To install StudyMoose App tap and then “Add to Home Screen”
Save to my list
Remove from my list
Dickens's Bleak House is a great piece of writing with its primary meaning arguably being how the novel sets forces of humanity against injustice and, ultimately, reveals the greater power of the humane. In no uncertain terms, the landscape of the novel is massive and includes both great social forces and the individual lives shaped by them. Adding to the impact is Dickens's legendary brilliance in creating memorable characters who fully engage the reader's interest. At the same time, however, it is possible to identify a specific theme underlining the entire story, and from the opening pages defining the Chancery presence to a conclusion in which happiness is salvaged for those who survive, and have eared it. More exactly, the elements of decay and despair that ruin lives in the novel and motivate much of the action derive from a universal chaos, or disorder. Moreover, this is disorder intentionally kept in place because it serves the interests of certain individuals and institutions. Proficient in: House And Home
“ This writer never make an mistake for me always deliver long before due date. Am telling you man this writer is absolutely the best. ”
The following then explores that, through the reality of Chancery and its impacts on certain characters, the insanity of the Jellyby and Krook establishments, the inability of the Jarndyce and Dedlock households to defy disorder's power, and the ultimate destruction of Lady Dedlock, Dickens presents how disorder is an immensely destructive and living force creating decay, even as those in authority insist on maintaining disorder.
Prof. Finch
Verified writer
4.7 (346)
Hire writer
+84 relevant experts are online
Perhaps nothing more represents a deliberate, negative, and immense force of disorder than does Chancery. It is not accidental that this is the 'character' most early presented by Dickens, and because its harmful effects invade every segment of the society. Similarly, the author draws a consistent parallel between the institution and the lifeless, awful fog everywhere. Chancery, in no uncertain terms, is fog, as untold numbers of solicitors engage in suits which have made their own fathers rich: 'Well may the court be dim·well may the fog hang heavy in it' (Dickens 2011, p. 4). Dickens's presentation of this stagnant world is lengthy, but there is a meaning understood beneath the nonsense and obsession with legal formalities; namely, everything here thrives on matters never being settled. This particular and sanctioned disorder is the source of income and life for those who work within it. The reality is never directly expressed, but the motive is plain as John Jarndyce, the man from Shropshire, and other victims of this endless refusal to settle affairs express rage over the injustice. What is important here as well is how class is meaningless when confronting the insistence on disorder within Chancery; the wealthy Jarndyce, as was Tom Jarndyce, is as helpless to find resolution as the poor man from Shropshire or the insane Miss Flite. Consequently, the novel's opening perfectly sets the stage for a world in which the highest authority in the land promotes chaos, and because disorder is the engine driving the law.
The effects of the disordered center are then clearly seen, with Jo being the perfect symbol of the neglect and decay that must follow such wild disorder. In plain terms, humanity becomes lost when the only priorities are on the maintaining of rituals and forms to perpetuate confusion. Bleak House centers on pain and death, from Jo's recording of how common miserable death is on the streets of London to Lady Dedlock's need to reconnect with her dead lover (Lougy 2002, p. 479). Jo then essentially exists to represent the living ways in which disorder must trigger the neglect that literally kills. Certainly, he is among Dickens's most vivid orphan/victims; he is inarticulate, starved, thrown wherever it serves the purposes of those around him, and largely ignored completely as a human boy (Allan 2004, p. 11). He is nothing except when he can be of use, even as the kindness to him from Esther and her father reflect the ultimately greater force of humanity. A variation of this neglect is comically seen in the outrageously disordered Jellyby home. It is a dangerous, crowded, filthy home, all of which is as ignored by Mrs. Jellyby as the Chancellor ignores the human lives harmed by the court. She has one concern only: "The African project at present employs my whole time'' (Dickens 2011, p. 34). Here, again, disorder is promoted willfully, as it suits the interests of the lady of the house, and Caddy is a victim of this blindness as much as Jo is a victim of the chaos maintained by Chancery. Both the Krook and the Jellyby households, in fact, serve as metaphors for the chaos at the heart of the society, and inevitably generating decay and despair. In these environments, just as in Chancery, resolution is never desired. Famously, in fact, Krook's shop is a poor man's representation of Chancery, just as his death by a spontaneous fire illustrates how consist and extensive disorder will eat away at life itself (Trotter 1988, p. 111). Like his esteemed 'cousin,' the Chancellor, Krook literally celebrates in chaos; he is proud of it, and equally unmindful of the human tragedies unfolding around him.
