Great Expectations

what devastating news does pip get about estella while visiting the satis house?

chpt 38 pgs 380-388

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It is ironic that Pip obtains the devastating news that Estella will marry Bentley Drummle as he visits Miss Havisham at Satis House because he has come to this house because he has just received even more devastating news. In Chapter XLIV of Great Expectaions, Pip arrives and tells Miss Havisham that he is "...as unhappy as you have ever meant me to be." Then, after declaring before Miss Havisham the love he has for Estella, he learns that she is betrothed to Bentley Drummle, Pip's deadly rival for Estella's attentions.

Upon hearing this news, in his love, Pip begs Estella not to let Miss Havisham lead her into this fatal step, but Estella in another brutal remark maintains that the decision to marry Drummle is hers as she is weary of the life that she has been living, which hold no charms for her. Estella claims that life has few charms for you and that she and Pip will never understand each other. In despair, Pip tells Estella she has become all that life is to him:

You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with.

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