Bleak_house

Bleak House
Title page of first book edition in 1853. Illustration by Hablot Knight Browne.
Author	Charles Dickens
Illustrator	Hablot Knight Browne
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Bradbury & Evans
Publication date	1852-1853 (serialised)
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book
ISBN	NA

Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens\'s finest and most complete novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon. Dickens tells all of these both through the narrative of the novel\'s heroine, Esther Summerson, and as an omniscient narrator. Memorable characters include the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn, the friendly but depressive John Jarndyce and the childish Harold Skimpole.

The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) which has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens\'s assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk. His harsh characterisation of the slow, arcane Chancery law process gave voice to widespread frustration with the system, and is often thought of as having helped to set the stage for its eventual reform in the 1870s. In fact, Dickens was writing just as Chancery was reforming itself, with the Six Clerks and Masters mentioned in Chapter One abolished in 1842 and 1852 respectively: the need for further reform was being widely debated. This raises the interesting point as to when Bleak House is actually set. Technically it must be before 1842, and at least some of his readers at the time would have been aware of this. However, there is some question as to whether this timeframe is consistent with some of the themes of the novel.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Characters in Bleak House 2.1 Major characters 2.2 Minor characters 3 Analysis and criticism 4 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 5 Original publication 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Synopsis

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Characters in Bleak House

As usual, Dickens drew upon many real people and places but imaginatively transformed them in his novel. The "telescopic philanthropist" Mrs. Jellyby, who pursues distant projects at the expense of her duty to her own family, is a criticism of women activists like Caroline Chisholm. Many people saw the "childlike" but ultimately immoral character Harold Skimpole as a portrait of Leigh Hunt, but this was always denied by Dickens. Mr. Jarndyce\'s friend Mr Boythorn is based on the writer Walter Savage Landor. The novel also includes one of the first detectives in English fiction, Mr Bucket. This character is probably based on Inspector Charles Frederick Field of the then-recently formed Detective Department at Scotland Yard.Site of Dr Russell Potter, Rhode Island College Biography of Inspector Field Dickens wrote several journalistic pieces about the Inspector and the work of the detectives in Household Words.

Major characters

• Esther Summerson — The hero and narrator of part of the story, raised as an orphan because the identity of her parents is unknown. At first, it seems probable that her guardian, John Jarndyce, is her father because he provides for her support. This question is not fully cleared up for Esther until he offers her his hand in marriage. The discovery of her true identity provides for much of the drama in the book: it is discovered that she is the illegitimate daughter of Lady Dedlock and Nemo.
• Richard Carstone — a ward of court in Jarndyce v Jarndyce. A fairly simple but inconstant character who falls under the malign spell of the Jarndyce v Jarndyce case. At the end of the book, he dies, tormented by his inability to make any progress in the case at the cost of all his money.
• Ada Clare — a ward of court in Jarndyce v Jarndyce. A good girl who falls in love with Richard Carstone. They later marry in secret.
• John Jarndyce — a party in Jarndyce, guardian of Richard, Ada and Esther, and owner of Bleak House. A depressive but good man who falls in love with Esther and proposes that they marry. She agrees, but it becomes increasingly clear that the marriage would not suit her. He realizes this, too, but finds it very hard to give her up.
• Harold Skimpole — a friend of Jarndyce and "in the habit of sponging his friends" (Nuttall); supposedly based on Leigh Hunt. A thoroughly despicable character, amoral and without remorse.
• Sir Leicester Dedlock — a crusty baronet, very much older than his wife.
• Honoria, Lady Dedlock — the haughty mistress of Chesney Wold. Her past drives much of the plot as it turns out she had an affair with another man and gave birth to his child. She discovers the child\'s identity — it is Esther — and then has to fend off the manipulations of Mr Tulkinghorn. At the end, she dies, disgraced in her own mind, convinced that her aristocratic husband can never forgive her moral failings.
• Mr. Tulkinghorn — the Dedlock family lawyer. A scheming, manipulative monster of a man. He learns of Lady Dedlock\'s past and tries to control her conduct, to preserve the reputation and good name of Sir Leicester. He is murdered, so the last part of the book turns into an investigation, as several characters have good reason to want Tulkinghorn dead.
• Nemo — a law writer. A mysterious man who dies early in the story. He is later revealed to have been Captain Hawdon, an officer in the British Army under whom Mr George once served. He was the lover of Lady Dedlock and the father of Esther.
• Miss Flite — an elderly eccentric obsessed with Chancery. She is a party in a long-running Chancery case similar to Jarndyce v Jarndyce. She owns a large number of little birds which she says will be released "on the day of judgement".
• Mr. William Guppy — a law clerk at the firm of Kenge and Carboys. He becomes very taken with Esther and plays a role in unearthing her true past. He proposes marriage to Esther, then withdraws the offer, then re-proposes. Esther politely refuses both his proposals.
• Inspector Bucket — a detective. He is the key player in the murder investigation of Mr Tulkinghorn and does solve the case.
• Mr. George — a former soldier. He is a trainer in the martial arts (swords and pistols mostly). Richard Carstone, before he joins the army, trains under him. We later learn that Mr George served under the command of "Nemo". He was the prime suspect in the death of Mr Tulkinghorn and was arrested.
• Caddy Jellyby — a friend of Esther who feels ashamed by her "lack of manners". After meeting Esther, she marries and has a baby.
• Krook — a rag and bottle merchant and collector of papers. He dies from a case of spontaneous human combustion, something that Dickens believed could, in fact, happen. Nemo and Miss Flite lived in rooms in his house.
• Jo — a young boy who tries to make a living as a crossing sweeper. He dies from a disease (pneumonia, a complication from an earlier bout with smallpox) which Esther also catches (and by which she is nearly killed).
• Allan Woodcourt — a physician. A kind, caring man who likes Esther. She in turn likes him a great deal but feels unable to respond to his overtures because of her prior commitment to John Jarndyce. All is resolved happily at the end.
• Grandfather Smallweed — a money lender. An evil man who enjoys inflicting emotional pain on other people. He drives Mr. George into bankruptcy (by calling in debts).

