Beggar My Neighbour
In chapter 8 of Great Expectations, the word beggar has a double meaning: a literal reference to card game "Beggar My Neighbour" and a symbolic instruction to Estella to emotionally ruin Pip. When Estella asks Pip what he knows how to play, he replies, "Nothing but beggar my neighbour, miss." Beggar my neighbour is simple luck based card game where one player tries to win all of the other player's cards until that player is left with nothing - or beggard. When Miss Havisham tells Estella to "beggar him" she is using a pun. She is not just talking about cards, she is instructing Estella to strip away Pip's dignity, pride and heart. The game mirrors the larger theme of the novel: the upper class preying upon and reducing the lower class to emotional or financial run.