Bleak House: Chapters 1 - 10

[Luffy Sempai]

I found this second chapter easier. Recently I discovered the proper way to pronounce Michaelmas. I like that Dickens uses it in a few or maybe all of his novels.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Rod - Nice point about the "horn" in Tulkinghorn indicating a dinosaur which is dangerous with its horn.

With the megalosaurus of the fog, and the lawyers, it seems as though we might have hit on an unusual prehistoric motif. It would be apt for Charles Dickens to choose to keep prehistoric era and dinosaurs in our minds for Chancery, and those who administer it.

As Fiona says, it suits this old lawyer very well. Charles Dickens often describes Mr. Tulkinghorn as rusty too, which adds another dimension.

Shirley - Yes, Michaelmas Term is completely separate from the festival, but I'm not surprised google didn't help. Glad you're enjoying it - great observations - and hope you can read chapter 2 today or soon :)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

John - Sara's right :) Plus ... the reason Charles Dickens included the dowry which had been dragging on for years, rather than a routine lawyer's matter we might expect with the aristocracy, e.g. to do with maintenance, lands or tenants, was precisely because is is ludicrous that it should have dragged on so long. This novel is about interminable cases in Chancery which never reach an end. Here he is coupling it with Lady Dedlock's boredom, and ennui about it all.

Yes, I think anyone who finds Charles Dickens's writing "boring" is looking for something else! And not willing to give it the attention ... But in terms of plot construction and language, Bleak House is about the most challenging and complex novel. Dramatisations simplify it considerably.

That's why I admire anyone who is not used to Victorian novels, or 19th century English, yet tackles the text of this one! You really do find something new in it every time you read it :)

Luffy - great! Whenever there is conversation, you may find that the words flow a little easier for you. Otherwise, when Charles Dickens's language becomes harder to fathom, you always have my summary, to get the highlights :) I think you'll enjoy tomorrow's chapter too.

[Nisa]

Today I could read first and second chapter. I can't say I 'm into story yet. Jean, If it weren't for your summaries (I'm thankful for summaries they're very helpful) and everyone's comments I don't think I would find this chapters interesting. But background informations and comments really makes it more interesting.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Thanks Nisa! I am so glad they are useful. And I do think you will find chapter 3 more interesting :) Hopefully you will get into the story then.

[Daniela]

I have seen the BBC series, so for me Lady Dedlock has Gillian Anderson's face, and reading the description I think she was perfect for that part.
How do you pronounce Michaelmas? 😄 I thought it was like the name "Michael" plus "mas", is it not so?

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

"Mick - ull - mass."

[Petra]

I found Chapter 2 very interesting.

I had to laugh at the descriptions of the Dedlock's and, like Paul, I loved that quote about the mauseleums and Tulkinghorn's ability to hold dark secrets forever.

My Lady Dedlock's reaction points to a secret that even those who can read her so well do not know, including her husband. What secret has she held all these years?

Could her suit be linked to the suit in Chapter 1? If so, that brings up a few interesting questions, especially, how are grandfather (who blew his brains out) and Lady Dedlock connected?

There's more to Lady Dedlock than fashion. She's deeper than that.

Dickens is setting this up nicely. I have so many questions already and a few tentative connections (that may or may not pan out. Dickens loves to tease his readers and keep them guessing).

[Daniela]

Bionic Jean wrote: ""Mick - ull - mass.""

Thank you!

[Kathleen]

Paul wrote: "What kind of creative genius can describe the quantity and upper crust nature of confidences held by a lawyer like this?

“There are noble Mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks, among the growing timer and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn."

I couldn't agree more, Paul, and am so intrigued by this character--sort of tradition come to life (barely); a mausoleum where secrets go to die!

I'm also very interested in Dickens' use of present tense, beginning with that declarative opening of Chapter one that put us in the time and place. I think you mentioned it earlier, Jean, and I can't remember if you said it was not a common approach in novels of the time?

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

It's not common Kathleen - and Charles Dickens only uses it sparingly, for effect. Sometimes you can find yourself reading and not realise why it feels so close, and then it hits you - Wow!

