1. Is it in any way a disadvantage that various chapters of Bleak House are narrated by Esther Summerson? 2. Does Dickens’ present-tense narration prevent him from doing certain things that are generally desirable in fiction? 3. What prevents Lady Dedlock from coming across as a “round” (fully developed, very […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays Symbolism in Bleak House
Themes or motifs are often presented through symbols — that is, images used in such a way as to suggest a meaning beyond the physical facts of the images themselves. Two quite effective symbols in Bleak House are the fog and “the Roman” who points down from Mr. Tulkinghorn’s ceiling […]
Read more Critical Essays Symbolism in Bleak HouseCritical Essays The Fog
A literary work does not necessarily become depressing or morbid simply because some of its subjects are gloomy, painful, or even grisly. Shakespeare’s Macbeth gives us scene after scene of dark atmospheres, crime, natural and supernatural evil, horror, and insanity, yet the play has remained immensely popular for four centuries. […]
Read more Critical Essays The FogCritical Essays Setting of Bleak House
Most of the action of Bleak House takes place in or near London, around 1850. The London street scenes are in the Holborn district (on the north bank of the Thames and very close to the river). The depictions of neighborhoods, streets, buildings, working conditions, lighting, weather, dress and deportment […]
Read more Critical Essays Setting of Bleak HouseCritical Essays Plot of Bleak House
Dickens’ taste in plot seems to have been influenced by the eighteenth-century novelist Henry Fielding (Joseph Andrews, 1742; Tom Jones, 1749) than by anyone else. In any event, the typical Dickens plot, like the plots of Fielding, is complicated, loosely constructed, and highly dramatic in the incidents that make it […]
Read more Critical Essays Plot of Bleak HouseCritical Essays Technique and Style in Bleak House
Bleak House was written about a century and a half ago. Prose style, like almost everything else, has changed. Naturally today’s reader may find Dickens’ manner rather unfamiliar and in some ways a bit difficult. In order to see Bleak House in the right perspective, it is necessary to pursue […]
Read more Critical Essays Technique and Style in Bleak HouseCritical Essays Theme of Bleak House
Like every sizeable work of fiction, Bleak House is built around several themes (also called motifs) — that is, insights, concepts, attitudes, or simply explorations of certain aspects of human experience. A novel built very strongly around a clearly formulated and debatable or controversial theme is sometimes called a thesis […]
Read more Critical Essays Theme of Bleak HouseCritical Essays Characterization in Bleak House
Like Shakespeare, another imaginatively fertile and vivacious writer, Dickens created dozens of characters who continue to delight readers today. His ability to invent such living characters was aided by his experience as a newspaper reporter: The job forced him to observe people’s looks, words, and manner very closely and then […]
Read more Critical Essays Characterization in Bleak HouseCharles Dickens Biography
Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812-June 9, 1870) was the second of eight children born to Elizabeth and John Dickens, improvident and irresponsible parents who (without deep regret, it seems) gave their offspring poor starts in the world. Without actually hating his parents, Dickens early saw them for what they were. […]
Read more Charles Dickens BiographyCharacter Analysis Sir Leicester Dedlock
Not tightly tied in with the book’s main lines of action or its main themes, Sir Leicester nevertheless becomes one of the more interesting characters. Change tends to be interesting, and Sir Leicester changes; at least, later in the story we see aspects of his character that had not been […]
Read more Character Analysis Sir Leicester Dedlock