Learning the Game of Money — Great Expectations

Beginning to circulate in London society means exposing himself to Estella's effect on other men and torturing himself with jealousy. She attracts admirers everywhere, treating them all with the same calibrated cruelty, yet Pip cannot feel reassured by her universal coldness. Each man she dances with or speaks to feels like a personal betrayal, even though she's explicitly told him she cannot love anyone. The social season becomes an extended exercise in self-torture as Pip follows Estella through ballrooms and drawing rooms, watching her deploy the weapons Miss Havisham forged.

Meanwhile, his own spending spirals out of control. Living like a gentleman requires money that drains his allowance, especially as Herbert's similarly extravagant habits encourage Pip's own. They fall into the trap of young men with expectations: spending tomorrow's money today, racking up debts with tradesmen, living beyond their means while assuming some future windfall will set everything right.

The moral erosion is gradual but definite, Pip becomes someone who doesn't pay his bills promptly, who judges others by their social position, who measures his worth by his expectations rather than his actions. The combination of financial irresponsibility and romantic obsession creates a feedback loop of poor decisions, each justified by his assumptions about Miss Havisham's ultimate plans for his future.