The next chapter has an even bigger surprise! (Not try to get anyone to skip ahead of course - just whetting your appetite :) )

[Piyangie]

I'm concentrating on the symbology this time. The fog in chapter 1 seems an indicator as to what would follow. I really liked Dickens's descrpition of fog surrounding the Court of Chancery. Like one cannot see anything clearly through the fog, Dickens seems to be saying that the Court of Chancery cannot see clearly through its dense legal procedures, the procedures that prolong the Chancery suits.

[Diane]

I'll limit my participation today to a logistical question. How is Sir Leicester's name pronounced? I hate to go through the whole book saying it wrong.

[Luffy Sempai]

Diane wrote: "I'll limit my participation today to a logistical question. How is Sir Leicester's name pronounced? I hate to go through the whole book saying it wrong."

The city of Leicester is pronounced 'lester'.

[Natalie]

I liked learning about Michaelmas term. I'd never noticed it as a time reference before. I think I always thought it meant "Christmas" too.

I'm rereading Persuasion right now and just this morning I read, "Michaelmas came; and now Anne's heart must be in Kellynch again...She could not think of much else on the 29th of September.

I would not have noticed that if we hadn't had the conversation here. Thank you for the enlightenment.

[Lori]

My favorite description of Lady Dedlock was this:

She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn.

And isn't it interesting that she thinks those who wait on her are respectful to the point of submission but they ...can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby...

I'm definitely curious to know what, other than fashion, motivates her and what her purpose will be. Dickens has given us lots to consider.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Shirley - Glad you're enjoying it - great observations - and hope you can read chapter 2 today or soon :)..."

Thank you, Jean! I will try to keep up. I’ve had unexpected guests come in for a few days.

[Jim]

I often find that reading Dickens while concurrently reading other novels can reduce one's enjoyment of the other works; very few writers have ever been able to match Dickens' scintillating prose. Bleak House is no exception. Right from the opening paragraph, we know that we’re reading the work of a master at his craft. Dickens immerses us in the fog and stink and mud of mid-19th century London. And having painted the scene, he proceeds to pillory the self-serving organization of lawyers in Chancery, delivering a delicious blend of irony, condemnation and ridicule.

[Natalie]

Initially I was thinking that I didn't enjoy Chapter 2 as much as Chapter 1, but as I read through your comments and insights and organized my own thoughts, I realized how rich this chapter is. So full of description and fascinating characters.

So many of you pointed out Lady Dedlock noticing the handwriting, and I'll be honest, I didn't think anything of it. I took her at her word that she was just trying to escape a dull conversation. :D All of your insights made me go back and look through that scene again.

I had a question right from the beginning regarding this paragraph:

Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously!

Could someone explain what he was trying to convey with these comparisons? I don't think I quite understood his meaning. Maybe they are lethargic and sleeping while life hurls on around them? I really wasn't sure.

Later Dickens says, "But the evil of it is that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller's cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun."

That line also indicates that they are oblivious to what's happening in the "real world."

My favorite imagery in this chapter was how wet and sodden down everything was. It adds to the dreary feeling.

The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain.

The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman's axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall.

On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves.

The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. And when they will next come forth again, the fashionable intelligence—which, like the fiend, is omniscient of the past and present, but not the future—cannot yet undertake to say.

A lot of us seemed to notice that paragraph about the "smell and taste." That sets such a brilliant mood.

The aspect that struck me the most about Lady Dedlock was when she was looking out the window and saw the child and then, "says she has been 'bored to death.'" I wondered if that meant she felt sad about not having children, or there was some tragedy in her past involving children.

I was giggling quite a bit through the description of Sir Leicester.

His family is as old as the hills, and infinitely more respectable.

He would on the whole admit nature to be a good idea (a little low, perhaps, when not enclosed with a park-fence), but an idea dependent for its execution on your great county families.

He is an honourable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly unreasonable man.

A whisper still goes about that she had not even family; howbeit, Sir Leicester had so much family that perhaps he had enough and could dispense with any more.

I was also amused at the imagery of Lady Dedlock being hotly pursued by the fashionable intelligence. After Dickens said that she fell into a freezing mood. I couldn't help but picture her as a rather cold and hard woman.

I also got the idea that the Dedlocks, like the Courts of Fashion and Chancery, are out of touch with the world. They are wealthy and unworried about the cares that concern others.

