Pip visits Miss Havisham and Estella. He realizes they can see that he has changed. Estella’s expression reveals that she has guessed that he has learned his true benefactor’s identity.
Miss Havisham asks Pip the reason for his visit. He says he came to speak to Estella. He tells Miss Havisham she shall be pleased, for he is as unhappy as she would have wanted him to be.
Pip tells them he has learned the identity of his benefactor, and he realizes this person will not enrich him in reputation or station. He asks Miss Havisham when she first brought him here, did she intend for him to be a paid servant. She says yes. The fact that Mr. Jaggers was her lawyer was merely a coincidence. He knew nothing about her hiring Pip. However, she had purposely lead Pip on into believing she was responsible for his expectations.
Pip tells her he is merely seeking information. She had paid him well for his services then. He asks if she used him to punish her relatives. She confirms this. He tells her he has been among her relatives and believes that she has been unfair to Matthew and Herbert Pocket. They were his friends even when they believed she had bestowed her fortune on him. The other relatives were not his friends.
Pip begs Miss Havisham not to punish Matthew and Herbert by assuming they have the same nature as the others. He tells her he had tried to help Herbert, but he will not be able to finish it. He tells her Herbert never knew his involvement in securing the position at his company.
Pip tells Estella that he loves her and he always has. He thought, in believing that Miss Havisham was his benefactor, that he was meant for Estella. Realizing this is not the case, he felt he had to tell Estella his feelings. He admits he knows it is unlikely she will be his now that his fortunes are about to change. While Miss Havisham played a part in torturing him, he does not believe she fully realized the consequences of what she has done.
Estella says she feels nothing for Pip. She had warned him. Pip admits he had hoped that she hadn’t meant it, for it goes against Nature. Estella says it is her nature, or at least the one that was molded by her upbringing.
Pip mentions that he knows that Bentley Drummle is down to visit her. He knows she is encouraging him. Estella doesn’t deny this. She doesn’t love him, yet she plans to marry him. Miss Havisham is aghast.
Pip begs her that even if she does not choose him, choose a worthier suitor than Drummle. He could bear it better if she chose another that truly loved her. Estella tells him that she is tired of living the life Miss Havisham wants for her. She wants to marry. However, she doesn’t want to marry a man that would love her, for she could not return it.
Estella tells Pip he will forget about her. Pip says she has been in his thoughts from the time he was a boy. She was what motivated him to desire more than what his life promised him. He believes she has done him more good than bad. He blesses and forgives her. Estella is stupefied. Miss Havisham looks at him with sympathy and regret.
Pip returns home. The night watchman gives him a letter. It is from Mr. Wemmick, and it tells him not to go home.