The dynamic between Pip and Estella that will operate for most of the novel is firmed up in these chapters. She humiliates him and tries to make him cry. He refuses to give her that power even though she makes him cry on the inside. The interesting element is her enthusiastic response when he bests the pale young gentleman in a fistfight. She is flushed with delight and lets him kiss her. There is a streak of the wild in her, and for all her calm indifference, violent emotions touch something within her.
Miss Havisham continues to operate from her agenda of revenge, though there are moments such as when Pip sings the song, “Old Clem,” that she seems to enjoy him. She seems upset when she realizes one day that Pip is getting too old for play. Her willingness to reward Pip with his apprenticeship to Joe is puzzling and one has to wonder if it was meant as a reward or a death sentence. Now that Pip is obsessed with the beautiful Estella, apprenticing him in an occupation that will only make him more coarse seems to be the ultimate revenge, especially when Pip has already expressed a desire for education.
Other elements seen before continue here. Pip’s repressed anger flares when he dreams of pulling the linchpin out of Pumblechook’s chaise-cart, and he rages inside whenever Pumblechook rumples his hair. The hair-rumpling tag will be repeated through the book. Gratitude for being brought up by hand, the fantasy element with Miss Havisham as the Witch of the place, Miss Havisham’s finger movements, waxwork appearance, and not wanting to know about days of the week, all continue as well.