It happens that the fire is hot where my Lady sits and that the hand-screen is more beautiful than useful, being priceless but small.

My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention.

She supposes herself to be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary mortals—seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so.

These are just all my jumbled, initial thoughts. From what I gather from all of you Dickens experts, Dickens has a way of surprising you. :)

[Natalie]

Lori - I liked that description of Lady Dedlock too. Dickens has such an amusing way of describing people.

[Bridget]

This phrase caught my attention "at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain"

It is repeated verbatim twice in the Chapter. The first is at the beginning of the second paragraph, the second is just before Tulkinghorn is introduced in the paragraph that begins "With all her perfections on her head"

What should we make of this repetition? It gives the feeling of how the fashionable newspapers might have reported on her life. But also ending it with "uncertain" feels foreboding,

[Bridget]

One other phrase is making me curious. Right after the Rip Van Winkle & Sleeping Beauty references we have "whom the Knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously". Isn't Sir Leicester a Knight? Could this be alluding to a possible future turn of events in the plot that involve Sir Leicester?

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Natalie - I'll try to pick up your questions ...

"Maybe they are lethargic and sleeping while life hurls on around them?"

Not quite ... Charles Dickens is saying that Chancery is stuck in a groove of "precedent" and "usage" - it will go on as it has been doing, regardless of how the world changes. It's a comment on the old order of tradition and noble families represented by the Dedlocks, and the coming world of the Industrial Age, and progress.

"That line also indicates that they are oblivious to what's happening in the "real world.""

Yes, that's closer :)

"After Dickens said that she fell into a freezing mood. I couldn't help but picture her as a rather cold and hard woman."

No, it is appearance. Remember that we've just been told that everyone can twist Lady Dedlock round their little finger, for all her haughty demeanour. Lady Dedlock is a great lady, married to an aristocrat, so is expected to have a certain bearing and grace, and hold herself aloof from the common people.

Interestingly, Charles Dickens himself was not entirely happy with that word, and changed it from "but rather the freezing" to "but rather into the freezing"

Bridget - this first part about tradition answers yours too! It's a metaphor. The knight, is progress, which will kick the "old order" into the Industrial Revolution i.e. make the "stopped spits turn[...] prodigiously."

Of course it could also refer to Sir Leicester, in a double meaning ... we'll have to wait and see!

[Lori]

Bridget wrote: "This phrase caught my attention "at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain"

It is repeated ve..."

Bridget. I am so glad you made this point because I was certain this was repeated twice and searched but could only find one. It stood out to me as well and I can't help thinking it's important because Dickens repeats it.

I like what you have surmised about this. I can't come up with anything different.

[Natalie]

Thank you Jean!

[Petra]

Natalie wrote: "The aspect that struck me the most about Lady Dedlock was when she was looking out the window and saw the child and then, "says she has been 'bored to death.'" ..."

Natalie, this scene struck me, too. I wondered if it somehow will, at some point, tie into the boy and girl in Chapter 1. Children seem to be a background, but important, part of this story, being mentioned in both introductory chapters.
I hadn't thought about Lady Dedlock being sad about not having children. That is another interesting idea to ponder.

[Petra]

Bridget wrote: "This phrase caught my attention "at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain"
..."

I'm reading on an ereader and when this was repeated I thought I'd accidently gone back a few pages. It did strike me as odd that this would be repeated twice. It seems like such a small detail.
I'm not sure what to make of it, other than having to pay attention when Lady Dedlock leaves for Paris and what she does there.

[Sue]

I was struck by the repetition of that statement too, with its seeming emphasis on future uncertainty. It led me to question a lot of facts we are presented with in this chapter.

Another aspect of Dickens’ writing I’m enjoying is the use of nature imagery to describe human and man-made situations. There is the fog of London and the fog of the courts which apparently is destroying people’s lives. Out in the country, rain, water, mud are making life uncomfortable, impassable and, in its own way, difficult to see what’s really happening. So the Dedlocks will leave.

We haven’t discussed class differences yet, and I don’t know if/how they might figure in this book, but only the wealthy can escape their environment. Others must find a way to function in spite of it. Of course, even these wealthy individuals may bring some of that English weather with the them, inside, when they travel.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Great observations all, especially picking up the repetition Bridget :)

"We haven’t discussed class differences yet, and I don’t know if/how they might figure in this book,"

Fear not, Sue, they feature in every single Charles Dickens novel :D Tomorrow will begin ...

