering.

Bentley Drummle

Also known as Drummle

A wealthy, idle, proud young man lodging with Mr. Pocket; he is heir next but one to a baronetcy. He marries Estella and treats her cruelly; his death follows an accident involving a horse he ill-treated.

Startop

A young man lodging with Mr. Pocket, devoted to his mother and friendly with Pip and Herbert. He helps rescue Pip from Orlick and takes part in the attempt to get Magwitch out of England.

Mrs. Coiler

A widowed neighbor who flatters the Pocket family.

The Pocket family cook

Also known as the cook

An unnamed cook found insensible from drink after hiding butter to sell.

The housemaid

An unnamed Pocket servant who reports the cook’s drunkenness to Mr. Pocket.

The dissipated page

Also known as the page

An unnamed Pocket household page who has lost buttons at the gaming table.

The prize-wherry winner

An unnamed rower who gives Pip rowing lessons.

The neighbouring lady

An unnamed neighbor who reports seeing Millers slap the baby.

Mrs. Pocket’s father

Also known as the quite accidental deceased Knight · the judicious parent

Mrs. Pocket’s deceased father, a knight who raised her to expect a titled marriage.

Mr. Havisham

Miss Havisham’s wealthy father, a country gentleman and brewer who privately married his cook.

Miss Havisham’s half-brother

Also known as the son · Young Havisham · Arthur

Mr. Havisham’s son with his second wife, disinherited and later in possession of money. He was Arthur, Compeyson’s criminal associate in swindling a rich lady, and died in a distressed state.

Mr. Havisham’s second wife

Also known as the cook

The woman Mr. Havisham privately married, believed by Herbert to have been his cook.

The man who jilted Miss Havisham

Also known as the showy man

An unnamed suitor who took money from Miss Havisham and abandoned her on their wedding day; he was Compeyson.

Mrs. Pocket’s deceased grandfather

Also known as her grandpapa

Mrs. Pocket’s deceased grandfather, whom her father imagined might have become a baronet.

The Lord Chief Justice

An unnamed judicial official whose trial Pip is invited to watch.

The dirty minister of justice

An unnamed, partly drunk official near Newgate who offers Pip access to a trial.

The first Jaggers clerk upstairs

An unnamed large, pale clerk who gathers evidence for the Bailey.

The second Jaggers clerk upstairs

An unnamed small clerk who works with a smelter.

The weak-eyed smelter

An unnamed man who keeps a smelting pot and offers to melt metal.

The copying clerk

An unnamed clerk who copies the other clerks’ notes.

The murderer’s cast

Also known as Old Artful

An unnamed client of Jaggers, executed for murdering his master; his death mask is kept in Jaggers’s office.

The forger’s cast

Also known as Bounceable

An unnamed client of Jaggers, executed for forging wills; his death mask is kept in the office.

The lady in Wemmick’s brooch

An unnamed woman associated with the murderer commemorated in Wemmick’s brooch.

The presiding old gentleman

An unnamed magistrate presiding over a police court where Jaggers cross-examines a woman.

The housekeeper

Also known as Molly · Estella’s mother · the accused young woman

Jaggers’s pale, nimble housekeeper, whose wrist bears deep scars and whose fingers remind Pip of Estella’s. She is Estella’s mother and Magwitch’s former partner; acquitted of a suspected murder, she gave Estella to Jaggers to be raised by Miss Havisham and has served him ever since.

The Aged

Also known as Wemmick’s aged parent · John Wemmick’s father

Wemmick’s very old, cheerful, intensely deaf father, whom Wemmick cares for at home. He attends Wemmick’s wedding and gives the bride away.

The neat little girl

An unnamed girl who looks after Wemmick’s father during the day.

Pepper

Also known as the Avenger · the avenging boy

Pip’s extravagantly dressed boy servant, whom Pip calls the Avenger.

The angry passenger

Also known as the choleric gentleman

An unnamed coach passenger who protests against sharing a seat with convicts.

The gaoler

Also known as the keeper

An unnamed armed guard accompanying two convicts by stage-coach.

The family removing from London

An unnamed family whose passengers and luggage occupy the coach’s rear.

Tooby

A local poet cited in the newspaper article about Pip’s fortune.

The waiter at the Blue Boar

Also known as the waiter

An unnamed waiter who recognizes Pip and offers to summon Pumblechook.

The maid-servant at Miss Havisham’s

An unnamed servant who waits on Pip, Jaggers, Estella, and Sarah Pocket at dinner.

Clara

Herbert Pocket’s secret fiancée, whom he plans to marry when he has capital. She lives with and cares for her father; she later marries Herbert.