Important as well is how Dickens emphasises disorder, and the inevitable consequences of it, through the contrast of virtually perfect order. The Dedlock estate, as well as the Bleak House directed over by John Jarndyce, are models of decency and order (McCrea 2011, p. 47). What is meaningful here is the power of wealth as the sole means of providing order and defying the decay and misery when order is absent. Jarndyce, for example, occasionally expresses concerns as to where his money is going, regarding his compassion. This is, in fact, his reason for placing Esther, Ada, and Richard with the Jellyby family; he seeks to learn if the charity efforts of Mrs. Jellyby are actually worthy, which indicates a watchfulness as to his resources. At the same time, however, there is the broader implication that his wealth, as with the Dedlocks', is limitless (Dolin 2009, p. 93). Plainly, wealth insulates, as Jarndyce and Dedlock are able to construct their own ordered worlds. Even here, however, disorder enters, disrupts, and creates harm. Jarndyce feels this in the 'wind from the East,' even as he fails to see the danger of Skimpole's egocentrism. Skimpole, too, is a Chancery extension; as long as his needs are met, nothing else is important. Real humanity will ultimately triumph, but the primary point is that disorder is no random, accidental impact. In Bleak House itself, it is a continuous threat, and generated by certain ambitions and inevitably creating decay, and pain. This is plainly seen in how Skimpole, seeking only to profit, is simultaneously esteemed by Jarndyce and sacrifices Jo. Once again, disorder is linked to the insidious, if not directly the same force.
Then, Lord Dedlock, ultimately revealed as humane, is unable to prevent layers of disorder from destroying his world. What happens, in fact, is that the shattering of the order is the greatest threat faced by Lady Dedlock, and this is central to the novel's primary narrative. From Mr. Guppy's first awareness of a resemblance between her and Esther, the path of her imminent disgrace is set in motion (Christianson, Thorne-Murphy 2017, p. 42). Disorder may destroy even the most privileged lives, just as the exposure of Lady Dedlock's past is a disruption of the comfortable order in place. That disorder also exists in layers. Her shame lies in the chaotic reality of her past, in which she defied social order by having a baby out of wedlock. Ironically, it is order from disorder that will cause her downfall, and no more precise order exists than in the form of Tulkinghorn: 'It may be that my Lady fears this Mr. Tulkinghorn, and that he knows it' (Dickens 2011, p. 344). He is her punishment because he is clever enough to feed on disorder and, just as with Chancery and Krook, does not concern himself with matters of humanity. Esther exists as a means of resolution. In uniting with this abandoned daughter, Lady Dedlock has the opportunity to reclaim her past, as well as offer a fundamental identity to Esther. In a sense, these positive results occur. Nonetheless, and as virtually promised from the novel's beginning, disorder is too great a force to be denied, and will devastates the lives it touched. The novel is literally filled with victims of such carelessness, from Jo and Miss Flite to Richard and Lady Dedlock. Beyond any other consideration, moreover, this is disorder maintained and manipulated in defiance of good, and largely because those so doing care little or nothing about the greater 'order' of respecting the human.
In Bleak House, the reader is drawn into a world in which good survives, but only barely. This is because of disorder, rather than evil, and because there are multiple and insidious qualities to disorder. This is particularly true when the chaos is sustained as an advantage to certain institutions and individuals. As has been seen, then, Dickens presents how disorder is a destructive and living force generating decay, even as those in authority insist on maintaining disorder, in: Chancery and its harmful effects on certain characters; the virtual madness of the Jellyby and Krook establishments, the Jarndyce and Dedlock households as unable to fully combat disorder's impacts; and the unraveling of Lady Dedlock.
Disorder's Grip: Exploring Decay & Injustice in Dickens's Bleak House. (2019, Dec 05). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/dickens-s-bleak-house-is-a-great-piece-of-writing-with-its-primary-example-essay
👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy!
Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes.
get help with your assignment