[Natalie]

Sue, I was thinking about that too. How the wealthy don’t have to worry about how long court cases will take - they can pay lawyers to think about. And like you said, they can just pack up and move when things get uncomfortable. Same things still going on today.

I did not notice that phrase being repeated, thanks to everyone for bringing it up.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Bridget - by the way, in England a baronet ranks below barons, but above all knights.

[Greg]

I enjoyed this chapter very much.

Thanks Jean and everyone for your posts - most of what I would say has already been covered beautifully! Like Natalie, I found the description of Sir Leicester especially entertaining.

What a nightmare I would find it to have to follow the fashion like Lady Dedlock though! Dickens mirrored my own thoughts when he wrote:

"Across the hall, and up the stairs, and along the passages, and through the rooms, which are very brilliant in the season and very dismal out of it—fairy-land to visit, but a desert to live in . . . ."

I would find it a desert for sure, something without any real sustinence, without the water that gives true life.

Along those lines, I like later when Dickens calls the table next to Lady Dedlock "the golden talisman of a table." It's a minor detail, but the word "talisman" is perfect here, an object of magical and irrational power.

I suppose even this little table has become something akin to magical, by the mere custom of its use. The thing itself by the nature of its accustomed use has acquired a power of its own beyond what reason would dictate. The letters must be placed there. Everything is covered by a miasma of magical thinking, whether by the vagaries of fashion or the demands of tradition.

Anyway, I am eager to read more tomorrow! Like Sara and others, I want to find out why Lady Dedlock was so captivated by that mysterious writing!

[Bridget]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Bridget - by the way, in England a baronet ranks below barons, but above all knights."

That's great information, thanks Jean!

[Paul]

Lisa the Celtic Bluestocking wrote: " I'm glad others noticed the repetition of that particular statement about Lady Dedlock's plans"

I'm reading in hard copy and, when I read it, the repetition was so jarring (I was indulging in my 3rd glass of wine at the time), I thought perhaps I had fallen asleep, lost my place, and fallen back a page or two. I actually flipped back to make sure I was reading where I was supposed to be reading, LOL!

I'm still wondering why Dickens chose to repeat the words so carefully like that!!

[Lee]

I have begun the discussion and group at long last! My Goodreads page showed I had read Bleak House "before", even giving it a ranking. This must have been a ghost writing for me, making fun of my clumsiness in using Goodreads.

Interesting fact for me: My Grandfather Gregory, who died before I was born, was BORN in 1869! This was of course only 17 years after Charles Dickens wrote Bleak House. Grandfather was born in Virginia, and I know very little about him. But his son my father loved Charles Dickens, and I can only speculate that he was influenced by his father Benjamin.

I am a genealogy buff, so this little fact has been swirling around in my head all day. By the way, I am a young 67 year old woman living in Texas.

Greetings!

[Sam]

I came back to the forum to post my thoughts on chapter two after a Sunday escape only to find over 30 messages. What joy!!

Again, I was impressed with Dickens prose while reading this chapter. My last two Dickens' reads, Pickwick Papers and Curiosity Shop were early works. It is a pleasure to see his growth as a writer reading this work.

Many of you mentioned the third paragraph with Sara pointing out Dickens' wonderful phrased line describing the smell at Lady Dedlock's place. I would like to draw attention to that line and what immediately follows. What follows is sentence that begins "My Lady Dedlock (who is childless)..." The sentence then has a long adjectival phrase describing Lady Dedlock as she looks from her window at a scene unfolding outside at the keeper's lodge. It is twilight and the lodge windows show firelight through the glass and a young child runs from the lodge into the rain to meet a man coming through the lodge gate and the child is being chased by the mother. The sentence continues with the predicate, " has been put quite out of temper," referring to Lady Dedlock's mood changing while looking at the scene. Finally the paragraph ends with with Lady Dedlock saying she has been "bored to death," quotation by Dickens. This is a wonderfully written paragraph but those last sentences beginning with the "smell and taste of ancient Dedlocks in their graves," really reach another level. There is so much going on and such economy and I was going to talk about all that but let's just look at the parenthetical statement. Notice how it doesn't really flow with the rest of the paragraph and kind of prompts us to wonder why it is there. I haven't read this novel before but am aware it is thought by some as Dickens best and it is writing like this that justifies that thought, When I read that paragraph, with the parenthetical statement and what followed, it felt like Dickens was reaching out from the page, grabbing my ears, pulling my head toward the book and, shouting "Pay Attention!" Maybe nothing will come of it, but even if not it got me wanting to read more.

