Literature: Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Great Expectations is Charles Dickens's 1861 novel, a GCSE English Literature 19th-century novel set text (AQA Paper 1 Section B, or the equivalent Edexcel component) about the orphan Pip, whose unexpected fortune and ambition to become a gentleman change how he sees his own family and class. Exam questions give a printed extract and ask how Dickens presents a character or theme in that extract and across the whole novel, testing knowledge of the text (AO1), analysis of Dickens's language and structure, including his first-person retrospective narration (AO2), and understanding of Victorian social class context (AO3).
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read the printed extract closely, annotating Dickens's imagery, dialogue and narrative voice before planning your answer.
- Identify two or three techniques with a clear, explainable effect, such as first-person retrospective narration, symbolism or dramatic irony, rather than simply listing quotations.
- Move outward from the extract to the whole novel, choosing moments that develop or contrast with what the extract shows, tracking how Pip's understanding changes over time.
- Link analysis to Victorian context, such as social class, the justice system and ideas about the 'gentleman', where it genuinely deepens the point.
- Use precise subject terminology, such as bildungsroman, dramatic irony, symbolism and foil, accurately rather than for decoration.
- Plan a clear structure, with an introduction stating your line of argument, points moving through the extract then the novel, and a brief conclusion, before you start writing.
Worked example
Reflecting on his feelings for Estella, the older Pip narrates: 'I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace.' Explain how this line presents Pip.
- Identify the technique: the triple repetition of 'against' builds a list of everything his love defies, giving the sentence a rising, almost helpless momentum.
- Note the retrospective narrative voice: this is the older, wiser Pip commenting on his younger self's feelings, so the line carries self-aware regret rather than being written in the heat of the moment.
- Explain the effect: presenting the love as irrational and against his own best interests shows Pip as someone whose ambition and infatuation repeatedly overrule his better judgement.
- Link to the wider novel: this pattern begins with his shame at Joe's rough hands after visiting Satis House, and continues through his growing embarrassment about his working-class origins in London.
- Link to context: Dickens uses Pip's misplaced ambition to critique Victorian ideas that gentility and wealth define true worth, ultimately valuing Joe's loyalty over Pip's social climbing.
- Final answer: the line presents Pip as painfully self-aware in hindsight of a love, and an ambition, that he knew even then defied his own reason and peace, and Dickens uses this self-knowledge to guide the reader toward the novel's judgement that true worth lies elsewhere.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Who does Pip help in the marshes at the start of the novel?Show answer
Answer: Magwitch, an escaped convict.
Q2Who does Pip initially believe is his secret benefactor?Show answer
Answer: Miss Havisham.
Q3Identify the technique in the description of Satis House's stopped clocks and decaying wedding cake.Show answer
Answer: Symbolism - representing Miss Havisham's refusal to move on from the moment she was jilted.
Q4Who raises Estella to break men's hearts?Show answer
Answer: Miss Havisham.
Q5True or false: Pip's fortune actually comes from Miss Havisham.Show answer
Answer: False - it comes from Magwitch, whom Pip helped as a boy.
Q6Give one piece of evidence that Pip becomes ashamed of Joe once he has money.Show answer
Answer: He feels embarrassed by Joe's rough manners and speech when Joe visits him in London, and dreads being seen with him.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
State four things that happen to change Pip's fortunes and expectations across the novel.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Explain how Dickens presents Pip in the line from the worked example above: 'I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace.'
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 6 available
'Magwitch is a more sympathetic character than Miss Havisham.' To what extent do you agree?
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Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
See real English past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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