In this podcast, Professor Jon Mee is joined by three of his MA students, Harriet Kilikita, Rebecca Lea and Emma Seddon, to discuss Great Expectations. They talk about the significance of the characters’ names, the relationship between desire and suffering, the symbolism of hands and much more.

Dickens actually rewrote the ending to try and make it more positive. The original ending that he wrote which was encountering Estella in the street with a child after her marriage had broken down was much more negative. He rewrites it positively, but even then there’s that sense that your great expectations aren’t going to be met. It’s quite an ambivalent ending in that regard.

Professor Jon Mee