Raised upon the death of his parents by the fearsome domestic dragon whom Heaven gave him for a sister, Pip (Philip Pirrip) seems destined for the obscure existence of a young villager without fortune. This is to count without the benevolence of the tutelary deities who watch over his childhood. Because Pip has the privilege of living in the midst of singular creatures whose very existence gives credence to the belief in miracles: first of all, there is the good-natured smile, the protective and accomplice friendship of his brother-in-law, the blacksmith Joe Gargery, then the terrifying but soon miraculous meeting of Abel Magwitch, a convict with a big heart, emulated by Jean Valjean, who will know how to return his modest benefit a hundredfold. But above all there is the picturesque Miss Havisham and her dazzling protege, Estella. Estella with the predestined name, whose cold and fascinating beauty both exalts and despairs young Pip: "I looked at the stars and thought that it would be awful for a man dying of thirst to turn his head. Face to them and find neither help nor pity in this scintillating multitude. For the "great hopes" which bring young Pip are not the prosaic aspirations of Victorian England, it's search for comfort or respectability, but rather the powers of dreams which make us seek happiness beyond Wisdom.