things she read

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Final Thoughts & Post Index

I am sooo glad I decided to join the readalong! My experience with Dickens has been a mixed one—I enjoyed part of Great Expectations but had been unable to connect with any of the other books I had tried to read. I’m not sure if this was as a result of Dickens’ style or his characters, but I was very surprised to find myself so engrossed by Bleak House so soon after starting the book. I really thought it would be a sort of personal challenge to read it to the end—will and determination to finally read it, rather than pleasure. But it was a pleasure!

I know that some readers find Esther terribly boring, but I really enjoyed her narrative and found myself looking forward to her chapters. There were so many side stories and characters in this novel that it was hard for me to keep track of them in the beginning, but Esther’s account brought them into focus for me. She is not so strong-willed as Jane Eyre, as I have previously noted in my “Blatherings,” but she is a strong character nonetheless, and stands out as an enterprising woman in her desire to prove herself useful and worthy of her companions and good fortune.

Because I was still wondering about Esther’s illness, I did some research based on the symptoms, and it likely was smallpox that she contracted… I suspected as much based on the prevalence of the disease during the time, but I had never considered the implications of having smallpox on one’s appearance. It’s terrible what it could do to you, the images I found are horribly graphic and reveal that the pox rash often spread on the face and extremities, making it near impossible to hide the subsequent scarring. I can now understand why Esther takes so much note of her lost beauty—I just thought she looked worn after her illness.

So, enough blathering. Mission accomplished and all that.

Post Index

Part 1 – Chapters 1 – 7
Part 2 – Chapters 8 – 13
Part 3 – Chapters 14 – 19
Part 4 – Chapters 20 – 25
Part 5 – Chapters 26 – 32
Part 6 – Chapters 33 – 38
Part 7 – Chapters 39 – 46
Part 8 – Chapters 47 – 53
Part 9 – Chapters 54 – 59
Part 10 – Chapters 60 – 67

The Bleak House Read-Along was hosted by Amanda at The Zen Leaf.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Chapters 60-67

And Mr. Guppy reverts back to his usual manner, though I did find Mr. Jarndyce’s reaction to Mrs. Guppy’s efforts to remove him from his own home rather funny.

I was intrigued by the picture of the fallen country house at the end of the novel when the narrator returns to Chesney Wold and considers the great mausoleum that houses the Dedlocks of old. Such a contrast is made between the middle class world of the now married Woodcourts in their happy little Bleak House, and the empty, forbidding estate. Mr. Boythorn’s kind antagonism toward Sir Leicester continues to illustrate the unerring goodness of that man, while Mr. Skimpole’s end only serves to complete a picture of grasping greed.

I finally warmed to Richard and Ada in these final chapters. They seemed so inconsequential throughout the novel, despite their part in the Jarndyce case and Richard’s misguided actions. While Ada remained a quiet figure, her hopes for the future made her come alive as a character for me. Until this point, Ada remained a sort of set piece in Esther’s narrative, too passive to play a proper supporting role. Despite Esther’s humility, I thought her a well-rounded character who grows and develops. Ada never really seemed important until the end, though it was only through Richard’s slow demise that she came into her own. It’s strange that this should be, that only as a result of Richard’s descent into the Cause do we see Ada take action. Poor Richard, poor Ada.

I felt this line perfectly summed up Richard’s experience:
There is a ruin of youth which is not like age; and into such a ruin, Richard’s youth and youthful beauty had fallen away.

But, returning to the now married Woodcourts… Happily, Mr. Jarndyce’s goodness inspires him to dissolve his engagement with Esther, allowing her to accept Mr. Woodcourt’s offer. I still wonder about Esther’s illness and her reference to her loss of beauty, but this is no impediment to her union with Mr. Woodcourt and their merry life at the new Bleak House. In her simple life, Esther reaps the real reward brought about by the end of the Jarndyce trial, while Ada takes her place as the new Fitz-Jarndyce (as Miss Flite would say).

