Bleak House: Professions, Places, and Problems in London

"Needlework and teaching were seen as 'natural' profession for women. . . Virtually all women had the necessary experience for needlework" (Beth Harris). Needlework was a very popular profession for women of all classes in the nineteenth century. Those of the upper class who could afford to learn the trade often worked as dress makers, which was more highly esteemed. For those in lower social standing, however, conditions were not as favorable. We see in Dickens' Bleak House Charley's skill with the needle. Esther is trying to teach Charley how to write. She explains…

When it comes to students that are in poverty areas, education is harder to come by. Dame school was any chance for children who were in poverty areas to receive education. Women taught the classes in various houses in the neighborhood. The schooling provided basic levels of education for the students. There was a massive influence and teaching when it came to household skills for the young girls as they start to get older. The problem was that many teachers like education themselves, so the students were not receiving an excellent education. When the students did receive education, most…

This image is of a building that represents the construction style of homes prior to the London fire. These homes were constructed with timber, plaster, waddle, daub, and lathe. In order for buildings to be more stable and be more likely to withstand disasters such as the previous fires, one can notice that the people of London began to construct buildings with stone, brick, and plaster. These end up being the majority of buildings that establish the setting in Bleak House. However, one can see that the older style still remained in some neighborhoods at the time. In one of…

In the image, there are 4 sections, Westminster, Southwark, Middlesex, and "the city." Bleak House takes place mainly in "the city," but also incorporates other parts of the map as well. To look at the different sections within this map, first Westminster. This includes the Westminster Abbey Cathedral, but not just that. for well over a century prior to the 19th century, this area had been established with the royal palace, parliament, and other judicial constructions (Court of Burgesses). This area was a place of extremity for both sides of the spectrum for wealth as those…

So many things are different from the time of Bleak House as London evolved and became more modernized. The main change I will focus on is the transition from docks to docklands, and the drastic expansion in London, especially in the docks. Eventually, the LDDC was established in order to oversea the dockland and encourage growth and expansion. They built a road to facilitate access to the island, but there were still problems with transport. Later, they established a railway, with connections to the existing underground network. This was working out until many companies began to…

Miss Flite, within Bleak House, can be blantantly described as the "bird lady" in the novel, she is the collector of birds as they pertain to the lengthy and prolonged Jarndyce and Jaryndyce lawsuit. These birds act as symbol of those who have been intertwined within this case for as long as it has been enduring. Due to, of course, the mortal nature of these birds, death does come upon them, as do the individuals involved in the case, but it appears that the case itself is immortal. Release of these birds will only come when the lawsuit reaches its summation; however, the summation of this…

The establishment of a police force was still very new at the time of the novel Bleak House, but the officers still hold a part in the storyline in the form of Inspector Bucket. The police force and officers were still under development, and were stationed only to a small area in London that eventually grew. People in the area were not very excited about this increase in police presence, especially because many of these police officers were detectives, so they were more intrusive than they needed to be. This was clearly shown in the book, and we look…

The inlclusion of Mr. Bucket's character in Bleak House was the first police detective to be seen in Victorian fiction. However, the complex and multiple themes of Bleak House  does not constitute the novel as a detective novel. Detective novels came about later on when popular fiction was divided into genres during the late Victorian period. Some famous detective novels that came after Bleak House include The Moonstone (1868) and Study Scarlet (1887).

Source:

Banerjee,…

This young girl is an image of poverty. The birdcage commonly represented servitude - here depicting that the young girl is a "servant or a hard-worked daughter of the house" (The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology). The girl in the painting is clearly worn out, oblivious to everything else in the room as she gazes entranced by the fire. As we often see throughout Dickens' Bleak House, the children are not subject to work in the factories and work houses, but rather, they are subject to servitude in the homes. This picture reminds me of Charley, before she becomes…

This is an image of St. Paul's Cathedral during the Victorian Era of London. The image represents how religion was at the center of everything during this time. The Church of England was adopted as the main religion of the country at the time so pretty much everyone had some aspect of "faith" within their life. However, even though the Church of England was adopted as the main practice, many people expressed their faiths in different ways through different branches of the religion. Those that followed the faith and belonged to the Church of England obtained a sense of purpose. In chapter…

Education for women and girls in London has been an issue since the 1790s. "Women were still less educated than men." To receive an education for women was strictly based on the class they were in. Many girls were educated in their households or small academies before 1830. education was similar between the boys and the girls, but the girls curriculums also added sewing and knitting. They spent much time learning curriculums that were strictly for housework. Academics for women was not a priority in their education for some time. In 1848, institutions started reforming the education that…

