Pip arrives at Jaggers' office, located in a rundown business area of London. The lawyer is not there, so Pip waits in his office, a dark, dismal, airless room accented with odd things like an old rusty pistol, a sword in a scabbard, and two casts of swollen faces.
Jaggers chair reminds Pip of a coffin. Unable to take the oppressiveness, Pip walks around the area, passing through the filth, fat, and foam of the Smithfield markets. He walks near Newgate Prison where a drunk minister of justice shows him the gallows, and into Bartholomew Close where many people are anxiously waiting for Jaggers. They hope to hire him or hear news of relatives' cases. Jaggers arrives and is condescending to all of them, dealing only with those who have paid their bills.
Speaking to witnesses in his office he is careful not to hear, do, or say anything illegal, staying just within the law in all his dealings. Pip learns from Jaggers that he will be staying at Barnard Inn with Mr. Pocket's son until Monday, when they will go to Mr. Pocket's house. Pip is given an allowance and Jaggers tells him frankly that he will track Pip's spending to know when Pip is running up debts.
He fully expects Pip will do this. His clerk, Wemmick, a dry man who wears many mourning rings from dead clients, takes him to Barnard Inn. The inn is dismal and dreary, and because of his surroundings, Pip feels that London is overrated.
The two become good friends and Herbert nicknames Pip, Handel, after a piece of Handel's music, the Harmonious Blacksmith. Over dinner, in between gently correcting Pip's table manners, Herbert tells Pip about Jaggers, Miss Havisham, Estella , Herbert's father, and himself.
Pip's guardian, Jaggers, is also Miss Havisham's lawyer. He is acquainted with Herbert's father, Matthew Pocket, because Matthew is Miss Havisham's cousin, though the two are not on good terms. Herbert explains that Miss Havisham was to be married to a fine gentleman who swindled some money from her, and then left her at the altar.
The man apparently conspired with Miss Havisham's half-brother, Arthur, who was in debt and did not like Miss Havisham. As to Estella, she has always been there, adopted years ago by Miss Havisham. Herbert tells Pip that Miss Havisham's brother's name was Arthur and Compeyson was the man who left her at the altar. Wemmick and Jaggers display their careful habit of staying just within the law by referring to Provis as an agent of Magwitch, who they are "sure" is in Australia.
They are careful in all their statements so that no one can trace them to the knowledge that Magwitch is in England illegally. Ominous events are foreshadowed when Pip suspects that Magwitch has been followed to his apartment and that someone is now watching them. Magwitch's motives are a mixture of good and bad; part reward, part revenge. He is obviously grateful for Pip's help years ago and is generously rewarding him with an easy life. Even his manner of holding Pip's hands is much more honest and heartfelt than Pumblechook's "May I?
He wants to show society that a low dog like him can make a fine gentleman. By showing Pip off to the world he gets revenge for how the world treated him.
Pip's and Herbert's reactions to Magwitch's money are interesting and somewhat snobbish. Pip is essentially dependent, living off of someone else's money.
Whose money it is should not make any difference — he is dependent no matter what. But even though the money is honestly earned, Pip cannot bring himself to accept the convict's gift. In one respect it is a good decision because finally Pip is deciding to fend for himself and to care for another out of higher motives than money. But at the same time, refusing the gift solely because of who gives it is sheer snobbery.
Dickens continues to show his skills in the descriptive scenes of Magwitch's eating habits, and the use of the face casts in Jaggers' office to reflect Pip's thoughts and feelings. Negro-head tobacco strong black tobacco sweetened with molasses and pressed into square cakes that was popular with sailors and workingmen. Wigs were no longer used, hair powder was used only by the old-fashioned, and shorts or knee-breeches were worn only by some clergy members on ceremonial occasions.
Pip is imaging that Magwitch's crimes were among these. Previous Chapters Next Chapters Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title.
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