The Bleak House Read-Along is hosted by Amanda at The Zen Leaf.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Chapters 54-59

Aha! Hortense is found out and Mr. Bucket gets his suspect.

Mr. Guppy has finally redeemed himself for being a shallow, self-serving little toad. He has admirably preserved Esther’s honor and carried out her wishes not to stir up trouble, and now he has acted honorably and warned Lady Dedlock about the possibility of Mr. Smallweed’s possessing her letters to Hawdon, and trying to profit off them.

Lady Dedlock remains cold as ever, but I found this passage on her character to be a satisfying explanation of her manner:

In truth, she is not a hard lady naturally; and the time has been when the sight of the venerable figure sueing to her with such strong earnestness would have moved her to great compassion. But, so long accustomed to suppress emotion, and keep down reality; so long schooled for her own purposes, in that destructive school which shuts up the natural feelings of the heart, like flies in amber, and spreads one uniform and dreary gloss over the good and bad, the feeling and the unfeeling, the sensible and the senseless; she has subdued even her wonder until now.

But back to Mr. Bucket. I was really impressed by the sudden turn that the story took into the arena of Holmesian detective fiction. I can now see why this is considered a precursor to the development of that genre. I couldn’t sleep for want of getting to the heart of the mystery and very nearly stayed up all night just to know what was going to happen to Lady Dedlock. Unfortunately, no good could come of it, but Mr. Bucket proved his mettle as a detective and Esther proved her worth as a woman of good sense. The shifts from omniscient to first person narration as the narrative went from Mr. Bucket’s experience to Esther’s added a sense of urgency and suspense to the plot that made these chapters fly.

I found myself suddenly endearing myself to Sir Leicester Dedlock when he learned of his Lady’s past. His forgiveness and sorrow showed a side of their relationship, and his devotion, that was hinted at throughout the novel but really came to the surface after her disappearance. I naively hoped for a better ending for the Dedlock’s, but it was not to be.

The Bleak House Read-Along is hosted by Amanda at The Zen Leaf.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Chapters 39-46

Some thoughts…

I’ve always found Mr. Guppy a bit sleazy in his manner toward Esther, and his reaction to her disfigurement certainly confirmed this.

Mr. Tulkinghorn is still up to no good. Mr. Smallweed remains as weedy as ever. And Lady Dedlock’s former maid expresses her r-r-r-rage with French eloquence.

And then the story gets really good….

A confrontation between Mr. Tulkinghorn and Lady Dedlock brings matters to a head, revealing all manner of details about Lady Dedlock’s past [mis]deeds and placing her at Mr. Tulkinghorn’s mercy.

Oh boy, Mr. Skimpole’s family is just as clueless as him. Poor Mrs. Skimpole.

I like Esther. I like Mr. Jarndyce. I don’t like that Esther is so self-deprecating that she settles for the idea of becoming mistress of Bleak House as a means of thanking Mr. Jarndyce for his care, though I can understand how this would have been a fine option for a woman of no means at the time. I often think of Esther as being a little like Jane Eyre or Marian from The Woman in White. She has nothing to call her own and owes her keeping to another. Jane is fortunate enough to have an uncommon sense of adventure and independance; Marian is somewhat more constrained in her options. Esther, in turn, is a nobody–a poor woman with no relations to claim her as their own and no prospects or particular talents. She is too genteel to be a proper housekeeper like Mrs. Rouncewell, and frequently notes how little she can teach Caddy and Charley. Esther is terribly limited by her circumstances, and Dickens is no Bronte (take your pick of any of the sisters). Will Mr. Woodcourt come around despite Esther’s change? I hope so…

The Bleak House Read-Along is hosted by Amanda at The Zen Leaf.

Note: Apologies to fellow readers/bloggers for lack of commenting. It’s mid-term project time and have been keeping busy with assignments and such . Will get back to posting soon…