The ending

GCSE · English Literature · AQA · P1.B.GE — *Great Expectations* (Dickens) — class, ambition, guilt, love; Pip's three stages of expectations; Magwitch, Estella, Miss Havisham

Question

How does the ending of Great Expectations affect your interpretation of the novel's message? (30 marks)

Mark scheme guidance:

Two endings: original (Pip and Estella part) vs. revised (ambiguous reunion — "shadow of no parting").
Revised ending: Dickens under pressure from Bulwer-Lytton to soften.
Does reunion undermine the moral lesson? Or does Estella's suffering redeem her capacity for feeling?
Joe and Biddy with baby Pip at the forge — honest domestic happiness as counter-ideal.
Pip's return from abroad as modest businessman — material ambitions abandoned.
Top answers: argue for a reading of the ending, acknowledging its ambiguity as deliberate.

30 marks · take your time before peeking.

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Generated by TopMyGrade AI · cross-check official sources before relying on the mark-scheme phrasing.