He washed his clients off, as if he were a surgeon or a dentist. He had a closet in his room, fitted up for the purpose, which smelt of the scented soap like a perfumer’s shop. It had an unusually large jack-towel on a roller inside the door, and he would wash his hands, and wipe them and dry them all over this towel, whenever he came in from a police-court or dismissed a client from his room.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 26. Pip finds lawyer Jaggers washing his hands with scented soap, a cleansing ritual he performs regularly. We are told through metaphor and simile that he is washing off his clients, like he was a doctor or dentist. Jaggers appears to want to cleanse himself of the sordid dealings of those he comes into contact with. The habitual hand cleaning is an allusion to the Bible passage description of Pontius Pilate washing his hands to show he was not responsible for the death of Jesus. It is also similar to Lady Macbeth repeatedly trying to wash the blood of murdered King Duncan from her hands.