[Lee]

Greg wrote: "Just finished the first chapter:

I love how the Lord High Chancellor is first introduced! He appears with "foggy glory round his head," almost like an unholy halo. And his vision itself is blinker..."
Hello, Greg. I quote: "”A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application "to purge himself of his contempt," . I wonder if the expression "to purge...of his contempt" refers to the legal proclamation of contempt of court. I can imagine the Lord High Chancellor, as he finds the proceedings repeatedly interrupted, must repeatedly charge petitioners or "prisoners" with contempt of court.

So Dickens frequently says one thing, while he is quietly implying other facets to every detail. Every word is purposeful.

[Lee]

Bionic Jean wrote: "What an opening! The one word sentence: “London”, brought me up sharp, as if this was going to be the heading of a factual piece. We then move through an amazingly atmospheric description of the fo..."

I love your introduction, Jean, and I would like to expand here upon the topic of metaphors. Dickens expands upon the fog imagery with repeated metaphors for death "In Chancery". I will pull out a few images: "smoke lowering down" (as into a grave)? Continue throughout the chapter: "soft black drizzle"; "snow-flakes ... gone into mourning... for the death of the sun"; the High Court so dim "with wasting candles here and there".

The beautiful description of stained glass windows, created for their scattering of light and color in a profusion of beauty, Dickens employs for contrast of light and dark.
"Well may the stained glass windows lose their color, and admit no light of day into the place". For anyone who has toured the kirks and castles of Scotland, and found the stained glass windows to be murky dark smudges when the light does not catch them, you will understand the spiritual disappointment of large rooms with no color.

It goes on through the chapter, and whether this is called use of metaphor in these repeated images of death, or just rich imagery I confess I do not know. However, "This is the Court of Chancery; ...decaying houses...and its dead in every churchyard".

I will let our readers find their own remaining references to death "In Chancery". In the Oxford Edition which I am using temporarily, you will read near the end of the chapter (p 14) "Jarndyce and Jarndyce ... has been death to many". And finally, in the last line of the chapter: "If all the injustice it has committed, and all the misery it has caused, could only be locked up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre, ---- why, so much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce"!

[Lee]

Diane wrote: "This is my first long read with the group, and it has taken me longer to read the comments than the first chapter itself! Nice to see such enthusiastic participation. I did love the very atmospheri..."
I agree. I am starting 2 days late, and I spent the afternoon reading the intro by Jean, all the comments relating to Ch 1, and writing my own comment (which has disappeared).
Keeping up with comments is a task indeed!

[Luffy Sempai]

Just read Chapter 3. Waiting for Jean to post. I'm very ebullient about the book now.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Wow! I'm amazed by the comments I've just read, and thank you all, Greg, Lee and Sam, for these close observations and fantastic erudition. We could indeed spend a long time examining just these two chapters, and I'd love to respond in detail, but Luffy and others I'm sure await the next post!

So can I urge you all to read the previous three comments, as they do add another level to our reading. As more than one member has said, every single word Charles Dickens writes here is loaded with meaning. This is why many critics consider Bleak House to be his greatest novel.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chapter 3: A Progress

We hear Esther's story, and meet the wards of Jarndyce.

We now switch narrators, and meet Esther Summerson, who is to write her “portion of these pages”. In the first sentence Esther tells us “I am not clever.” She proceeds to tells us the story of her life so far.

When she was little, Esther’s only friend was her doll. Esther was raised by her godmother, helped by their one servant Mrs. Rachael. Her godmother was a:

“good, good woman who went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; and never missed.”

Esther says that her godmother was always very grave and strict. She knows that if her godmother had smiled, she would have looked like an angel, but she never does smile, because the badness of other people makes her frown. Esther feels poor, inadequate and unworthy, so she continues to confide in Dolly, her only friend, even though she is at school with seven other little girls.

