Great Expectations

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel; a bildungsroman that depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip. The novel is set in Kent and London in the early to mid-19th century and contains some of Dickens's most memorable scenes including the opening in a graveyard where the young Pip is accosted by the escaped convict Abel Magwitch. Great Expectations is full of extreme imagery—poverty prison ships and chains and fights to the death—and has a colourful cast of characters who have entered popular culture. These include the eccentric Miss Havisham the beautiful but cold Estella and Joe the unsophisticated and kind blacksmith. Great Expectations which is popular both with readers and literary critics has been translated into many languages and adapted numerous times into various media.