Clara’s father

Also known as Mr. Barley · Old Barley · Old Bill Barley · Gruffandgrim

Clara’s bedridden, gout-ridden father and a former ship’s purser; he rations her food and drink and is cared for by her.

The Richmond lady

A woman of some station who takes Estella into her household and introduces her to society.

The cherry-coloured maids

Two unnamed maids who receive Estella at the Richmond house.

Captain Tom

A prisoner whom Wemmick recognizes in Newgate.

Black Bill

A prisoner whom Wemmick recognizes behind a cistern in Newgate.

The Colonel

A former soldier and skilled coiner imprisoned in Newgate; Wemmick expects him to be executed.

The turnkey

An unnamed Newgate guard who questions Wemmick about Jaggers’s cases.

The sulky man in the gallery

An unnamed audience member who loudly mocks Mr. Wopsle’s Hamlet performance.

Hamlet

The Danish prince in the play performed by Mr. Wopsle.

The King of Denmark

The king in the play, portrayed by Mr. Wopsle’s employer.

The Queen of Denmark

The queen in the play, portrayed as an ostentatiously costumed figure.

The late king of Denmark

Also known as the royal phantom · the Shade

The ghost of the former king in Hamlet, played in the performance.

Ophelia

A character in Hamlet who is portrayed as descending into madness.

Laertes

A character who fights Hamlet in the play.

The gravedigger

A character in the churchyard scene of Hamlet.

The Danish noble boy

An unnamed performer playing a noble boy in Mr. Wopsle’s Hamlet.

The venerable Peer

An unnamed performer playing a peer in Mr. Wopsle’s Hamlet.

The Jewish man

An unnamed theatrical dresser who leads Pip and Herbert backstage and dresses Mr. Wopsle.

The other Hamlet dresser

An unnamed man who helps Mr. Wopsle remove his costume and criticizes his performance.

The man in the gallery with a rasping throat

An audience member whom Mr. Wopsle identifies as the actor playing Claudius; he is employed by that actor.

The postboy funeral warder

Also known as the postboy

An unnamed, intoxicated former Blue Boar postboy who serves as a black-clad warder at Mrs. Joe’s funeral.

The carpenter funeral warder

Also known as the carpenter · his comrade

An unnamed carpenter who serves as a black-clad warder at Mrs. Joe’s funeral; he once ate two geese for a wager.

Mrs. Brandley

Also known as Mrs. Blandley

A widow and former friend of Miss Havisham who houses Estella in Richmond. Her household and social circle provide the setting for Estella’s visits and admirers.

Mrs. Brandley’s daughter

Mrs. Brandley’s unnamed daughter, several years older than Estella and inclined toward theology.

The presiding Finch

An unnamed member of the Finches who chairs the society’s gathering and calls it to order.

The young merchant

Also known as Clarriker

A newly established merchant or shipping-broker who takes Herbert into his business and intends to make him a partner. He later reveals to Herbert that Pip secretly funded his partnership.

Miss Skiffins’s brother

Also known as Skiffins

An unnamed accountant and agent who negotiates the secret business arrangement that gives Herbert a start.

The lurker on the stairs

Also known as the person with Provis

An unidentified person whom the Temple watchman saw enter near the same time as Provis and whom Pip found crouching on the staircase. Their identity and purpose are not established.

The laundress

Also known as the inflammatory old female

An unnamed older woman who looks after Pip’s Temple chambers and is assisted by her niece. Joe dismisses her after finding her stealing bedding and household supplies.

The laundress’s niece

Also known as the animated rag-bag

An unnamed woman who assists the laundress and helps look after Pip’s chambers.

Compeyson

A well-educated, smooth-talking criminal who recruited Magwitch as his partner and exploited him as a scapegoat. He professed to be Miss Havisham’s lover, helped swindle a rich lady with Arthur, and drowned after Magwitch confronted him during the failed escape.

Arthur

A dying former criminal associate of Compeyson who had helped swindle a rich lady. Identified as young Havisham, he hallucinated a woman in white whom he said Compeyson had wronged.

Sally

Also known as Compeyson’s wife

Compeyson’s wife, whom he mistreats; she showed compassion to the dying Arthur and helped care for him.

The woman in white

Also known as Arthur’s ghost

A woman Arthur hallucinated in his final illness, appearing in white with flowers and a shroud. He said Compeyson had broken her heart; the text does not establish whether she was real.

Magwitch’s master

Also known as the master

An unnamed employer in the colonies who died and left Magwitch money, helping him gain his liberty and begin working for himself.

