Summary
Pip arrives five hours early at the coach-office to meet Estella. Wemmick happens by and invites Pip to join him on a trip to Newgate, where Pip notes that the prisoners' conditions are not good. He watches Wemmick attend to the many who seek him out, as a gardener tends to his plants. Pip begins to understand that even though Wemmick maintains an air of Jaggers' reserve about him, he is the one who brings a touch of humanity to each client connection. Even when he tells clients who cannot pay that they need to find another attorney, he is caring because he is honest and encourages no false hopes. One of their clients, the Colonel, is to be executed because the evidence against him was too great even for Jaggers to save him. Yet the Colonel tells Wemmick he wishes he had enough money so that Wemmick could buy a ring to remember him by. Wemmick responds by asking for a couple of the man's pigeons, because pigeons are portable property as well. Pip is impressed by the way the guards treat Wemmick, and the esteem they have for Jaggers. However, upon returning to the coach-office, Pip regrets the side trip because he now feels tainted by crime in the presence of his angel, Estella.
Estella orders Pip about, matter-of-factly listing exactly what they are to do as if it has already been laid out for her and him. In fact, she tells Pip that they are not free to follow their own devices. As he escorts her to the place she will stay, they talk about Miss Havisham's toady relatives and he notes her strong reaction to them. They apparently made her childhood miserable and she is grateful to Pip because he causes them a great deal of misery through their jealousy of him. However, she again reminds him not to get attached to her and that they are mere puppets.
Pip and Herbert have joined a club of useless men called "The Finches of the Grove," who get together to eat expensive dinners and to quarrel. The two young men are seriously in debt and when they periodically panic about this, they arrange an elaborate dinner to sit down and go over the bills. Instead of paying them, they list and round off the amounts, then give themselves a "margin" to add on to the total debt, a margin they end up spending as well. Pip realizes he is dragging Herbert down with him and that at this rate, Herbert's dreams will never be reached. He also knows that if they were not such good friends they would hate each other. Pip takes his frustrations out on the Avenger, a servant boy Pip employs. The Avenger, according to Pip, does little but eat Pip's food. However on this morning, the boy's only crime is to offer Pip a roll for breakfast, yet Pip responds by grabbing him by the collar, lifting him off his feet, and shaking him. The chapter ends with a note from Trabb and Co. that Mrs. Joe has died and Pip's presence is requested for the next Monday's interment.
Analysis
When Wemmick runs into Pip outside the coach-office, Pip inquires about Wemmick's home and the Aged Parent. Wemmick chats a bit about them, but then reminds Pip that "this is not London talk." He is firm in keeping his two lives separate, although he pushes his limits more when talking to Pip than he does with anyone else.
Dickens uses the very effective plant metaphors when showing Wemmick talking to the clients in prison. Wemmick is the gardener, the prison is the greenhouse, the prisoners are the various plants, and the Colonel is the dead plant. The issues of mourning rings and portable property come up again when the Colonel, unable to buy a ring for Wemmick, agrees to give the clerk two pigeons. When one's finances are limited, even pigeons are portable property. Jaggers' renown in the prison both impresses and unnerves Pip. At times, he wishes he had a guardian of lesser abilities.
Pip is irrational, as usual, where Estella is concerned. Hearing she is coming to London, he regrets there is no time to have several new suits made, and he arrives five hours early to meet her. The taint of prison and crime continues to plague him and he feels contaminated in her presence after his visit to Newgate. He makes himself feel better when he demeans the waiter who brings Estella's tea. Regarding Estella, he continues to know she is wrong for him, observing that everything they do together gives him pain. He spends every minute dreaming of being with her and when he is, is it sheer agony. Estella continues to be honest in her warnings to him. Her mention of gratitude to him for making Miss Havisham's relatives miserable does give insight to her strange loyalty to him and a glimpse of an unhappy childhood.
Satire of abusive parents continues. Mrs. Pocket appears unconcerned for her baby's health after the baby seems to have ingested some pins. Her only response is to send the baby to bed. Pip himself is crossing a line of abusive behavior. Stressed about his finances, Pip complains about his servant, the Avenger, constantly. Instead of taking action and just firing the boy to save money, Pip acts as though he is the victim. Finally, one day when his frustrations peak over his debts, Pip grabs the boy and shakes him, acting abusive just like his sister did.
The social theme of prison reform is alluded to by the description of prison conditions at Newgate.
Glossary
set fire to their prisons . . . improving the flavour of their soup prison conditions were terrible in the early 1800s and reform was years off. By 1861, the outrage and reform had gone in the other direction, with prisoners rioting because they did not like their food. This pun refers to the fact that, at the time of this story, everyone's food was bad, whether prisoner, soldier, or pauper, so prisoners had not gotten to the point of rioting to "improve the flavour of their soup." Flavour is the British spelling for the word "flavor."
potman; prisoners buying beer prisoners were allowed all the beer they wanted in prison so long as they could pay the potman, someone from a local tavern who came to the prison to sell beer.
cistern a large receptacle for storing water; especially, a tank, usually underground in which rainwater is collected for use.
a Coiner a counterfeiter.
Moses in the bullrushes . . . butter in a quantity of parsley the appearance of a bit of butter nestled in a quantity of parsley reminds Pip of the baby Moses hidden in the bullrushes to escape Pharaoh's soldiers. This is from the Bible, Exodus 2:3.
ostler a person who takes care of horses at an inn, stable, and so on.
chary wary, careful.
Here is the green farthingale . . . and the blue solitaire a farthingale is a hooped petticoat worn by ladies in the early eighteenth century. The solitaire was a wide tie or cravat worn by men in the same period. These are no longer in fashion in Pip's time. This reference indicates the house is old and has seen its share of stately parties for many generations.