Minor characters

• Mr Kenge — a lawyer of Kenge and Carboys
• Mr Vholes — a lawyer who was introduced to Richard Carstone by Skimpole. He makes a great deal of money at Carstone\'s expense.
• Mr Gridley — an involuntary party to a suit in Chancery (based on a real case, according to Dickens\' preface)
• Mr Snagsby — the proprietor of a law-stationery business
• Mrs Snagsby — his wife
• Guster — the Snagsbys\' maidservant, prone to fits
• Neckett — a debt collector — called "Coavinses" by debtor Harold Skimpole
• Charley — Coavinses\' daughter; hired by John Jarndyce to be a maid to Esther.
• Tom — Coavinses\' young son
• Emma — Coavinses\' baby daughter
• Mrs Jellyby — Caddy\'s mother, a philanthropist with little regard to the notion of charity beginning at home
• Mr Jellyby — Mrs Jellyby\'s husband
• Peepy Jellyby — the Jellybys\' young son
• Prince Turveydrop — a dancing master at his father\'s studio
• Old Mr Turveydrop — proprietor of a dancing studio and a master of Deportment
• Jenny — a brickmaker\'s wife
• Rosa — a favourite of Lady Dedlock
• Hortense — lady\'s maid to Lady Dedlock (based on murderess Maria Manning)Dickens\' London map
• Mrs Rouncewell — housekeeper to the Dedlocks at Chesney Wold
• Mr Rouncewell — son of Mrs Rouncewell and a prosperous ironmaster
• Watt Rouncewell — his son
• Volumnia — a Dedlock cousin
• Lawrence Boythorn — an old friend of John Jarndyce and neighbour of Sir Leicester Dedlock; based on Walter Savage Landor
• Miss Barbary — Esther\'s godmother and severe guardian in childhood
• Mrs Rachael Chadband — a former servant of Miss Barbary
• Mr Chadband — an oleaginous preacher, husband of Mrs Chadband
• Mrs Smallweed — wife of Mr Smallweed senior and sister to Krook. She is in her second childhood.
• Young Mr (Bartholemew) Smallweed — grandson of the senior Smallweeds and friend of Mr Guppy
• Judy Smallweed — granddaughter of the senior Smallweeds
• Tony Jobling — aka Mr Weevle — a friend of Mr Guppy
• Mrs Guppy — Mr Guppy\'s aged mother
• Phil Squod — Mr George\'s assistant
• Matthew Bagnet — military friend of Mr George and dealer in musical instruments
• Mrs Bagnet — wife of Matthew Bagnet
• Mrs Woodcourt — Allan Woodcourt\'s widowed mother

