Charles Dickens

I have not read much Dickens, so I do not have anything to compare "A Visit to Newgate" to except Great Expectations, which is quite different. I didn't really know what to expect from his writings. However, I was very engaged by this account to a prison.

Dickens provides a very personal account of his visit to Newgate. He chooses not to provide statistical information that can be recorded by other committees. I think he is trying to give a plain account that will hopefully raise awareness of the situation and result in social change.

He describes the layout of the prison and the prisoners, which I had mixed emotions about. Some of the prisoners he describes, I actually felt sorry for because of their situation. Others I did not really sympathize with as much. This particular passage caught my attention because the old woman seems so helpless and you have to wonder what she did to merit imprisonment.

In one corner of this singular-looking den, was a yellow, haggard, decrepit, old woman, in a tattered gown that had once been black, and the remains of an old straw bonnet, with faded ribbon of the same hue, in earnest conversation with a young girl- a prisoner, of course-of about two-and-twenty. It is impossible to imagine a more poverty-stricken object, or a creature so borne down in soul and body, by excess of misery and destitution, as the old woman.

Though Dickens is describing prisoners, I still felt sorry for the women prisoners, though I probably shouldn't because their is obviously some reason to warrant their time in prison. When Dickens says that "it is impossible to imagine a more poverty-stricken object", I felt like it was necessary to feel sympathy for this woman, and that it was not necessarily a bad thing. I also felt sympathy for the young boys imprisoned:

There were fourteen of them in all, some with shoes, some without; some in pinafores without jackets, others in jackets without pinafores, and one in scarce anything at all. -
We never looked upon a more disagreeable sight, because we never saw fourteen such hopeless creatures of neglect, before.

This passage caught me as well because it seems as though the only fault of these young prisoners was pick-pocketing. While stealing is definitely a punishable crime, I think Dickens is trying to show that the present condition of society is partly responsible for their actions. These children do not really have a choice but to steal to eat and even to live.

Lastly, I was particularly drawn to Dickens's description of the prisoner awaiting execution the following day. Dickens sees that the prisoner's fears of death have now caused certain emotions, equating them to "almost to madness". Helplessness and hopelessness have set in and the finality of death is upon him. The prisoner finally falls asleep after listening to the clock chime, counting his hours until death. He dreams of walking with his wife in a pleasant field with a bright sky above them. However, this time the woman looks as though she did a long time ago before her husband mistreated her. The dream quickly changes to a courtroom scene where he receives a guilty verdict and subsequently tries to escape. He awakens cold and wretched. With the gray light of a new day protruding into the cell, his hours lessen.

In the passage described above, I can definitely see how the conditions of the prison could evoke feelings of madness. It would be tough to be in a cell all alone awaiting the day you ascend the scaffold that will ultimately end your life. Dickens sends a very strong message to his readers concerning the situation at Newgate that results from present society. I think this would have been a very effective piece of literature during his time.