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Bleak House
The Individual versus The Institutions
In this presentation I want to show how Dickens conveys the idea that for society to change for the better the individual must take responsibility for their own actions and also take responsibility for those around them, because we are all intricately linked together. ...
The contrast between institution and individual can be seen by comparing the characters of Esther and Richard. Leonard Deen points this out in his essay Style and Unity in Bleak House:
Richard and Esther’s stories are connected in being positive and negative ‘proofs’ of the destructiveness of a corrupt and disorganised society. ... The omniscient narrator could be likened to an institution, whereas Esther’s narrative is definitely about the individual. ... The dual narrative does further the idea that it is the individual that will change society and not the institutions because the omniscient narrator does not offer any solutions to the society he sees and highly ironises whereas Esther helps almost everyone she meets, and is duly rewarded. ... Donovan notes in his essay Structure and idea in Bleak House;
If Esther occasionally strikes us a little goody-goody (which I personally thinks is a bit of an understatement), we must recall her function is to provide a sane and wholesome standard of morality in a topsy-turvy world. ... 189
This is also shown in the imagery of a web (one of Esther’s many names at Bleak House is “Cobweb”)which is also present in George Eliot’s Middlemarch. ... This therefore still supports the idea that the individual is more capable of helping others than institutions. ...
Finally I want to sum up by saying that in Bleak House Dicken’s gives a realistic, well rounded view of his society and asks the reader to see what is really ‘wrong with the picture’.
Approximate Word count = 1398
Approximate Pages = 5.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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