Bleak House

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.

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. 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

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