Great Expectations
Dolge Orlick
The journeyman
A sullen, violent blacksmith's journeyman who hates Pip and turns up as his worst enemy.
Orlick works at Joe's forge. He is big, sluggish and resentful. He threatens Pip with the hot iron when he is in his way, and he insults Mrs. Joe in a way that makes Joe fight him.
He hates Pip for being favored and for the future that opens in front of him. He lurks in the marshes, and the story hints at him early. When Pip finally meets him alone he is mad with spite.
“You get out of my way, boy, or I'll give you a taste of the hot iron.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Orlick insults Mrs. Joe and gets thrashed by Joe in the forge. Soon after, Mrs. Joe is struck down with a leg-iron. Orlick is the culprit, though Pip only learns this later.
Years on, Orlick sends Pip an anonymous letter to lure him to the limekiln on the marshes. He ties him to a ladder, boasts about the attack on Mrs. Joe, and plans to burn him in the kiln. Herbert, Startop and Trabb's boy burst in and save Pip, and Orlick flees into the marsh.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
