Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, set in Regency England, is a novel about Pip, a young man who aspires both to become a gentleman and to win the love of the beautiful but heartless Estella, but who ends up in the same situation as at the beginning of the story: poor and alone. Irony is prevalent in Great Expectations, and Dickens uses it effectively to create both conflict and humor in his novel. Although the irony of who Pip's benefactor is at the heart of Great Expectations, the device can also be found in minor parts of the novel, such as Pip's expectations of his friend Herbert as a failure, the Miss Havisham's expectations of Estella's love, and when Trabb's boy saves Pip's life. When Pip first receives news of his "great expectations", he is told that the identity of his benefactor must remain secret; However, the reader of the novel and Pip strongly suspect that Pip's boss is Miss Havisham, ultimately because she is the heiress to a large fortune and has invited Pip to her home, Satis House, to play with Estella several times....