Great Expectations: Book 1, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

At Uncle Pumblechook's house in town, Pip notes that all the town's merchants and craftsmen seem to spend more time watching one another from their shop windows and doors than they do working in their shops. Uncle Pumblechook gives Pip a meager breakfast (though he himself eats lavishly) and aggressively quizzes Pip on arithmetic instead of engaging in conversation. He walks Pip to the gate of Miss Havisham's house, a large brick house with some of its windows boarded up. In front of the house is a courtyard and, to the side, a brewery. When Uncle Pumblechook rings the bell, a young lady comes out and turns him away (although Uncle Pumblechook hints he'd like to enter), leading Pip in alone. She explains that the brewery is out of use and that the name of the house is Satis, which means "Enough," and which must have meant the house would satisfy all its owners desires—an idea she finds ridiculous. She leads Pip into the dark house and leaves him upstairs in front of a closed door.

Pip knocks and enters a room lit only by candlelight. Miss Havisham, an old woman in a yellowed wedding gown, sits at a dressing table amidst half-packed trunks. She reminds Pip of a waxwork or a skeleton. She beckons to Pip and asks him whether he is afraid of "a woman who has never seen the sun since you were born?" Pip, trying to be polite, tells her he isn't. She then tells Pip that her heart is broken, that she wants diversion, and commands Pip to play. Pip, apologizing, tells her hesitantly he can't play in an environment so "new," "strange," "fine" and "melancholy." Miss Havisham has Pip call for "Estella" and the young girl who led Pip in appears. In response to Miss Havisham's suggestion that they play cards, Estella complains that Pip is a "common labouring-boy" and continues to insult his appearance and manner throughout the game. Miss Havisham asks Pip what he thinks of Estella and he tells her he finds her "proud," "pretty," and "insulting." Miss Havisham broods and watches.

After they finish playing cards, Miss Havisham tells Pip to return in six days and sends the children away for a snack. Pip feels dazed and humiliated by what just transpired. Back downstairs, Estella lays Pip's food in front of him on the ground and looks delighted by Pip's distress. As soon as she leaves, Pip sobs bitterly, which, as narrator, he attributes to a sensitivity of character caused by Mrs. Joe's harshness. He explains the crucial importance of justice to children and the constant injustice of his own childhood (owing to Mrs. Joe). After crying, Pip wanders around the ruined brewery-yard and sees a terrifying vision of Miss Havisham hanging by her neck from a beam. When Estella approaches to let Pip out, she smugly informs Pip that she saw him crying. Pip walks back to the forge, turning Estella's insults over and over in his head.