Bleak House - Life, Work and Ethics
Bleak House (1852-3)
Written by the English novelist, Charles Dickens (1812-70), pictured right
below, as an attack on the English legal system.
Fun facts
- First published as a monthly serial (March 1852 to September 1853).
- One of the first murder mysteries.
- BBC TV has adapted it twice in 1985 and 2005.
Key characters
Esther (Summerson), orphan and housekeeper at Bleak House.
John Jarndyce, owner of Bleak House and guardian of Esther, Ada (Clare) and
Richard (Cardstone).
Lady Dedlock,married to Sir Leicester Dedlock, a rich landowner.
Mr Tulkinghorn, an evil lawyer.
Allan Woodcourt, Jarndyce’s doctor and friend.
The story
Esther, Ada and Richard are looked after by their
guardian, John Jarndyce (Denis Lawson, pictured right in the 2005 BBC adaptation), in his
home, Bleak House.
Ada and Richard’s possible inheritance is being resolved by a years long case in the Court of Chancery,
Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
A lawyer, Mr Tulkinghorn, shows one of its documents to his client, a rich landowner,
Sir Leicester Dedlock and his wife, Lady Dedlock, who recognizes its
handwriting.
Intrigued, Tulkinghorn then discovers that the writer was a man called Nemo whom he finds
dead. He tells Lady Dedlock about him and one of his acquaintances, a young street urchin,
Joe.
Helped by police Inspector Bucket, Tulkinghorn continues his investigations
Tulkinghorn offers Nemo’s friend,, George Rouncewell, money for some of his handwriting. He
refuses, despite owing money to a nasty moneylender, Grandfather Smallweed.
Meanwhile Esther refuses an offer of marriage from a lawyer’s clerk, Mr Guppy.
Richard decides to be a doctor and then a lawyer. But he is more interested in the Jarndyce case, because he
thinks it will make him rich.
In London, Esther befriends a poor orphan girl, Charlotte, who is looking after her two young
siblings. Esther falls in love with a young doctor, Mr Woodcourt, after being told by Jarndyce
that she was brought up by her aunt.
A mysterious lady (later revealed to be a disguised Lady Dedlock) approaches Joe and asks him
to show her where Nemo is buried.
Esther meets Lady Dedlock and her French maid, Madamoiselle Hortense. She quits after another
maid, Rosa, becomes the favourite of Lady Dedlock who is told by Guppy that Esther’s and Nemo’s
real surname is Hawdon. She realizes that Esther is her daughter.
Esther finds Joe with smallpox, nurses him at Bleak House and catches it herself, badly scarring her
face.
Lady Dedlock tells Esther she is her mother, but she must tell no one and never see her
again.
Meanwhile Smallweed demands payment from Rouncewell and Mr. and Mrs. Bagnet, who borrowed money
on Rouncewell's behalf.
Desperate, Rouncewell tells Tulkinghorn he will give him Nemo’s (Hawdon’s) handwriting, if the Bagnets are left
alone.
Richard falls out with Jarndyce after he criticizes him for his obsession with the case.
Tulkinghorn visits Lady Dedlock, tells her he knows her secret and stops her from running away. He is then
visited by Madamoiselle Hortense, whom he uses to spy on Lady Dedlock, but he refuses to find her another job.
Jarndyce asks Esther to marry him, and she accepts. She then sees Mr Woodcourt again who helps Joe but Joe sadly
dies soon after.
Tulkinghorn is shot dead. Bucket arrests Rouncewell for the murder but later discovers that
Madamoiselle Hortense did it to try to frame Lady Dedlock who flees in disgrace.
But Lady Dedlock's husband (pictured together in the 1985 BBC adaptation) is prepared to forgive her
everything on hearing the truth of her past.
Inspector Bucket and Esther search for her, finding her dead at the gate of the burial ground where Hawdon
(Nemo) is buried.
Richard secretly marries Ada (Carey Mulligan, pictured right below in the 2005 adaptation)
who becomes pregnant, but he is sick from his continued obsession with the Jarndyce case. Woodcourt tells Esther he
is still in love with her, and Jarndyce selflessly gives her up so that they can marry.
The Jarndyce and Jarndyce case is finally settled. But nobody gets a penny because all the
inheritance has been used up in legal fees.
Richard dies distraught, but Ada has their son. Esther and Woodcourt are happily married with
two daughters.
Lessons for life, work and ethics
1. Life is difficult
Lady Dedlock (Gill Anderson, pictured right in the 2005 BBC adaptation) is tortured by her past
secret affair with Captain Hawdon, because its revelation would ruin her reputation and hurt
her husband.
Her illegitimate daughter, Esther, has never known a loving mother, a love that Lady Dedlock cannot give.
Joe and Charlotte also show how devastating poverty is.
2. The law can be unjust
The Jarndyce and Jarndyce case goes on for years, making lawyers rich but its beneficiaries (Ada and Richard)
penniless.
It ruins Richard and many others who are seduced by the illusory hope of money.
An old lady, Miss Flite has a long interest in the case and her remarkable collection of
caged birds represents its victims. She frees them after the case is finally resolved.
3. Love is selfless and forgiving
Esther (Anna Maxwell Martin, pictured right in the 2005 BBC adaptation) is always
extremely kind, even risking smallpox to nurse Joe.
Jarndyce also gives up Esther, so that she can marry Allan Woodcourt.
Lady Dedlock protects her husband from her shameful past, unaware that he is prepared to forgive her.
4. Count your blessings
Richard's obsession with the case blinds him to his blessings, particularly:
- the love of a lovely wife.
- good friends like Esther and Jarndyce.
5. Listen to good advice
Richard (Patrick Kennedy, pictured right in the 2005 adaptation) disastrously ignores Jarndyce’s good
advice about losing his obsession with the case.
6. Money isn’t everything
Richard’s lust for money ruins him
George Rouncewell refuses to betray Nemo for money, even though he is in debt.
7. Some people are bad
Tulkinghorn (Charles Dance in the BBC 2005 adaptation, pictured right) is a horrible man who
destroys good people like:
- Lady Dedlock (by threatening to reveal her secret about Captain Hawdon).
An acquaintance of John Jarndyce, Harold Skimpole, is nearly as bad.
Without remorse, he harms people for money as in his:
- introduction of Richard to the bloodsucking lawyer, Vholes.
8. Friendship and kindness make you happy
Esther and Woodcourt (pictured right in the 2005 adaptation) are happily married because they are best
friends.
He is not deterred by her facial scars, because he can see the beauty of her character.
She is kind to him and other people, and so they are kind to her.
Key quotes on law and justice
The one great principle of the English law is to make business for itself.
Injustice breeds injustice.
Key quote on success
If you had the abilities of all the great men, past and present, you could do
nothing well without sincerely meaning it and setting about it, Mr. Jarndyce (to
Richard).
Key quote on
relationships
Duty is duty and friendship is friendship. I never
want the two to clash if I can help it, Mr. Bucket (to George Rouncewell)
It is a great thing to win love, Esther (to Allan Woodcourt).
Key quote on empowerment
Responsibility is a thing that has always been above me - or below me, Harold Skimpole.
Two literature websites to
recommend
1. sparknotes.com
2. litcharts.com
A big thank you to...
The BBC for the pictures.
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