Browse all of the Salem on Literature series

Bleak House (Magill Book Reviews)

Among the many orphans of a society that refuses to take paternal care of its weak and helpless, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare could be called the novel’s protagonists. But their tragic love pales in significance beside the fate of the beautiful and haughty Lady Dedlock, whose mysterious secret threatens to shake the aristocracy out of its irresponsible stupor.

Along with almost everyone else in the novel, Lady Dedlock is caught up in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a infamously protracted case in the Court of Chancery which provokes some of Dickens’ most brilliant satire. But he is...

[The entire page is 529 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.