Novel · 1861
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Novel · 1861 · English · Victorian
Great Expectations
A blacksmith's boy is given a fortune and loses his manners along with his gratitude.
Read the book
English reading edition
Full Project Gutenberg text, newly typeset—not a publisher scan. Public-domain status varies by country; check local laws. The source license is included.
Edition and sourceHow to read it
Dickens's most self-critical novel: the retrospective narrator's shame at his younger snobbery is the true plot; Magwitch's return converts money into moral debt.
Selected section overview
These are selected acts, parts or episodes, not a complete chapter list. Summaries contain spoilers; descriptive headings are editorial.
Stage the FirstThe marshes
The convict, Miss Havisham's stopped clocks, Estella's contempt — the wound that makes Pip ambitious.
Stage the SecondLondon
Expectations spent on gloves and dinners; Joe's visit as unbearable kindness.
Stage the ThirdThe benefactor revealed
Magwitch, the failed escape, the fire, and a chastened re-reading of the whole life.
