It can often be extremely difficult to know what was going on in the minds of a writer, or an artist of any sort, as they created their works. Critics, fans, and students have spent years talking over the intentions and desires of writers and what certain passages, plot points, and character decisions could mean. This process is especially difficult with novels such as Bleak House, which was written almost two hundred years ago. Luckily, the working notes derived out of Dickens’ own need to make sure he had everything squared away with his work can shed some light on his thought process through his writing of the novel. In particular, the notes on the thirteenth installment serve to illuminate how Dickens’ portrayal of two main plots, the stories of Lady Dedlock and Richard, mirror each other in that each one concerns the interference of the English legal system, resulting in the death of each character owing to this intrusion on their lives.
While this installment does not do much in terms of moving the actual plot forward or revealing new bits of information, it is an essential piece of the overall content of the novel. This section starts with a somewhat lengthy assessment of the English legal system and the role that Vholes plays in it, followed by an interaction between Vholes and Richard that illustrates the detrimental effect Richard’s increased involvement in Jarndyce and Jarndyce is having on him. Guppy and Mr. Weevles then go to Krook’s house where the Smallweeds are going through all of Krook’s possessions, and Guppy is approached by Tulkinghorn, who inquires as to why Guppy met with Lady Dedlock. The next two chapters take place at Chesney Wold. Sir Leciester is campaigning for reelection and all his cousins come to assist him in the process. Tulkinghorn then arrives and tells a story meant to inform Lady Dedlock that he knows her secret. She later confronts him in his chambers and he tells her that he is not yet going to reveal her secret as it would tarnish the family name. Tulkinghorn then goes back to London, where, after meeting Snagsby, he is confronted by Rosa, who seems to be losing it a little bit.
One section of narration that really sticks out in this section is Dickens’ description of Chesney Wold. The house is depicted as night falls around it after it has been prepared for the return of the Dedlock’s and their extended family. As the narrator states, “But the fire of the sun is dying. Even now the floor is dusky, and shadow slowly mounts the walls, bringing the Dedlocks down like age and death” (Dickens 641). After this dark depiction, particular attention is paid to the shadow overcoming the portrait of Lady Dedlock. The only real mention of these passages in the working notes is where Dickens wrote “country house” and underlined it three times. This brief comment is noteworthy as it does not name Chesney Wold as the country house to be described. There are more mentions of “country” by Dickens in this note and during this narration. His description of the darkening house comes right after a brief narration about the state of the government at the time. Dickens states that Doodle, one of the “only two men in the country” (working notes), finds that he must “throw himself upon the country” (639). The uses of “country” in this context obviously refer to the nation of England, and by using them in this context, right before the note about a “country house”, Dickens creates a parallel between the two small pieces of the working notes. By not specifically mentioning Chesney Wold in this part of the notes, the description that Dickens applies to the home of the Dedlocks could be seen as applying to every or any rural house in England at the time, and the shadow that overcomes it would then be overcoming more than just Chesney Wold.
As mentioned above, in Dickens’ description of Chesney Wold, particular attention is paid to the shadow that comes over the portrait of Lady Dedlock. This shadow seems to foreshadow Lady Dedlock’s realization that Tulkinghorn knows her secret, yet if Dickens indeed intended the darkness being described to encompass more than just what was happening at Chesney Wold, then the meaning of Lady Dedlock’s experiences extend beyond the content explicitly displayed in the plot. As mentioned above, Lady Dedlock’s darkness is due to Tulkinghorn’s involvement in her affairs and given that Tulkinghorn is a distinct representation of the English legal system, it can be guessed that the shadow extending over the country is caused by the legal system’s processes. It is somewhat unclear as to what Tulkinghorn’s intentions are in uncovering Lady Dedlock’s past, other than a devotion to the Dedlock family and legal procedures in general. It seems that it is simply Tulkinghorn’s status as a member of the legal system that informs his values and pushes him to uncover the reasons behind Lady Dedlock’s behavior. Tulkinghorn’s blind pursuit of Lady Dedlock’s secrets as a means of satisfying himself is reflective of the relationship between Richard and Vholes that Dickens harks upon in the first chapter of this section. Through both his narration and notes, Dickens makes clear that Vholes is consuming Richard’s life to an extent by feeding on his desire and hope for a resolution to Jarndyce and Jarndyce. As Dickens notes, “The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself” (621) and, as we see through Vholes, the law’s business comes at the expense of the citizens’ well-being. While we see this obviously present in Richard and the Jarndyce suit, the mystery surrounding Esther and Lady Dedlock seems to be equally affected by the legal system. The fact that both Richard and Lady Dedlock end up dying tragic deaths owing to the intrusion of the legal system on their lives further suggest the detrimental effect that Dickens sees the government having on the country.
Rather than presenting the intrusion of the legal system in an a particularly advanced or complex way, there is almost a primitive aspect to its presence in this section. As Dickens states in both the notes and the text, “Make man-eating unlawful, and you starve the Vholeses” (623). Vholes association with cannibalism, which follows him throughout the text, suggests a crude and straightforward system in which those working for it suck the life out of those who don’t. The fact that this quote is included word-for-word in the notes shows how Dickens was thinking about these connections beforehand and seems to be trying to make an explicit comment on the English legal system. The message is less clear but still present in the interaction between Tulkinghorn and Lady Dedlock. One remark that Dickens makes about their meeting in the notes is simply, “Their interview at night, at Chesney Wold?”, which expresses the importance of their placement within this “country house”. When Tulkinghorn tells the story revealing to Lady Dedlock that he knows her secret, Chesney Wold is enveloped in darkness and the only light comes from Leicester’s fire and the moonlight, which covers Lady Dedlock at the window. The scene, without the presence of artificial light, feels very stripped down and conveys a sense of bareness. Further, Tulkinghorn iterates twice that his story is one of “Real flesh and blood” (649), imbuing it with a somewhat predatory, animalistic energy similar to the idea of “man-eating” that surrounds Vholes. By displaying these relationships as less civilized than one would expect, Dickens makes them out as more natural and simple and they thus become a more unavoidable or unchangeable part of the world. There is simultaneously a sense that citizens will not be able to overcome the shortcomings of the legal system through any sort of legislation or policy but also through any sheer force or collective willpower.
Overall, Lady Dedlock and Richard are two of Bleak House’s most central characters. Although their narratives are ostensibly separate and unrelated, Dickens’ working notes provide a common framework to help understand the characters’ experience. The focused position of the law throughout the novel shows Dickens commitment to the idea that there was something inherently detrimental to society in the structure and habits of the legal system and that it affected individual lives in many ways. While the working notes are only able to provide a slight glimpse into what exactly he was trying to convey, their existence gives readers the opportunity to see the ways Dickens made connections between different concepts both large and small.