Great Expectations firstly that of "foster parents", Miss Havisham, Magwitch, and Joe, and secondly that of "young people", Estella, Pip and Biddy. There is a further organizing element that can be labelled "Dangerous Lovers", which includes Compeyson, Bentley Drummle and Orlick. Pip is the centre of this web of love, rejection and hatred. Dickens contrasts this "dangerous love" with the relationship of Biddy and Joe, which grows from friendship to marriage. This is "the general frame of the novel". The term "love" is generic, applying it to both Pip's true love for Estella and the feelings Estella has for Drummle, which are
Richard Bentley (publisher) and 1840s, at which important writers and critics gathered. In October 1836, Bentley entered the periodical market. He founded "Bentley's Miscellany", which first appeared in January 1837, and selected Charles Dickens, known at the time for his "Pickwick Papers", as editor. Dickens also agreed to contribute a serialised novel to the periodical and to sell two novels to Bentley. The periodical was "an immediate success" – 11,000 copies were sold in 1837 – largely as a result of the serialisation of Dickens's "Oliver Twist", illustrated by George Cruikshank. Dickens became increasingly frustrated at the initial terms of his contract, which