Analysis and criticism

Much criticism about Bleak House centres around its unique narrative structure: it is told both by an unidentified, third-person narrator and a first-person narrator, Esther Summerson. The third-person narrator speaks in the present tense, ranging widely across geographic and social space (from the aristocratic Dedlock estate to the desperately poor Tom-All-Alone\'s in London). Esther Summerson tells her own story in the past tense (like David in David Copperfield or Pip in Great Expectations), but that story turns out to cover much of the same ground as the bird-eye view offered by the third-person narrator. The relation between these interwoven strands is still debated.

Esther\'s portion of the narrative is an interesting case study of the Victorian ideal of feminine modesty. She introduces herself thus: "I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of these pages, for I know I am not clever" (Chap. 3). This claim is almost immediately belied by the astute moral judgment and satiric observation that characterize her pages, and it remains unclear how much knowledge she withholds from her narration, or why someone who has chosen to relate the story of her life should be so coy about her own central place in it. In the same introductory chapter, she writes "It seems so curious to me to be obliged to write all this about myself! As if this narrative were the narrative of MY life! But my little body will soon fall into the background now" (Chap. 3). This does not turn out to be true.

Dickens claimed in the Preface to the volume edition of Bleak House (it was initially released in parts) that he had "purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things". And some remarkable things do happen: One character, Krook, smells of brimstone and eventually dies of spontaneous human combustion, attributed to his evil nature. Using spontaneous human combustion to dispose of Krook in the story was controversial. The nineteenth century was part of the Age of Reason; people during the nineteenth century considered scientific and medical endeavour highly admirable. Spontaneous human combustion was rejected by medical doctors and scientists during the nineteenth century, as it is now. When the instalment of Bleak House containing Krook\'s demise appeared, the literary critic George Henry Lewes criticized Dickens, saying that he had perpetuated a vulgar and unscientific superstition. Dickens vigorously defended the reality of spontaneous human combustion and cited many documented cases such as those of Mme. Millet of Rheims and of the Countess di Bandi, as well as his own memories of coroners\' inquests that he had attended when he had been a journalist/reporter. In the preface of the book edition of Bleak House Dickens wrote:

"I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable Spontaneous Combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received."

George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton, consider Bleak House to be the best novel that Charles Dickens wrote. As Chesterton put it: "\'Bleak House\' is not certainly Dickens\'s best book; but perhaps it is his best novel."

Harold Bloom in his book The Western Canon, also considers Bleak House to be Dickens\' greatest novel.

"Forgery, drugs, murder, and blackmail run rampant until Inspector Bucket puts a stop to it. Bleak House is the first novel in which a detective plays a significant role."Roseman, Mill et al. Detectionary. New York: Overlook Press, 1971. ISBN 0-87951-041-2

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Bleak House in Broadstairs, Kent, where Dickens wrote David Copperfield and other novels.

In the silent film era, it was filmed in 1920 and 1922. A later version starred Sybil Thorndike as Lady Dedlock.

The BBC has produced three television adaptations of Bleak House. The first version was broadcast in eleven half-hour episodes;"Bleak House" (1959) the second, starring Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott, was broadcast as an eight-part series in 1985;"Bleak House" (1985) (mini) and the third was broadcast in fifteen episodes in 2005."Bleak House" (2005) This last version starred Gillian Anderson, Anna Maxwell Martin, and Charles Dance, among others. Both the 1985 version and the 2005 versions are available on DVD in the UK and the US.

The BBC also adapted the book for radio.

Original publication

Like most Dickens novels, Bleak House was published in 20 monthly instalments, each containing 32 pages of text and two illustrations by Phiz (the last two being published together as a double issue). Each cost one shilling, except for the last (double issue), which cost two shillings.

