Bleak, All is Bleak!

Bleak House, by Charles Dickens

I have to confess that though I have read great chunks of Dickens, I have never read one of his books from cover to cover before for this reason: I can't stand him. I realize that I am treading on dangerous ground here because Dickens is not really an author one can be ambivalent about, one either loves or detests him and both sides defend their arguments vitriolically. And even though I find myself in the second category, I can still appreciate Bleak House for the themes it addresses.

It is a (horrendously long) parable on the state of the British legal system of the day, which was an antiquated mess of tradition, habit, conflicting rules and regulations, and in some cases rampant corruption. Dickens himself worked as a law clerk and found the arcane system to immensely frustrating at best and ineffectual at worst. The driving force of Bleak House's story is the court case Jarndyce v. Jarndyce which, while it is never fully explained, is a case involving a substantial inheritance that has dragged on for generations and consumed massive amounts of time and money without ever reaching a successful conclusion. There are so many people involved in the case that it has finally reached the status of one huge running joke within the Chancery.

Nearly everyone in the story is connected to this case in some way. Initially we meet Lady Dedlock, a beautiful young woman married to a man much older than herself, who is a claimant in the case and is represented by her husband's attorney Mr. Tulkinghorn, a prominent member of legal society. Through him we are introduced to an innumerable host of lawyers, clerks, landlords, tenants, shopkeepers, tramps, moneylenders, and the dregs of London's slums, all of whom are entangled in the secrets of those embroiled in Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, either intentionally or by association, as the plot progresses.

The narration goes back and forth between an omniscient narrator and Esther Somerson, a child who was raised by a spartan, vicious woman (later revealed to be her aunt) and was taken in by the generous gentleman, a Mr. John Jarndyce, along with two cousins of her own age, Richard and Ada. The pair eventually fall in love with one another but their guardian insists that before they may marry, Richard must engage himself in a suitable profession. However Richard, a rather fickle young man who has not been able hold to any of his endeavors, soon becomes obsessed with the Jarndyce case and determines that if he can finally push it to conclusion, he and Ada will be able to live off the profits and a profession will not be required.

In the usual mix one finds in Victorian literature, it is eventually discovered that Esther is Lady Dedlock's illegitimate child from a pre-marital affair, nearly dies of an awful disease, but is spared and goes on to find true love. She is also a thoroughly uninspiring heroine who is constantly dismissing herself as a worthy narrator, is ever filled with maidenly surprise when someone shows her regard, and generally goes about being a typical paragon of Victorian feminine virtue. She has her uses as a narrator but I could not find much use for her except as a dull character to drive a romantic plot forward in a book that is otherwise allegorical.

For, in the end, that is what the book is about: the flawed nature of the system and how in the end all who are involved with it are eventually consumed. Consumption is a main theme. Richard becomes obsessed with the case to the point of sinking heavily into debt and bad health, and though he pushes it to a conclusion in which he and Ada are named the heirs, the litigation have gone on so long there is nothing left to inherit and he dies a broken man. Tulkinghorn, obsessed with finding out the secrets in Lady Dedlock's past, manipulates a series of stupid or miserable people to do his bidding and ends up getting shot by and informant he refuses to help after she has outlived her usefulness to him. Another character helps drive her family into destitution while she campaigns for missionary efforts in Africa, all the which quite failing to notice the miserable state of her husband and children. The most important minor character, an insane shopkeeper who sells nothing and hordes everything (who ironically turns out to posses the concluding paperwork in the Jarndyce case), serves as a metaphor for the Chancery court itself and actually dies from spontaneous human combustion: an allegory of the legal system destroying itself from its own uselessness.

I still wouldn't classify Dickens as a favorite author after reading this, which may seem odd because I find the book valuable in and off itself (it helped spur public opinion in favor of reforming the court system after its publication). I also found the plot, even in its predictability, to be mildly engrossing and some of the characters engaging. And I can also say that the themes were interesting and that Dickens should be valued for pointing out, as many Victorian writers did, the flaws and incongruities of his society and how they often failed to live up to their own expectations.

So, Calliope, you ask, why the loathing? In the end, it's just a personal dislike of his writing style I think. Bleak House, like may of Dickens other novels, was written to be published serially in parts and such works often served as the soap operas of their day: over dramatic and driven by characters rather than plot (though I think Dickens does a good job of maintaining his theme throughout). Though I enjoyed the story, Dickens' verbosity and love of flowery imagery can be suffocating and it took me twice as long to finish as it should have because I just didn't like reading it, but when I decided to view it as the allegory it was intended to be instead of trying to make myself like it I got on much better.

Bleak House is an important read and everyone should get through it at least once (Dickens fans, as many times as you'd like, I wash my hands of you), but it's importance as an examination of the failing legal system and shortcomings of Victorian society need to be understood for its importance to be felt.