Esther Summerson has never known her parents, and wonders why her birthday is never celebrated, like those of the other children she knows:

“My birthday was the most melancholy day at home in the whole year.”

One day on her birthday she sees her godmother:

“looking gloomily at me, ”It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!””

In anguish, and frightened, Esther asks her godmother whether her mother had died while giving birth to her. But her godmother refuses to answer, other than to talk about “these evil anniversaries”. She tells her to pray and says coldly:

“Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers. The time will come—and soon enough—when you will understand this better and will feel it too, as no one save a woman can.”

Esther now has guilt to add to all her feelings of inadequacy.

One day, Esther is summoned by her godmother who is entertaining a guest:



"I am introduced to Conversation Kenge" - Fred Barnard 1873

He is a portly, important-looking gentleman dressed all in black. Esther is asked to remove her bonnet so that the gentleman may have a good look at her. Esther does so, and is then dismissed.

Two years later, when Esther is almost 14 years old, she is reading aloud from the Bible, about a sinful woman who had been stoned, when her godmother suddenly collapses, quoting another part of the Bible. She becomes ill and never recovers:

“To the very last, and even afterwards, her frown remained unsoftened.”

On the day after her godmother’s death, the portly pleasant-looking gentleman reappears, and introduces himself as Mr. Kenge of the “Kenge and Carboys” law firm. He informs Esther that her godmother, Miss Barbary, had been her aunt, and also that Esther has a patron, a Mr. John Jarndyce. Mr. Jarndyce, a humane man, will now take charge of Esther’s welfare. It is his wish to have Esther sent to a boarding school, where she will learn skills appropriate to her station: the art of being a governess. Esther is impressed by this great man, who “formed himself on the model of a great lord who was his client and … was generally called Conversation Kenge”. Mrs. Rachael has no desire to take care of Esther, so it is settled.

Esther leaves the house in Windsor where she had been raised, and sets off by coach to “Greenleaf” school, which is in Reading. Esther thinks about her godmother and begins to cry. A gruff but not unkind-looking man, with whom Esther is sharing the coach, chides her for being unreasonably unhappy, and exhorts her to put on a pleasant face and be happy. He even offers her some food, but Esther says it is too rich for her. Eventually he leaves the carriage.

Esther eventually arrives at Reading where she is greeted by a Miss Donny. Miss Donny and her twin sister are to be Esther’s guardians while she is a student and boarder at “Greenleaf”. The Miss Donnys are pleasant, and Esther is popular with the other eleven girls. In time she becomes a pupil-teacher there, which makes her feel very useful and happy.

She has been at “Greenleaf” for six happy years, when one day Esther receives a letter from Mr. Kenge, informing her that she is to leave “Greenleaf”:



Letter from Mr. Kenge - Phiz 1853

Esther will now act as a companion for a ward of Mr. Jarndyce, and they will now live at Mr. Jarndyce’s house.

Esther only has five days’ notice of leaving, and many tears are shed when Esther departs “Greenleaf”. Even the ugly lame old gardener, who had never seemed to notice her, comes running to give Esther a posy of flowers; blessing her and saying she had had been the light of his eyes. On her way to London, Esther resolves to stop crying, but to be thankful and positive, and to look forward to her new life.

When Esther arrives in London, an assistant clerk of Mr. Kenge greets her, and informs her that the dense brown smoke, which is everywhere, is a “London Particular”. As he leads Esther Summerson to Mr. Kenge’s office, she notices a churchyard, with gravestones. She is left with refreshments and a newspaper, and shown a mirror, in case she needs it. Esther takes a “peep” into the mirror but only sees a “bonnet in the glass”.

More than two hours later, Mr. Kenge comes in. He is pleasantly surprised at Esther’s appearance since he last saw her, and is kind and reassuring. He tells her that the business with the Lord High Chancellor is a mere formality. The Lord High Chancellor is to officially authorise the arrangement where Esther will become a companion of Mr. Jarndyce’s ward.

Mr. Kenge then takes Esther to introduce her to two young people, who are both to be made Mr. Jarndyce’s wards. One of them is a golden haired and blue eyed young lady, Ada Clare:

“beautiful … bright … natural, captivating, winning”

and the other is Richard Carstone, a handsome young man, who is Ada’s distant cousin. They are both orphans; Richard is about 19, and Ada is almost 2 years younger. Esther and Ada like each other on sight, and instantly become friends. Richard is “a handsome youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh”.

