Nineteenth-Century British Novel

Discussion Questions

Bleak House

General Discussion Questions:

• Bleak House was published 8 years before the sensation craze began. What elements of sensation fiction are seeded in Dickens’s novel? How does Dickens differ from Braddon in terms of plotting, characterization, narrative style, and genre? NB: Think outside the Brantlinger box.
• Take a look at the time-lines I have given you. How might Bleak House have been influenced by the historical events in that time-line?
• Classic Bleak House question that everyone should have an answer for: Why the split narration?
• What aspects of society / social institutions does Dickens criticize? Does he propose any solutions to the problems of his time?

Below, I’ve split up the novel into 6 general topics for discussion. I’ve listed several discussion questions as well as a larger debate question under each topic. Please consider these questions and come in with answers and opinions.

Chancery:

• What is Dickens’s attitude toward Chancery in this novel?
• What is the symbolic role of Chancery or the law in this novel?
• What is the relationship between Chancery and chance in this novel?

Debate Question: One might argue that Jane Eyre, and perhaps even Lady Audley’s Secret, promotes a concept of universal justice that guarantees that individuals “get what they deserve.” Does Bleak House support or refute this idea of universal justice? How and why?

Smallpox:

• How does Dickens’s portrayal of smallpox contribute to Bleak House’s social commentary?
• How does Dickens’s portrayal of smallpox reflect on the role of religion (God) or faith in this novel?
• What is the significance of Esther’s blindness and hallucinations (ch. 35) for the larger narrative organization of the novel?
• What is the symbolic significance of Esther’s disfigurement for the concept of knowledge, concealment, and recognition in this novel? (You might want to think about ideas of self-knowledge, self-concealment, and self-recognition.)
• What are the symbolic significances of “disease” and “contagion” in this novel?

Debate Question: Esther’s suffering from smallpox and the events that follow her recovery emphasize how little control she has over her life and body. What is the role of fate in this novel, and to what extent does fate exculpate characters for their actions?

Literacy:

• How does the issue of literacy contribute to Bleak House’s social commentary? That is, what seems to be Dickens’s attitude toward literacy as a societal issue?
• Why is literacy important in this novel?
• What are the different kinds of reading that occur in this novel?
• How does the novel play with language?

Debate Question: Jane Eyre suggested that it was possible to read the truth of a situation or a person by accurately interpreting surfaces and exteriors (e.g., a person’s features, words, and actions or signs in nature). Lady Audley’s Secret suggested that exteriors can be deceptive and that the truth is always clouded by the viewer’s own projected desires. Which point-of-view does Bleak House seem to endorse?

Poverty and Poorhouses:

• What is the relationship between poverty and morality in this novel?
• What is the significance of “Tom All Alone’s” in this novel for Dickens’s social critique?
• What is the difference between acceptance and abuse of charity in this novel? That is, to what extent does Dickens support the idea of charity? At what point does charity itself become an evil or an accessory to evil?

Debate Question: One might argue that in Lady Audley’s Secret, Braddon suggests that an individual’s morality or lack thereof is largely a function of his social background or class (at least, all of the “bad” characters in the novel are of the lower classes). On the other hand, Brontë suggests that an individual’s morality has nothing to do with class (i.e., Jane and the Rivers have strong moral fibers despite their poor backgrounds). Does Dickens suggest any equivalencies between an individual’s social class and his / her moral constitution?

Detectives and Policing:

• What kind of character or person is Inspector Bucket? Is he heroic? How does his heroism compare / contrast with those of other characters we’ve encountered in other novels (e.g., Robert Audley, the self-appointed “detective” of Braddon’s novel)?
• What kind of justice does the detective / police figure represent in this novel, and how does this kind of justice differ from the justice represented by the court of Chancery?

Debate Question: Although Mr. Bucket is a member of the detective police, he seems to work mostly alone, drawing upon his own authority in discovering the truth and delivering justice. Does Bleak House support vigilantism (i.e., self-appointed and self-authorized delivery of justice)?

Marriage, Motherhood, and Womanly Virtue:

• Is Esther’s a particularly female narrative voice? What makes it so or not so?
• What kind of female ideal do the women characters in this novel seem to put forward?
• What aspects of female behavior does this novel criticize?
• Does this novel seem to endorse or refute an essentialist view of women and womanhood (i.e., that women are born with internal characteristics / inclinations that are innately different from men)?
• What social / familial role(s) does this novel suggest women ought to play?

Debate Question: If Esther is to be viewed as the heroine of this novel, it might be argued that Dickens is advocating a feminine ideal of self-sacrifice, submission, and obedience. Would you agree with this argument? Or do you think that Dickens is using Esther to illustrate the tragic necessity of female submissiveness in a patriarchal society?