In the 15th century, the Court of Chancery started out as a court of equity to resolve cases that could not go through common law. To be put simply, it dealt with cases of little to moderate importance. Because of minimal control over the court, a case could drag on for decades after it's first been introduced. In Bleak House, prime examples include the infamous and mysterious Jardynce and Jardynce case, as well as Mr. Gridley falling victim to an unfairly settled case among thousands of others. Overall, the court was abusive in nature during the 19th century and could be…

Suicide is a passive, but yet prominent topic within the Bleak House novel. Most notably, there is the discussed suicide of Mr. Tom Jarndyce, but further along within the novel, passingly, there is discussion of fellow friends of George and Mr. Tulkinghorn. With this topic's hidden prominence, it can be noted of an overarching theme of desperation of these characters throughout the novel.  A desperation to not solely move forward and rid tasks and predicaments in front of them, but also a desperation to uncover what is hidden. When that desperation is not countered with success,…

Women in London during this time period were not respected nearly as much as they are now. Women were expected to care for the children and to look after the household, doing the daily chores while men worked. If they were working, they would work as seamstresses or as servants doing household chores. Regardless of what they were doing, they were expected to be submissive and rely on a male presence. They were not allowed to rebel or go against anything their husbands instructed of them, and Dickens would write into his stories how some women needed to be beaten into submission. …

It was very clear while reading that the doctors and the overall medical practice is drastically different, and I looked into how different this actually was. For starters, there was no takl or research on mental or emotional health, so many people who were ill would have been diagnosed as something completely different. The same went for reqroductive health, and there really was not a lot of knowledge on how to be healthy while pregnant, or how to safely gie birth, and for this reason many women or their babies died during or shortly after childbirth. In addition to the lack of knowledge…

In chapter 11 of Charle's Dicken's Bleak House, we learn of the death of Nemo, which is proclaimed as an opium overdose. The opium and drug market within 19th century England was an essential aspect of the growth of their trade with China and their economy. To retrieve opium and numerous other drugs, there was an ease of just purchasing them from a local physican, with no legal reprucussions, as it was a populaized activity within both rural and urban Victorian life. This historical connection to Bleak House is demonstrated in the sense of Nemo's death because it ultimatley illuminates the…

The image shows Jo the street sweeper with his broom seeming to wait for a few coins from a passerby. Dickens uses Jo's character in Bleak House to demonstrate how the lower class were treated and the experiences they endured in 19th London . Jo depends on people's charity as a source of income. He subjects himself to a job where he must clean dirt, mud, and animal manure from the streets. As a result of his circumstances, he is filthy and living hand-to-mouth. Because of his job and inability to properly care for himself, Jo is treated less than human. Dicken's…

During the Victorian era London saw a massive increase in the amount of air pollution. This graph shows this increase in a unit called suspended particle matter or SPM. This measurement is represented in micrograms per cubic meter. During the Victorian era there was a drastic increase in the air polution, that later platoued and the started to slowly decrease in the back end of the Victorian era in the early 1900's. In the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens he talks about the "fog" in London quite frequently, but I think it is interesting to look at how this…

Education and attending schools during this period, was not as common for girls. In the 1880s, there were many changes being made where it was required for both sexes to go to school. In 1890 schools had been established that were founded and funded to the schools for girls. That changed the history of education for girls.

The Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. (1885). The Cheltenham Ladies' College Magazine No XXI. British Library. https://www.bl.uk/…

In the painting, the young woman is wearing all black, suggesting a recent loss. "She is not wearing a mourning ring though, so she and her brother are probably orphans" (Pollitt, Ben). The young boy next to her is holding a portfolio. The young woman is trying to sell her paintings. Osborn even illustrates her anxiety by how she is nervously messing with the string in her hands. If the young woman is unable to sell her paintings, she and her little brother will be forced back to the streets. We could look at this and see just another painting, but there's such a deep narrative behind it…

This image was taken during the 19th century of the Victorian era of London. It is an accurate portrayal of the slums within London that captures the collective struggles of the city. The themes one can grasp from this image is the filth, lack of light, and cramped spaces filled with an abundant population of young and probably unhealthy individuals. In connection to the Dickens novel Bleak House, one can almost imagine this lifestyle and setting found in the image. Although the novel didn't follow characters all restricted to this level of poverty, one wouldn't be surprised…

This painting is an example of the types of fog that Londoners would experience daily due to pollution. The fog relates to Bleak House with its heavy usage in chapters one and two, and is used as an allusion to how the courts of Chancery are obstructed with injustice like how the fog obstructs the city. 

Image Scource: Porter, David. "Link Boys in a London Particular." Deptford Pudding, 6 Jan. 2012, https://deptfordpudding.com/2012/01/06/this-is-a-london-particular-a-fog/. Accessed 15…