Bleak House

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For the 2005 TV series see Bleak House (TV serial)

Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in 20 monthly parts between March 1852 and September 1853. 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 characterization of the slow, arcane Chancery law process gave voice to widespread frustration with the system, helping to set the stage for its eventual reform in the 1870s.

In Bleak House Dickens experimented with the device of dual narrators: an unnamed third-person narrator and the orphan Esther take turns to tell the story. The style is also remarkable: a hypnotic opening of three paragraphs without a complete sentence. The scope is probably the broadest Dickens ever attempted, ranging from the filthy slums to the landed aristocracy, in a narrative that is in equal parts satire and comedy. One character, Krook, smells of brimstone and eventually dies of spontaneous human combustion, attributed to his evil nature.

Some critics, including George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton, take this to be Dickens's best novel.

Contents

1 Characters in \"Bleak House\"

1.1 Major characters
1.2 Minor characters

2 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
3 Original publication
4 Legacy
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Characters in \"Bleak House\"

As usual, Dickens drew upon many real people and places but was not constrained by the realities. The character Mrs. Jellyby, always involved in good causes but with a chaotic family, is based upon Caroline Chisholm. Many people saw the character of 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 to appear in English fiction, Mr Bucket. This character is probably based on Inspector Charles Frederick Field of the 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 — an orphan
Richard Carstone — a ward of court in Jarndyce v Jarndyce
Ada Clare — a ward of court in Jarndyce v Jarndyce
John Jarndyce — a party in Jarndyce, guardian of Richard, Ada and Esther, and owner of Bleak House
Harold Skimpole — a friend of Jarndyce and "in the habit of sponging his friends" (Nuttall); supposedly based on Leigh Hunt
Sir Leicester Dedlock — a crusty baronet
Honoria, Lady Dedlock — the haughty mistress of Chesney Wold
Mr Tulkinghorn — the Dedlock family lawyer
Nemo — a law writer
Miss Flite — an elderly eccentric obsessed with Chancery
Mr Guppy — a hapless law clerk
Inspector Bucket — a detective
Mr George — a former soldier
Caddy Jellyby — a friend of Esther
Krook — a rag and bottle merchant and collector of papers
Jo — a crossing sweeper
Allan Woodcourt — a physician
Grandfather Smallweed — a money lender

Minor characters

Mr Kenge — a lawyer of Kenge and Carboys
Mr Vholes — a lawyer
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 — aka Coavinses — a debt collector
Charley — Coavinses' daughter
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
Peepie Jellyby — the Jellybys' young son
Prince Turveydrop — a dancing master
Old Mr Turveydrop — a master of deportment
Jenny — a brickmaker's wife
Rosa — a favourite of Lady Dedlock
Hortense — lady's maid to Lady Dedlock
Mrs Rouncewell — housekeeper to the Dedlocks at Chesney Wold
Mr Rouncewell — son of Mrs Rouncewell and a prosperous ironmaster
Watt Rouncewell — his son
Mercury — a footman to the Dedlocks in London
Volumnia — a Dedlock cousin
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
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
Captain Hawdon — an officer under whom Mr George once served
Matthew Bagnet — military friend of Mr George and dealer in musical instruments
Mrs Bagnet — his better half
Mrs Woodcourt — Allan Woodcourt's widowed mother

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The BBC has adapted Bleak House on three occasions. The first version was broadcast in 1959 in eleven half-hour episodes;http://imdb.com/title/tt0224837/ the second, starring Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott, was broadcast as an eight-part series in 1985; and the third was broadcast in fifteen episodes in 2005.http://imdb.com/title/tt0442632/

Original publication

Like most Dickens novels, Bleak House was published in 19 monthly instalments, each containing 32 pages of text and two illustrations by Phiz. Each cost one shilling, except for the last, which was a double issue and cost two.

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

Legacy

The literary device of the opening paragraphs is consciously echoed in an American novel, also of the 1850s, almost certainly written by an escaped female slave. The manuscript was rediscovered in 2001, researched and published as The Bondswoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts.

References

Crafts, Hannah; Gates, Jr, Henry Louis (Ed), 2002. The Bondswoman's Narrative. Warner Books. ISBN 0762876824

External links

Online editions

[Free eBook: Bleak House] 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 verson.
[Free Internet Cliffnotes on Bleak House.]
[Bleak House] Annotated On-line Resources for Bleak House
"The Detective Police", "Three Detective Anecdotes", "On Duty with Inspector Field". Last piece first publ (June 1841) Household Words

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

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