Bleak House is a masterfully plotted novel by the English author Charles Dickens that is considered to be one of his greatest novels. It was written and published in monthly segments in 1852 and 1853. One of the central images in the novel is the choking and unhealthy London fog. It represents a society that is itself sick, especially in its lack of responsibility toward the poor and the unfortunate.
The story focuses on three main characters: Richard Carstone, Ada Clare, and Esther Summerson. Richard and Ada are orphaned cousins who live with their friendly uncle, John Jarndyce. They are under the guardianship of the Court of Chancery because of a long-running legal case known as Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. Richard and Ada are due to inherit a fortune from an estate, but their inheritance has been the subject of contested wills in the case. It is a dispute from which only the lawyers have profited.
Richard and Ada fall in love and marry in secret. However, Richard cannot decide which profession to take up to support them, because he believes that eventually he will inherit the large fortune. He is gradually ruined by the endless delays and dies. The most recent and valid Jarndyce will is finally found. It is then discovered that legal fees have swallowed up the entire estate, and the case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce comes to an abrupt end.
The other focus of the story is on the character of Esther Summerson, who is thought to be an orphan. She goes to live with John Jarndyce, Richard and Ada’s kind-hearted uncle, as a companion to Ada. In fact, she is the daughter of Lady Dedlock, wife of a baronet, Sir Leicester Dedlock. Before she married, Lady Dedlock had had a child by Captain Hawdon. When she married, she believed that both Hawdon and the child were dead, but Hawdon was in fact alive, earning a pitiful living. Lady Dedlock accidentally sees and recognizes his handwriting on a legal document. She makes enquiries about him and discovers that he has just died. Guided by Jo, a poor crossing-sweeper, she discovers the grave where Hawdon has been buried.
Tulkinghorn, a cunning and corrupt old lawyer, discovers Lady Dedlock’s secret and threatens to tell her husband. He is murdered by Lady Dedlock’s former maid, Hortense, though not on Lady Dedlock’s orders. On learning that her husband knows her secret, Lady Dedlock leaves the house in despair. Although Esther and Sir Leicester try to save her, she is discovered dead by Hawdon’s grave. Meanwhile, John Jarndyce offers to marry Esther, but on finding out that she loves Allan Woodcourt, a young doctor, John withdraws and the two young people are free to marry.
Bleak House has a complex structure and several levels of meaning. As with many of Dickens’s novels, it mixes satire with social commentary and romance. The book deals with a number of the social evils of Dickens’s day, in particular with the wasteful and cruel legal processes of the old Court of Chancery. It also attacks the differences between social classes, the harsh and neglectful treatment of the poor, and false humanitarians and clergymen. It is a product of Dickens’s later years and presents a darker picture of society than his previous novels.
