One of the most revered works in English literature, Great Expectations traces the coming of age of a young orphan, Pip, from a boy of shallow aspirations into a man of maturity. From the chilling opening confrontation with an escaped convict to the grand but eerily disheveled estate of bitter old Miss Havisham, all is not what it seems in Dickens’ dark tale of false illusions and thwarted desire. Like much of Dickens’ work, the novel depicts an unstable society in which people’s life chances can change radically and suddenly, especially when under the influence of more powerful individuals who, for selfish or immoral reasons, have no qualms in altering, and often damaging, the lives of others.