After a while, Mr. Kenge escorts the three young people before the Lord High Chancellor, and introduces them as the two wards of Jarndyce. The Lord High Chancellor notes their status, and comments that Mr. Jarndyce of the “dreary” sounding “Bleak House” in Hertfordshire is not married. Mr. Kenge assures him that neither the house nor Mr. Jarndyce are dreary. Esther is then introduced, and it is confirmed that she will be Ada’s companion, and that she is not related to any person in the case. This done, the Chancellor has a word in private with each of the two young wards. He is satisfied that everything is as it should be, and dismisses them all, pleasantly.

None of the three young people know where they are to go, but transportation for their journey to Bleak House has been arranged. As they wait outside for their carriage, a little old woman, approaches them, seemingly thrilled to meet the wards of Jarndyce. She behaves with great ceremony, and tells them she herself once had been a ward of Jarndyce:



"The Little Old Lady" - Phiz 1852

“I had youth and hope. I believe, beauty. It matters very little now. Neither of the three served or saved me. I have the honour to attend court regularly. With my documents. I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment”

and that it is a good omen. Richard is sure the little old woman is mad, but as Ada is frightened, and Mr. Kenge is approaching anyway, Esther decides it is best to be polite and to humour the old lady.


"The Little Old Lady, the Wards in Chancery and their companion" - Harry Furniss 1910

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

What a long chapter! For those who were expecting answers to their questions, I'm afraid Charles Dickens doesn't write like that :D Do you remember I said that the first 4 chapters are all discrete, with new characters, situations and places in each, even though they were issued in one installment? Charles Dickens gave plenty of variety and depth to his readers—and this expects a lot from us too!

So now we have met three more main characters. These first three chapters are real attention-grabbers. Straightaway we have been introduced to the pivotal point of the book, the High Court of Chancery, and the name Jarndyce. The fact that this comes into the narration time and time again shows us how important it’s going to be. Charles Dickens told us (in the Preface with a spoiler) that it is going to be about artificially drawn out lawsuits.

The first three chapters are set in three entirely different locations, with different sets of characters and events. The only connection between them seems to be this “Jarndyce and Jarndyce”, though we still have no idea what it’s all about. We learn of the traditional Lord Leicester Dedlock and the fashionably bored and languid “My Lady” Dedlock—lovely descriptions of these two.

We’ve met the mad old woman before, haven’t we, yet we still don’t know her name.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

One enormous change that hits us straightaway is that suddenly in chapter 3 we have switched from an objective narrator to to a first party narrator—a young girl called Esther Summerson. Esther’s story is so moving. She was deprived of love, or even acceptance. So we have, in a similar way to Oliver Twist, a child seemingly without parents. Perhaps then, we can expect that Bleak House will also partly be a Bildungsroman.

Esther’s only friend and confidante was a doll. The idea of making a child feel guilty for having been born—that her birthday “was the most melancholy … in the whole year”—is heart-breaking. It is made even worse by her godmother, the woman who looked after her, seeming from a child’s point of view so “good” because she went to church so often, and frowned at everybody else’s sin. A child can’t see an adult’s sanctimonious, holier-than-thou behaviour, and only thinks it must be good. Esther’s aunt reminds me very much of Mrs. Clennam in Little Dorrit—perhaps that occurred to you too, if you were part of our group read?

It’s interesting that when she goes off to school, Esther buries her doll—yet takes her bird with her in a cage. We might have expected the opposite … but in the 19C there was a large and active trade in caged birds in London, from a street market in East London which was still there until about the 1960s. Birds were the pet of choice for the poor, or people who had small residences. So Esther buried her doll before she went to “Greenleaf”, but she took her pet bird. Does she think that she won’t need Dolly as a confidante any more? Or is there something more sinister going on?

It’s also interesting that Esther is without a father and mother, although she is told that her mother did not die in childbirth. Also that Esther was told her godmother was her aunt, “in fact, though not in law”. We must take this, and all the talk of “disgrace”, to mean Esther was illegitimate.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

So what do you make of Esther Summerson? She is telling her own story in the past tense, as you will remember David did, in David Copperfield. She’s not at all like him though. Her experience also reminds me a little of the young Jane Eyre; they are similar in their lack of understanding about how they are “different” from other little girls.

