In the story pip's mind is pulled in conflicting directions by his life and family at the forge and the new life he will have in the city when he goes there to become an educated gentleman.
When Pip is at the forge with his brother-in-law Joe Gargery and his sister Mrs. Joe Gargery who are his guardians because his parents died when he was very young, he doesn't enjoy it very much. He wishes to become very well educated which is something very difficult since there isn't really that many educated people in the forge. The only place that he can be educated at least a little bit is in Mr. Wopsle's great aunt's school where Biddy one of his friends teaches him.
Since education is so limited at the forge when Pip is approached with the opportunity of going to London to become a very well educated gentleman he doesn't really hesitate on accepting the preposition. But when he is in London he starts feeling a little guilty about leaving behind all the people that cared about him and took care of him since his birth and when his sister dies the guilt becomes even greater.
Although Pip decides to stay in London aside of his guilt he thinks about going back to the forge when he finds out that the person who had been helping him become a gentleman is the escaped convict who traumatized him for about four days of his childhood. And that he has a huge debt to repay.
When Pip finds out about the debt he doesn't have any way of paying for it but he gets a receipt saying that the debt had already been paid for. He was puzzled by who could have paid his debt but when he took a closer look he saw that it had been hid brother-in-law Joe Gargery who had paid off the debt when he realizes this he decides to go back to the forge and finds out that Joe and biddy had gotten married and he decides to go back to get Estella the girl who made him want to be an educated gentleman.
Although Estella was educated she was miserable and her life was a disaster but Biddy and Joe weren't as educated and they had a very happy life and that made Pip realize that you don't need money or education or being a lady or a gentleman to find true happiness.