A review by lectrixnoctis
Bleak House by Charles Dickens

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"Bleak House" opens in the evening of foggy London, where fog absorbs the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The mysterious case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, in which legal expenses gradually devour an inheritance, the romance of Esther Summerson and the secrets of her origin, the sleuthing of Detective Inspector Bucket and the fate of Jo the crossing-sweeper, these are some of the lives Dickens invokes to portray London society, rich and poor, as no other novelist has accomplished.

Almost every personality in "Bleak House" is foraging for love, a search that proves to be equally rewarding and challenging. Esther calmly searches for love, even though she seems too occupied taking care of others to think much about her unrealistic situation. She abstains from concentrating on her romantic feelings in her report, often displaying her emotions only via her stammering evasions of the matter. When she willingly meets Mr Woodcourt, she hardly mentions him or relates to him, which is a stark difference from the specific medicine she offers everyone else who travels her path. Only when her quest for love is over, topping in her marrying Mr Woodcourt, does she devote straight awareness to it? Other symbols carry on their investigations more sincerely. For example, Caddy Jellyby gleefully matches Prince Turveydrop, and Rosa and Watt Rouncewell plan to wed. The quest for attachment is not victorious for everyone, and it finishes with heartbreak for some. Mr Guppy attempts and falls to evolve committed to Esther, making two stupid recommendations that Esther roundly denies. Esther takes Mr Jarndyce's proposal, but he calls off his quest for love when he realises that their devotion is not the type of love that will make Esther truly satisfied. Although she finds true love with Richard, Ada is ultimately heartbroken when Richard passes. Sometimes the search for passion is literal, and these searches never end well. For example, Lady Dedlock deliberately searches for love when she finds out her former lover is. Sir Leicester endeavours to discover Lady Dedlock when she vanishes from Chesney Wold. Whether acceptable or tragic, the search for love still proves to be a force that transforms characters dramatically.

Love is necessary and dangerous in "Bleak House", sometimes wholesome and satisfying, occasionally hazardous. Many characters realise the essence of passion for a fulfilling life. For example, Mr Jarndyce and Esther are distressed when Richard cannot find a profession. Both hope he will settle on a job that he will feel touching about, but Richard darts from one thing to the next, never finding anything truly compelling. Esther identifies the significance of attachment in love, which is why she calls as she chooses to accept Mr Jarndyce's recommendation—she adores him, but not in the touching, romantic way she was desired of a loving person. Even Mr Jarndyce comprehends the essence of passion. Although he learns he and Esther could maintain a joyful life jointly at Bleak House, he also understands their attachment is built on affection rather than desire. He unleashes her from her approval and settles her with Mr Woodcourt, who he knows is Esther's true love. Although passion is a critical element of a fulfilling life, it can be destructive when taken to an unhealthy level. Mrs Jellyby, tormented with her "mission" to support Africa, is criminally careless of her family and has pulled herself from them so much that she barely cares about Caddy's meeting and wedding. Mrs Pardiggle, the compassionate worker who forces her young sons to give up their capital for her causes, is clueless about her sons' despair and can't see that she is an unbearable person. Richard's violent passion for the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit is more sinister. He is excited about something for the first time, willing to devote himself wholeheartedly to it and make it his single goal. This passion was absent from his earlier pursuits, but it is not welcome or beneficial here. Rather than animate and benefit him, it robs him of reason, restraint, and, eventually, his life. Devotion, though essential, can be dangerous when it becomes all-consuming.