But the two couldn’t be more different in their personalities. Esther is so shy she does not even look at herself in a mirror, but only at her bonnet. In fact Charles Dickens found Jane Eyre’s rebellious attitudes objectionable. And Charlotte Brontë considered Charles Dickens’s handling of Esther’s narrative to be “weak and twaddling”!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Esther’s immediate affection for Ada seems extreme, but then perhaps this is what it would be like for someone who had no demonstrations of affection in her childhood. Perhaps Charlotte Brontë particularly disliked Esther’s endearments for Ada. “My darling” and “my pet” now do seem overly sentimental, and of their time. Everyone at Greenleaf seemed to love Esther too, as if she is very intuitive—if, that is, she is reporting correctly. In fact Esther sounds so modest, and conscious of her own limits, that I wonder if she really is. Perhaps she will be an interesting example of the Victorian ideal of feminine modesty. She says:

“It seems so curious to me to be obliged to write all this about myself! As if this narrative were the narrative of life! But my little body will soon fall into the background now.”

Esther is so self-deprecating. Do we believe this, or is it false modesty? Is her humility genuine, and if so why does she go into such detail about those who love her? Is it simply because she is surprised, and grateful; that it’s so different from anything she has ever known? She came in like a breath of fresh air, after all the fog of the first two chapters. And Esther certainly seems to be both observant and naive at the same time. But as readers, our interpretation of people’s behaviour, attitudes and events might be very different from hers.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Already we have lots of mysteries … Who are Esther’s parents? What is the shameful secret and why does her godmother say what she does about Esther’s birth? Why didn’t her aunt accept Mr. Kenge’s offer to take Esther, when he first visited, if she disliked her so much? (Esther referred to “the renewal of an offer” from Mr. Kenge, after her aunt died.) What is the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce about? Why is it taking so long to resolve? Why has a distant connection, John Jarndyce, picked Esther out to favour; what are his motives? Why is the languid Lady Dedlock so interested in the handwriting on the documents? Who is the “mad” old lady, and is she really mad? You can probably think of more!

Over to you!

[Luffy Sempai]

I'm still undecided whether Esther is a well written character or an underwritten one. I think the Victorian existence played in the favor of male authors who wanted to write about women in first person POV.

Esther seems socially fine. Little is made of her academic qualities or her mental makeup. What aligns well with her childhood is her eagerness to befriend people of her own age. It remains to be seen if she will metaphorically 'bury' her new friends Ada and Richard.
I thought we would know more about Jarndyce. Maybe if his character was to be written now he would be known as Ayds? Perhaps another disease? Somehow my mind draws a blank :)

[Diane]

You are right, this chapter was like a breath of fresh air after the first two. I was wondering how much I was actually going to enjoy this, but now I'm fully invested. I am reading The Modern Library edition, and love the illustration the old lady talking to the three young people outside the court. I think Esther speaking to her indicates that Esther is ready to step in and take charge when it involves "her darling".

[Sam]

Diane used the same words I intended in describing Chapter three as a breath of fresh air. I finished the chapter and wanted to do a little dance in celebration of how much I appreciate the writing. The new perspective, character, and style must have been welcomed by the period audience and I noticed how nicely this would bring different levels of readers into the novel and how suitable the prose was for reading aloud which was more fashionable at the time.

Is Dickens paying homage to Bronte and Jane Eyre? It certainly seems so from just reading chapter three, but I need to read further.

Bionic Jean did a lovely summary and introductory notes as usual, reminding me that we met the "mad woman," before. I am afraid my memory does not hold things too well and refreshers are helpful.

One character unmentioned was Esther's coach companion who offered the plum cake. The scene was a delight and methinks that his appearance was not accidental. I expect we will see more of him.

Anyone care to venture on the significance of Esther's name?

I had not thought of the significance of the doll burial until reading Bionic Jean's notes. I did think of sentimentality and just wanted to say I think the critical backlash against sentimentality went a little too far, especially in regard to Dickens, where he seems to use it for a variety of purposes.