Within a quarter of an hour we came to Miss Havisham’s house, which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. There was a courtyard in front, and that was barred…all the brewery beyond stood open, away to the high enclosing wall; and all was empty and disused. The cold wind seemed to blow colder there than outside the gate; and it made a shrill noise in howling in and out at the open sides of the brewery, like the noise of wind in the rigging of a ship at sea.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 8. This is a key moment in the story when Pip visits Miss Havisham’s mansion Satis House. It is a gloomy, neglected and isolated place with many iron bars, walled up windows and barred courtyard. As Pip describes it, it resembles a jail. A ship simile also conjures up an image of the house as a prisoner ship, like the Hulks. The mansion is Miss Havisham’s personal prison – by her own choice. For many years she hasn’t been outside it, not since she was jilted at the altar by her fiancé Compeyson.