Great Expectations Chapter 20 Summary

Summary

Pip travels by stagecoach into London and, following Mr. Jaggers’s direction, goes to the lawyer’s office in Little Britain. He is struck by the crowded streets, the grime of Smithfield, and the oppressive, dismal atmosphere of Jaggers’s skylit back room, filled with odd objects and two gruesome facial casts. The office is busy with a clerk, a one-eyed man in velveteen, and a procession of supplicants and acquaintances who regard Jaggers with a mix of awe and dependence.

While waiting, Pip explores Smithfield and Newgate’s surroundings and sees the rougher side of the metropolis — executions, gallows, and a public sense of justice that sickens him. Back at Bartholomew Close he observes townspeople and a variety of petitioners — furtive men, grieving women, and an excitable Jew — gather to see Jaggers. Jaggers arrives, brusque and commanding, dismisses or controls each petitioner with imperious threats and questions about payments to Wemmick, and shows his capacity for crushing or protecting clients at will. He inspects a mock witness arranged by Mike (Jaggers’s client-handler) and angrily rejects the unsatisfactory evidence.

After this display Jaggers takes Pip aside, lunches standing while giving him an allowance, cards of tradesmen, and instructions: Pip will go to young Mr. Pocket’s rooms at Barnard’s Inn for the weekend and then visit the Pocket family, with Wemmick to accompany him out. Wemmick proves to be the clerk Pip will be dealing with, and he escorts Pip through the waiting crowd, explaining briefly that Jaggers will not speak to petitioners. The chapter establishes Pip’s first impressions of London society and the legal world that will shape his immediate future.

Key events

1. Pip arrives in London by four-horse stage and finds Mr. Jaggers’s office in Little Britain.
2. Pip waits in Jaggers's gloomy skylit room, noting strange objects and two casts of faces.
3. Pip wanders through Smithfield and Newgate area, seeing executions and feeling sickened.
4. Petitioners gather in Bartholomew Close; Jaggers arrives and brusquely deals with them.
5. Jaggers inspects a planted witness arranged by Mike and rejects him angrily.
6. Jaggers instructs Pip about lodging with young Mr. Pocket and gives him an allowance and tradesmen's cards; Wemmick escorts Pip out.

Analysis

This chapter functions as Pip’s formal introduction to London and to the professional world of law, personified by Mr. Jaggers, establishing a new social environment distinct from the forge and the marshes. The setting emphasizes London’s physical grime and moral sharpness: Smithfield and Newgate provide visceral images of public punishment and commerce in human misfortune, foreshadowing Pip’s uneasy adjustment to city life and the legal-industrial networks that will affect him. Jaggers is portrayed as an intimidating, efficient gatekeeper who controls access and manipulates supplicants through threats and decisive management — his repeated question about payments to Wemmick underlines the transactional nature of his protection. The scene in Jaggers’s room, with its dark horsehair chair, weaponry, and plaster casts, functions symbolically: the casts suggest distorted human faces and identities, hinting at themes of appearance versus reality and the forensic scrutiny that pervades Pip’s future.

Narratively, Dickens broadens perspective from Pip’s small-town origin to the metropolis, using detailed social tableaux (crowds, the Jew’s frantic invocation, the velveteen man) to show networks of dependency and the city’s hierarchy. The chapter also establishes Wemmick as Jaggers’s practical subordinate and Pip’s immediate guide, and introduces the Pockets as his temporary hosts, setting up domestic contrasts to Jaggers’s office. Dickens’s technique—close third-person in Pip’s voice—balances wonder and repulsion, keeping the reader aligned with Pip’s emotional responses while imparting critical information about his new situation.

Important quotes

“The journey from our town to the metropolis was a journey of about five hours.”

NarratorOpens the chapter with Pip’s arrival in London and sets the scene for his first impressions.

“If you say a word to me, I’ll throw up the case.”

Mr. JaggersJaggers’s threat to a petitioner shows his authoritarian control and willingness to crush interference.

Characters in Chapter 20

• Pip
• Mr. Jaggers
• Wemmick
• Herbert Pocket
• Matthew Pocket
• Mike
• the clerk
• Habraham Latharuth
• Amelia
• the one-eyed gentleman