Pip has low self-esteem. He is not valued and does not value himself. He feels guilty for his very existence, thanks to his sister who constantly reminds him how she has suffered because of him. Other relatives and friends reinforce his feelings by telling him how grateful he should be. His only positive in life is Joe, and Pip looks forward to being his apprentice in the forge. Miss Havisham and Estella, however, destroy that dream when they teach him to be ashamed of his coarse and common life. Their influence, coupled with his low self-worth and his sister's messages about wealth and security, fuel his desires, ambitions, and snobbery.
Pip, abused by his sister, is a passive personality who fears the stronger emotions in him. He rarely shows power, passion, or self-determination, reacting instead to those around him and living his life as a dreamer. The fantasy world of Satis House feeds that part of him. Shut from the light of day, Miss Havisham lives in her strange world. Pip responds to this and preserves that world by keeping the light of day — questions his sister and Pumblechook ask — from destroying its special fairy-tale quality. That world is something that is his, and it holds his only passion in life, the fairy-tale princess he desires, Estella. In that world there are things he has never seen — beauty, wealth, polish, power — and they dazzle him. They become his quest in life and he will give up everything — Joe, the forge, his own good conscience and behavior — to get money and Estella.
