Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Bleak House
Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who love a large cast, secrets buried in old houses, sharp social comedy and a detective on the trail, and anyone drawn to Victorian London in all its fog, mud, wit and warmth.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Bleak House is a novel by Charles Dickens, published in monthly parts in the early 1850s. It opens in a London fog and moves between two voices. One is a present-tense narrator who surveys the whole city, from the High Court of Chancery to the slums. The other is Esther Summerson, a shy orphan who tells her own story in the past tense.
At the center sits Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a lawsuit over a will that has dragged on for so long that it now seems to be about nothing but costs. It touches many lives. Wards of the court, lawyers, a mad old suitor, a rag and bottle dealer, a proud baronet and his lady, and a crossing sweeper boy are all drawn into its orbit. Dickens wrote it to show how an old institution can poison those who depend on it.
The book gives you a sweeping view of Victorian England, a mystery that gathers pace, and a cast of unforgettable people. Its comedy is sharp and its anger is real. Let us begin with the fog, the court, and the case that will not end.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A fog, a court, and a caseFree
- 2Lady Dedlock and the lawyer
- 3Esther's story begins
- 4Bleak House and its people
- 5The law-writer, the boy and the lawyer
- 6Love, debt and drifting
- 7Illness, a secret and a proposal
- 8Smoke, murder and pursuit
- 9What the book is about, and how it is told
Punkt 1 von 9
A fog, a court, and a case
The book begins in November fog. Dickens describes London as a place where mud, smoke and damp cover everything, and at its center sits the High Court of Chancery. The Lord Chancellor presides there over a case called Jarndyce and Jarndyce. It has run so long that no living person understands it. Lawyers have grown rich on it, and families have inherited it along with their hatred.
The court is full of sad figures. A little mad old woman stands in the hall every day, expecting a judgment. A man from Shropshire tries to speak to the Chancellor and is never heard. A prisoner is brought up again and again, tangled in accounts and charged with contempt. Dickens treats all of this as a joke the lawyers tell each other, while it kills people outside the room.
The case is also a thread that ties the story together. Old Tom Jarndyce, who was a party to the case and owned the house that gives the novel its name, shot himself in despair. The suit has corrupted lawyers, clerks and hangers-on, and has taught them all to shrug and let things go bad.
From the first pages, you learn how the book works. Fog is more than weather. It stands for the confusion in which justice is lost. When the narrator turns to the world of fashion, you will see that the same fog settles on the grand houses as well.
That is the opening note of the book, and it is one of anger. Dickens wants you to feel that an institution meant to settle disputes has become the cause of ruin. Every thread that follows leads back to this court in the fog.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Esther Summerson
- Esther is a caring young woman whom John Jarndyce welcomes into his home as Ada's companion.
- John Jarndyce
- John is the generous guardian who shelters Esther, Ada, and Richard while distrusting the lawsuit bearing his family name.
- Richard Carstone
- Richard is John's young ward, whose affection for Ada competes with his growing hopes of an inheritance.
- Lady Dedlock
- Lady Dedlock is a wealthy married woman whose guarded private history attracts her husband's lawyer's attention.
- Tulkinghorn
- Tulkinghorn is the Dedlock family's lawyer, whose quiet collection of secrets threatens the people he serves.
- Ada Clare
- Ada is John's young ward, Esther's affectionate companion, and Richard's cousin and romantic attachment.
- Jo
- Jo is a homeless London crossing sweeper whose precarious existence contrasts with the security of the wealthy.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 362,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 24 h 10 min
- Listening time40 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Bleak House
What is Bleak House about?
It follows the long lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce and the many people it affects. An orphan named Esther Summerson, wards of the court, a proud baronet and his lady, and a poor boy are all tied together by the case and by a hidden secret.
Who tells the story of Bleak House?
Two voices share it. A present-tense narrator describes the whole city with irony and anger. Esther Summerson, a modest young woman, tells her own part in the past tense and in a warm, personal voice.
What is Jarndyce and Jarndyce?
It is a fictional case in the Court of Chancery over a will. It has run so long that no one understands it, and it has become mostly a matter of legal costs that ruin the families caught in it.
Why is the house called Bleak House?
Old Tom Jarndyce gave the house its gloomy name while he pored over the lawsuit in despair. His heir John Jarndyce later restored it, and it is a warm home despite the name.
Is Bleak House based on a true story?
The characters are invented, but the Court of Chancery was a real institution known for delay and expense. Dickens wrote the novel in the early 1850s to attack its failings and the neglect of the poor.