The Devil in the
Marshalsea - Antonia Hodgson (Hodder) ?
Debtors' prisons (such as the Fleet,
Marshalsea and King's Bench) were regularly inhabited by musical instrument makers while the Compters (including Poultry and Wood Street) were smaller lockups under the control of local sheriffs.
There is, of course, Dorrit himself, who lives quite ably by his wit as the maudlin sponger of the
Marshalsea, before slowly losing his wits when the financial windfall ensconces him among Europe's foremost idle rich.
Which novel by Charles Dickens features the
Marshalsea Prison?
Little Dorrit is a name with a literary burden, and so is
Marshalsea, the old debtors' prison.
Rapidly transplanted from the dismally enclosed world of the
Marshalsea to the mainstream of society, the Dorrits eventually discover the world outside the
Marshalsea to be equally as dismal, and equally as enclosed.
In 1729, some three hundred inmates died in a three-month period alone in London's
Marshalsea Prison.
While the rest of the family indulge in many ostentatious and expensive activities through which they hope to escape the memory of long years of suffering and humiliation, the younger daughter, Amy, better known as Little Dorrit, realizes that everything is still under "the shadow of the
Marshalsea wall.
on the green earth"; (24) in Little Dorrit (1855-1857), the narrator's repeated references to Judgment that accompany Arthur Clennam's penitential growth in the
Marshalsea prison; in Villette (1853), Lucy Snowe's desperate search for consolation that leads her to dabble in Catholic practices like confession and to consider the allure of purgatory.
When Arthur Clennam, recognizably a gentleman, attempts to discover the nature of the debt that is keeping William Dorrit in
Marshalsea Prison, he is referred to the Circumlocution Office.
A fellmonger was arrested, and under the pretext of attending a play, a group of his fellow fellmongers gathered in order to free him from
Marshalsea Prison.
When Dickens was young, his father and entire family except for himself were thrown into
Marshalsea debtors' prison.
