Abel Magwitch

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Abel Magwitch is a character from the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Pip (short for Philip Pirrip) first meets this character on the marshes near his home outside of London. Magwitch was convicted, but he escaped and forced Pip to help him by bringing food and a metal file that he could use to cut away the iron shackles on his legs. Pip does what Magwitch asked of him, and has much thanks returned. The convict claims that there is no way that he could ever repay Pip for what he has done for him, saved his life.

Later in the novel, Pip receives money from a secret benefactor. The money brings him up from his lowly social class and he is now considered a gentleman. One night the same convict that he had met as a little boy on the marshes comes to Pip at his home in London now. Magwitch reveals to Pip that all along he was the benefactor. Pip is stunned because the convict is so low and uneducated. His world gets turned upside down because he realizes that the same money that brought him up in society actually came from the lowest form of class.

At the end of the novel, it is revealed that he is the father of Estella Havisham, Pip's love interest. Magwitch does not know his daughter is alive, and as he lies on his deathbed, Pip tells him of her existence and that he loves her.