Instalment	Date of publication	Chapters
I	March 1852	1–4
II	April 1852	5–7
III	May 1852	8–10
IV	June 1852	11–13
V	July 1852	14–16
VI	August 1852	17–19
VII	September 1852	20–22
VIII	October 1852	23–25
IX	November 1852	26–29
X	December 1852	30–32
XI	January 1853	33–35
XII	February 1853	36–38
XIII	March 1853	39–42
XIV	April 1853	43–46
XV	May 1853	47–49
XVI	June 1853	50–53
XVII	July 1853	54–56
XVIII	August 1853	57–59
XIX–XX	September 1853	60–67

See also

• Detective fiction
• Bleak House (1985 TV serial)
• Bleak House (2005 TV serial)

References

• Crafts, Hannah; Gates, Jr, Henry Louis (Ed), 2002. The Bondswoman\'s Narrative. Warner Books. ISBN 0-7628-7682-4

• Calkins, Carroll C. (Project Editor), 1982. Mysteries of the Unexplained. The Reader\'s Digest Association, Inc. Pleasantville, New York.

• Holdsworth, William S.: "Charles Dickens as a Legal Historian" Published in 1928 by Yale University Press. Contains detailed information on the workings of the Court of Chancery

External links

Charles Dickens Portal

Online editions

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Bleak House

• Bleak House, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Bleak House – complete book in HTML one page for each chapter.
• Bleak House — HTML Searchable HTML version.
• Bleak House — Easy to read HTML version.
• Bleak House The complete English text.
• Free Internet Cliffnotes on Bleak House.
• Bleak House Annotated On-line Resources for Bleak House
• 872 Reprinted Pieces, available at Project Gutenberg. "The Detective Police", "Three Detective Anecdotes", "On Duty with Inspector Field". Last piece first publ (June 1841) Household Words

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Works by Charles Dickens
Novels:	The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837) Â· Oliver Twist (1837–1839) Â· The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839) Â· The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841) Â· Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of \'Eighty (1841) Â· A Christmas Carol (1843) Â· Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–1844) Â· The Chimes (1844) Â· The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) Â· The Battle of Life (1846) Â· Dombey and Son (1846–1848) Â· The Haunted Man (1848) Â· David Copperfield (1849–1850) Â· Bleak House (1852–1853) Â· Hard Times (1854) Â· Little Dorrit (1855–1857) Â· A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Â· Great Expectations (1860–1861) Â· Our Mutual Friend (1864–1865) Â· The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished) (1870)
Short stories:	"A Child\'s Dream of a Star" (1850) Â· "Captain Murderer" Â· "A Christmas Tree" (1850) Â· "What Christmas is, as We Grow Older" (1851) Â· "The Poor Relation\'s Story" (1852) Â· "The Child\'s Story" (1852) Â· "The Schoolboy\'s Story" (1853) Â· "Nobody\'s Story" (1853) Â· "The Seven Poor Travellers" (1854) Â· "The Holly-tree Inn" (1855) Â· "The Wreck of the Golden Mary" (1856) Â· "The Perils of Certain English Prisoners" (1857) Â· "Going into Society" (1858) Â· "The Haunted House" (1859) Â· "A Message from the Sea" (1860) Â· "Tom Tiddler\'s Ground" (1861) Â· "Somebody\'s Luggage" (1862) Â· "Mrs Lirriper\'s Lodgings" (1863) Â· "Mrs Lirriper\'s Legacy" (1864) Â· "Doctor Marigold\'s Prescriptions" (1865) Â· "Mugby Junction" (1866) Â· "No Thoroughfare" (1867) Â· "George Silverman\'s Explanation" Â· "Holiday Romance" Â· "Hunted Down" Â· "The Lamplighter" Â· "The Signal-Man" (1866) Â· "Sunday Under Three Heads" Â· "The Trial for Murder" Â· "A House to Let" (1858) Â· "The Long Voyage" (1853)
Other works	Sketches by Boz (1836) Â· Master Humphrey\'s Clock (1840–1841) Â· American Notes (1842) Â· Pictures from Italy (1844–1845) Â· The Life of Our Lord (1846, published in 1934) Â· A Child\'s History of England (1851–1853) Â· The Uncommercial Traveller (1860–1869) Â· In Memoriam W. M. Thackeray the first! Â· A Coal Miner\'s Evidence

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

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