The tinker

An unnamed man who had once travelled with young Magwitch and left him cold after taking their fire.

The deserting soldier

An unnamed soldier hiding under potatoes at a Traveller’s Rest who taught Magwitch to read.

The travelling Giant

An unnamed travelling performer who taught Magwitch to write by signing his name for payment.

The landlord

An unnamed sporting innkeeper who introduced Magwitch to Compeyson at Epsom races.

The rich lady

An unnamed wealthy woman whom Arthur and Compeyson had swindled before Magwitch joined them.

The judge at Magwitch’s trial

Also known as the Judge

An unnamed judge who sentenced Magwitch and Compeyson, recommended mercy for Compeyson, and characterized Magwitch as a violent repeat offender.

Mrs. Whimple

A respectable widow who rents Herbert and Clara rooms and helps support their engagement; she also provides lodging for Magwitch under the name Mr. Campbell.

Mary Anne

Wemmick’s unnamed young servant, who brings breakfast at the Castle.

The murdered woman in the barn

Also known as the victim in the barn

A woman about ten years older, larger, and stronger than Estella’s mother, found strangled in a barn near Hounslow Heath. Her death led to a murder trial in which Jaggers defended Estella’s mother; Magwitch’s account describes the same case.

Estella’s child

Also known as the child

The young daughter of Magwitch and Estella’s mother, whom her mother threatened to destroy and then concealed. Jaggers arranged for the child to be given to Miss Havisham and raised as Estella.

The elderly Satis House servant

An unnamed elderly woman who lives in the supplementary house across Satis House’s back courtyard and opens the gate for Pip.

The landlord of the minor inn

An unnamed elderly innkeeper who cuts Pip’s dinner and repeats the local claim that Pumblechook made Pip’s fortune.

The officer who steers the galley

Also known as the steersman of the galley · the man who held the lines

An unnamed officer who leads the galley crew, identifies Magwitch as an escaped transported convict, and apprehends him during the attempted escape. He gives the same account as Magwitch of Compeyson going overboard with him.

The Jack of the Ship

Also known as the Jack · the grizzled male creature

A grizzled, slimy man who works at the causeway by the isolated public-house. He suspects a galley’s passengers are Custom House officers and agrees to search for Compeyson’s body, partly because it may yield clothing.

The landlord of the Ship

Also known as the landlord

The pale-eyed, weakly meditative keeper of the isolated public-house called the Ship, who relies on his Jack and disputes the Jack’s suspicions about the galley.

The prison governor

Also known as the governor of the prison

An unnamed prison official who lets Pip remain with the dying Magwitch after their allotted visiting time.

The two bailiffs

Also known as the two men

Two unnamed men who arrest Pip for an unpaid jeweller’s account while he is gravely ill, but leave him in bed when he says he cannot travel.

Mrs. Wemmick

Also known as Miss Skiffins

John Wemmick’s discreet bride, formerly called Miss Skiffins. She manages poultry and joins him in keeping their marriage private from Jaggers.

The clergyman at Wemmick’s wedding

Also known as the clergyman

An unnamed clergyman who performs John Wemmick and Miss Skiffins’s wedding ceremony.

The clerk at Wemmick’s wedding

Also known as the clerk

An unnamed clerk who attends the church ceremony at Wemmick and Miss Skiffins’s wedding.

The little pew-opener

An unnamed woman in a soft bonnet who acts as Miss Skiffins’s friend at Wemmick’s wedding.

The Recorder

An unnamed judicial official whose report is awaited after Magwitch receives his death sentence.

The Home Secretary of State

An unnamed government official to whom Pip petitions for mercy for Magwitch.

The two-and-thirty condemned prisoners

Thirty-two unnamed men and women sentenced to death alongside Magwitch at the Sessions.

The sick prisoners

Also known as the other sick prisoners

Unnamed prisoners in the infirmary who report that Magwitch is worsening and show kindness while attending the sick.

The prisoners attending the sick

Also known as the prisoners who attended on them as sick nurses

Unnamed prisoners who serve as nurses in the infirmary and join in reporting Magwitch’s declining condition.

The decent household woman

An unnamed woman Joe hires to do household work after dismissing Pip’s laundress.

Pip, Joe and Biddy’s son

Also known as the little fellow · Pip

Joe and Biddy’s son, named Pip in honor of the narrator. As a child he resembles the narrator and befriends him during his visit home.

Joe and Biddy’s little girl

Also known as Biddy’s little girl · her child

The infant daughter of Joe and Biddy, seen sleeping in Biddy’s lap.