Throughout "Bleak House", the mother's position is served by women who usually are not "real" mums at all. Charley, a child herself, manages for her two young siblings, all of them orphaned and labouring. Jenny and Liz, the brickmakers' wives, watch for each other's youngsters. Liz cares for Jenny's youngest when it is ill, and after it dies, Jenny calls Liz's child her own. Lady Dedlock exposes a motherly side in her devotion to Rosa. And Mrs Rouncewell evolves a kind of mother formation to Sir Leicester when he evolves ill at the end of the fiction.
Esther is the character who best understands the designation "mother." Esther serves the role of mother for several someones, including Ada, Richard, Caddy, and Charley. To a lower capacity, she mothers Jo, Jenny's sick baby, and Peepy Jellyby—in other expressions, almost every child who travels her path. When Ada has her youngster behind Richard dies, Esther is so active in the child's upbringing that the offspring says it has two mothers. Miss Barbary and Mrs Rachael raise Esther, neither her "real" mother. Sometimes, other women tend to Esther, including Mrs Woodcourt, the woman at the inn she meets when she searches for Lady Dedlock, and, in a reversal of roles, Charley, who tends to Esther when Esther gets smallpox. Lady Dedlock, Esther's birth mother, is the least motherly figure in Esther's life. Their relations are fleeting, and though Esther sees comfort when Lady Dedlock hugs her, it is temporary. When Lady Dedlock vanishes, Esther carries up the mothering role again, frantically searching for Lady Dedlock in the middle of the night.

Secrets are about in "Bleak House". The most surprising secret belongs to Lady Dedlock, who must conceal her past violations to save her and her family's prestige. Her secret carries on a life of its own, ultimately roaring into her life and guiding her to her death. Esther has secrets, despite her ordinarily reliable narration. For example, she does not tell us directly about her emotions for Mr Woodcourt or his feelings for her, although she slips some obscure hints. Mr Jarndyce has mysteries as well. He had forever designed to make Esther his wife, although he never revealed those plans until he penned a message to her. Later, he secretly puts her reunion with Woodcourt. Some feelings are not so reasonable at preserving their mysteries. For example, Ada and Richard endeavour to hide that they are falling in love but are unsuccessful. They are more practical at hiding the fact that they got discreetly wedded. Mr Tulkinghorn and Inspector Bucket make their possession of other people's secrets. Tulkinghorn causes it his task to find out what Lady Dedlock is masking, and Bucket is charged with the task of investigating her. Their success in finding the truth means that no matter how committed one is to keeping a secret, that secret is not safe from anyone smitten with telling it. 

Suicide occurs several moments in "Bleak House", and the deaths and attempted deaths emphasise the sense of sorrow at the novel's heart. First, we discover Tom Jarndyce, who committed suicide over the Jarndyce and Jarndyce suit. Indeed, the case proves dangerous to anyone who gets too wrapped up in it. Richard, who becomes obsessed with the claim at the cost of his and Ada's satisfaction and wellbeing, eventually passes. Although he did not kill himself, one could claim that he laboured himself to death. Suicide is usually directed to in passing, such as when George and Grandfather Smallweed discusses a prosperous man who tried to destroy himself and when Tulkinghorn reflects about a mate who hanged himself. When Tulkinghorn and Lady Dedlock maintain a challenging talk about the unknown, Tulkinghorn fears that Lady Dedlock will hop out the window and kill herself. When Bucket engages Mademoiselle Hortense about the killing, he fears that she'll try to jump out a window as well. Lady Dedlock finally kills herself by running into the cold night, which was undoubtedly her choice when she put out.

Children are around in "Bleak House" but rarely comfortable or sufficiently managed. First, we have the "communities of Jarndyce" themselves—Ada and Richard—sent off to a cousin they have never met. The Jellyby youngsters are woefully ignored by Mrs Jellyby, who is more concerned with her African "mission" than her household. The children are dirty, starving, unhappy, and cold. The Pardiggle children are no less painful, as their offensive mother moves them to give all their banknotes to her charities, ignorant to their displeasure. Charley and her two siblings are orphaned, and Charley, a very child, must work to sustain them. Yet, there is the street Jo, moving from establishment to establishment and still, it appears, in someone's way. Some of these offspring do find care and satisfaction:
Ada and Richard contain a happy home at Bleak House.
  • Caddy Jellyby finds a gentle husband.
  • Charley and last her younger sister, Emma, evolve Esther's maid.
The same cannot be articulated for Jo. He finds provisional kindness and protection at Bleak House but is quickly threatened by Bucket into leaving and dies soon after.

Let me preface this by saying this novel is a literary masterpiece. It truly deserves all the hype it is getting, especially its many metaphors, motifs, themes and symbolism; however, I think it is pretty hard to get into it, but surely worth it. I would not say it's one of my favourite books of all time. Still, I would re-read it later in life because I have read the second novel by Charles Dickens and will read more of his works.
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