A visit to Newgate

In A Visit to Newgate, Dickens writes about visiting the prison on Newgate. He seems to be amazed how people can walk by the prison every day without thinking about the individuals that are congregated there. "These same men, day by day, pass and repass this gloomy depository of the guilt and misery of London, in one perpetual stream of life and bustle, utterly unmindful of the throng of wretched creatures pent up within it." (1) The curiosity of the state of these convicts caused the narrator to visit the prison.

This account goes on to speak about the feeling of hopelessness that is evident in the prison. This feeling of hopelessness was most clearly seen by an older woman that was locked up in prison. "The old woman was talking in that low, stifled tone of voice which tells so forcibly of mental anguish; and every know and then burst into an irrepressible sharp, abrupt cry of grief, the most distressing sound that ears can hear."(3) Her time had prison had worn away all of the hope she may have had for her life, and only left her waiting to die in prison. She had long given up the thoughts of the pleasantries of life on the outside of the prison walls. There seems to be no semblance of real life within the prison walls. There are no real friendships,or any other forms of release for the prisoners.

There was also a mother who was being visited by her daughter. There was no real joy in the visit as their thoughts were focused on the fate of the mother. "A sullen smile came over the girl's face for an instant, as if she were pleased: not so much at the probability of her mother's liberation, as the chance of her getting off in spite of her prosecutors." (4) This girl obviously had suffered through a difficult childhood which forced her to grow up way earlier than most have to. So the hopelessness of the mother has seemed to extend to her daughter as the only thing she understands is misery.

The description seemed to be much different for the boys who were serving time for their petty crimes. Although the women seemed hopeless, the boys seemed to be proud to be there. Perhaps it was because of the short time they had been there, but these boys showed no remorse for their crimes and seemed to feel at home there. "They were evidently quite gratified at being thought worth the trouble of looking at; their idea appeared to be that we had come to see Newgate as a grand affair." (5) So although the women had showed themselves to feel as if they had no hope, the boys were the ones who truly had no hope because they were doomed for the same fate.

If those who were in prison did not feel hopeless enough, the week before a person was put to death they were forced to sit in the condemned pew in the chapel. With the chapel being the only source of hope for many of these people, it is hard to believe that they would have to face this conviction in church the week before they face their ultimate judgement.