How Does Dickens Present Mental Imprisonment

Imprisonment Of All Kinds Imprisonment of all kinds takes a physical or emotional toll on someone’s life. Some may argue that physical imprisonment, such as going to jail, is the worst and only kind of imprisonment, when in reality there are multiple kinds. Dickens fails to give many examples of the negative effects of physical imprisonment, proving that he believes mental imprisonment is more psychologically damaging. Mental imprisonment plays a very big role in Great Expectations, affecting many of the characters in it. Throughout the novel, Dickens depicts mental imprisonment, not as the equivalent to physical imprisonment, but worse due to the detrimental effects it has on a person.

Pip’s mental imprisonment is in the form of social

Physical and mental imprisonment can be compared to being trapped in a cell confinement versus being trapped in your own mind. Mental imprisonment is not typically considered ‘real’ when compared to physical imprisonment due to the fact that you cannot usually see it occurring. In some cases the fact that you can not see it makes it that much more insidious. When comparing Miss. Havisham, Pip, Magwitch, and Compeyson’s lives, you can see the dramatic difference between the effects of their imprisonments. As previously mentioned, Miss. Havisham was stuck in the past and was negatively affected by it. The effects include cutting off many personal family relations, becoming distant from society, and not being able to sustain a normal life. Pip’s mental imprisonment of being embarrassed of his social class makes him distance himself from healthy relationships with Joe and Biddy. Pip took Joe for granted but he only ever wanted to look out for Pip. Before Joe and Biddy were married, Pip tries to apologize to them both. He says, “And now, though I know you have already done it in your own kind hearts, pray tell me, both, that you forgive me! Pray let me hear you say the words, that I may carry the sound of them away with me, and then I shall be able to believe that you can trust me, and think better of me, in the time to come!” (Dickens 856). This was his apology that shows that by the end of the novel Pip becomes aware of what this imprisonment has done to him and how cruel he was to Joe. Compeyson’s imprisonment does not necessarily have that much of an impact of him as a person. He did his time and when he left prison he went back to being the same man of a gentlemanly status, although he was previously incarcerated. It can be argued that Magwitch’s physical imprisonment actually benefited him