Great Expectations is really a profoundly democratic work, especially when one reads it for the second time. I think that one of Dickens's great themes in this novel is the corruption that comes from unearned wealth. Pip at first seems blessed to be the exact opposite of most Dickens characters -- most of them start in the lower middle class or even genteel poverty, and then get into even worse straits until pulled out by a benevolent rich person. Pip, though, is given his promise of "great expectations" very early on, as well as a generous stipend.
Instead of being his salvation, though, the money impels him to live above his means, reject his best friends, and lose a good marriage prospect. It's symptomatic, I think, that the two best things he does involve giving the money away.
One of Dickens's shortest books (I think the only complete one to match it is A Tale of Two Cities), it's relatively focused. In most of the novels (that I've read), Dickens piles up incidents and characters with abandon. They're mostly amusing, which is why Dickens is still read today, but you could easily cut out huge swathes of without affecting the major plot development. (As a concrete example, Nicholas Nickleby's stint as a secretary to an MP is absolutely pointless, as is the whole muffin conspiracy which starts out that novel). Great Expectations, though, has very little that's extraneous; what doesn't bear on the plot is at the very least a part of the Gothic atmosphere. Also unlike the longer books, it's clear that Dickens had worked out most of the major plot points in advance, and that allowed him to focus on his themes without getting bogged down.
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