How Does Dickens Create Corruption In Great Expectations
Hulks, or prison ships were a common punishment during Dickens's times. In the opening scene of Great Expectations, Pip stumbles upon a convict having escaped from one of these prison ships. Their first interaction is brief, but while Pip is standing in the marshes, the convict makes two things clear: he desperately wants a file and desperately needs food. Living conditions upon the Hulks were unpleasant at best, according to Diane Yancey’s book, Life in Charles Dickens's England. With one fourth of the prisoners dying upon the boat, from causes such as as malnutrition, lack of sanitation, or fights gone wrong, the convict’s ravenous hunger is now understandable. Leg irons were also a provision of being housed in a Hulk, to both identify prisoners
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Dickens transports Pip to London and almost immediately introduces the London court system and the corruption within it. Dickens inserts the sly, yet respected lawyer, Jaggers to exemplify the corruption. Although publicly, Jaggers is a revered businessman with people begging for his help, in private, Pip experiences Jaggers preparing a fake witness to testify in court. Jaggers exasperatedly exclaims, “Once more and for the last time, what the man you have brought here is prepared to swear?” (Dickens 131), as Pip bewilderedly bystanders. As a lawyer, Jaggers has other incentives than justice. He takes a case in which the person who he is defending is most definitely guilty of committing murder. His client, named Molly escapes conviction, but he hires her as his housekeeper. Jaggers sadistically reminds Molly that he knows that she was guilty by showing her muscular and scraped up wrists to his houseguests. In the case in which he defends Molly, he does not have much of a defense for her, but he uses her size saying she is much too small to have murdered someone. In the informational book, Daily Life in Victorian England the author, Christopher Hibbert explains that because the police force was not very organized, and technology was not advanced in the world of criminal justice, it was much more difficult to prove anything without physical evidence (Hibbert
Dickens transports Pip to London and almost immediately introduces the London court system and the corruption within it. Dickens inserts the sly, yet respected lawyer, Jaggers to exemplify the corruption. Although publicly, Jaggers is a revered businessman with people begging for his help, in private, Pip experiences Jaggers preparing a fake witness to testify in court. Jaggers exasperatedly exclaims, “Once more and for the last time, what the man you have brought here is prepared to swear?” (Dickens 131), as Pip bewilderedly bystanders. As a lawyer, Jaggers has other incentives than justice. He takes a case in which the person who he is defending is most definitely guilty of committing murder. His client, named Molly escapes conviction, but he hires her as his housekeeper. Jaggers sadistically reminds Molly that he knows that she was guilty by showing her muscular and scraped up wrists to his houseguests. In the case in which he defends Molly, he does not have much of a defense for her, but he uses her size saying she is much too small to have murdered someone. In the informational book, Daily Life in Victorian England the author, Christopher Hibbert explains that because the police force was not very organized, and technology was not advanced in the world of criminal justice, it was much more difficult to prove anything without physical evidence (Hibbert