Great Expectations Chapter 40 Summary

Summary

Pip wakes troubled and realises he must take precautions to protect the visitor he hid the night before; he decides to pass him off as an unexpected uncle to avoid arousing suspicion from the laundress and her niece. While fetching the watchman with a lantern he stumbles over a crouching man on the staircase, and later learns from the watchman that another person accompanied his "uncle" to the gate, which deepens his unease. Back in his rooms he finds the man asleep and, after further reflection and a fitful day of dozing and dread, announces to the household that his uncle has arrived.

At breakfast the man gives his name as Provis but then admits he is Abel Magwitch, and speaks bluntly of his past and of his pride in having made Pip "a gentleman." Magwitch eats and smokes with coarse, animalistic habits that repel Pip, and yet declares he has come back to see Pip spend the money he provided and to stand by him. They discuss precautions: disguises, lodging, and secrecy. Pip secures a lodging nearby and buys clothes and powder to alter Magwitch's appearance, though he feels disguises cannot hide the convict in the man. Pip brings the matter to Mr. Jaggers, who already knows and warns Pip to be careful and to rely only on evidence; Jaggers confirms the chain of communication through Provis/Purvis. Magwitch moves into the lodging, resists some disguises, and exhibits constant signs of his convict life, making Pip alternately ashamed and fearful. The chapter ends when Herbert returns from abroad and, after initial astonishment, accepts Provis on oath using the little black Testament that Provis carries.

Key events

1. Pip finds a crouching man on the staircase and questions the watchman about an accompanying person.
2. Pip announces the visitor as his uncle to avoid suspicion from the household.
3. The visitor reveals himself as Abel Magwitch (Provis) and declares his pride in making Pip a gentleman.
4. Magwitch outlines plans for disguises and lodging; Pip secures rooms in Essex Street.
5. Pip consults Jaggers, who confirms Magwitch's identity and warns Pip to be discreet.
6. Magwitch moves into lodgings; his convict habits make disguising him difficult.
7. Herbert returns; he takes the oath on Provis's little black Testament and accepts him.

Analysis

This chapter marks a turning point by bringing the previously distant benefactor into direct, personal contact with Pip, collapsing Pip's imagined source of gentility into a coarse, living reality. Dickens uses contrast between Pip's genteel expectations and Magwitch's brutal habitualness to dramatise themes of social class, identity, and moral discomfort: Magwitch insists on his role as creator of Pip's status while exhibiting behaviours that offend Pip's sensibilities. The chapter also tightens the novel's suspense by introducing immediate practical dangers—Magwitch's legal exposure—and by showing Pip's increasing entanglement and moral responsibility. Narrative technique shifts between Pip's interior disturbance and brisk, concrete action (arranging disguises, visiting Jaggers), reflecting his mental dissociation: he dozes, forgets days, and is both repelled and bound to his benefactor.

Symbolically, Magwitch's carrying of the little black Testament and his daub of powder suggest crude attempts at solemnity and genteel appearance, emphasizing how external trappings cannot erase origin. Jaggers's insistence on "the strict line of fact" underscores the legal and evidentiary world that threatens Magwitch, while the recurrent images of eating, smoking, and the convict's hands and knife root him in physicality rather than genteel illusion. The chapter deepens the novel's moral ambiguity—Pip owes everything to a man he cannot accept socially—and prepares for conflicts between gratitude, shame, and social aspiration.

Important quotes

“And this," said he, dandling my hands up and down in his, as he puffed at his pipe,—"and this is the gentleman what I made! The real genuine One! It does me good fur to look at you, Pip.”

Abel MagwitchMagwitch proudly claims Pip as the gentleman he has made, asserting proprietorship and revealing his motive for returning.

“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”

Mr. JaggersJaggers warns Pip to rely on proof rather than appearances, framing the legal danger surrounding Magwitch's return.

“I’m a heavy grubber, dear boy," he said, as a polite kind of apology when he made an end of his meal, "but I always was.”

Abel MagwitchMagwitch apologises for his coarse eating; the line highlights his uncouth habits that disturb Pip and prevent the gentlemanly image he seeks.

Characters in Chapter 40

• Mr. Wopsle
• Mr. Jaggers
• Matthew Pocket
• Uncle Pumblechook
• Startop
• Clara Barley
• Molly
• Pip
• Biddy
• Mrs. Joe Gargery
• Compeyson
• Joe Gargery
• Dolge Orlick
• Estella
• Wemmick
• Bentley Drummle
• Miss Havisham
• Herbert Pocket
• Abel Magwitch