Category Archives: Essays

Throughout the sixteenth installment of Bleak House, we see a flurry of character interactions and important turns in the overall plot. Installment sixteen, especially near the beginning, might seem slower than other installments within the novel, but nevertheless, it still manages to be extremely important in how the novel informs us of changes in both the murder case of Mr. Tulkinghorn, and in laying the overall groundwork for character relationships in the novel moving forward (more specifically, the relationship between Esther, Mr. Woodcourt, and Mr. Jarndyce).

As we see in both Dickens’ working notes and in the installment itself, Caddy has fallen ill. Esther, caring deeply for Caddy, decides to visit, even temporarily moving out to London for faster travel, as per Mr. Jarndyce’s recommendation. Caddy’s illness only worsens, and soon Mr. Jarndyce advises the group to appoint Mr. Woodcourt as her doctor. Esther agrees with him. This interaction as a whole is part of what makes this installment interesting in how it builds its characters’ relationships. We already know that the main reason for Mr. Jarndyce’s recommendation of Mr. Woodcourt seemingly stems from his work with the impoverished and those who are unable to afford medical care, but looking deeper, it really seems as if Mr. Jarndyce is pushing Esther towards Mr. Woodcourt.

This is seemingly supported by Dickens’ notes as well. In the working notes for Bleak House, Dickens wrote: “Esther and Allan? Yes. Carry on gently.” From my analysis of this, I was able to infer that despite having Esther accept the marriage proposal from Mr. Jarndyce, he may have still been juggling the idea of Esther and Mr. Woodcourt’s relationship progressing into a romantic type. Despite Dickens’ claims about not considering public feedback in his serial publications, I do believe that with this installment, Dickens was “testing the waters” in public reaction about moving forward with Esther and Mr. Woodcourt’s relationship.

Furthermore, we are also able to see Esther’s own hesitance with her “new” relationship to Mr. Jarndyce through her interactions with Ada. When Esther is talking to Ada, we are able to see that Esther notices Ada’s discomfort throughout their interaction. While she has no real reason to associate this reaction with her engagement to Mr. Jarndyce, she still worries over this idea, wondering if the change between them has had a negative impact on her darling, Ada. When we later find out, however, that Ada’s upset had been stemming from her guilt in hiding her marriage with Richard from Esther and Mr. Jarndyce, Esther reprimands herself for being “selfish” in thinking that Ada was upset over her engagement. This, coupled with Dickens’ working notes, points to the idea that Esther may be looking for problems in her engagement.

This part of the installment lays the foundation for the overall ending, since Esther does end up marrying Mr. Woodcourt instead of Mr. Jarndyce, who was interestingly unbothered by Esther breaking off their engagement. Furthermore, installment sixteen also moves to lay the groundwork for other relationships, such as the relationship between George and his own family, as well as for the case of the murder about Mr. Tulkinghorn. From the way that we see the murder presented in the novel, it’s easy to fall into the “murder mystery” side of things. In installment sixteen, however, we see that the novel decided not to continue the story in this way.

In fact, the murder of Mr. Tulkinghorn is investigated in a way that serves to ultimately lead Lady Deadlocke to her own death, and essentially is solved rather quickly, unbeknownst to Lady Deadlocke herself. Interestingly, we also see many of the subplots that Dickens had introduced begin to tie up; George comes to terms with his family relationship, Madam Hortense’s threat to Mr. Tulkinghorn becomes realized, and we even see an interesting side to Mr. Bucket through his investigation and interactions with the Deadlockes.

Despite the novel seemingly trying to trick its readers into believing that Lady Deadlocke was Mr. Tulkinghorn’s killer, it does not take this direction. Instead, Dickens expertly uses this investigation as a means to lead Lady Deadlocke to her death. In a previous installment, we are made aware that Lady Deadlocke is frightened to the point of fleeing her position. The main thing that keeps her there, however, is Mr. Tulkinhorn, who threatens that if she leaves, he will not be obliged to inform her of his further actions regarding her situation. With her status threatened, and seemingly under heavy suspicion from Mr. Bucket, who is investigating the murder, it leads her towards running away, which ultimately heads towards her death.

Another very important twist to this installment reveals that the letters that Krook had previously taken from his former tenant had actually survived the case of spontaneous combustion, and that Krook’s brother-in-law, Grandfather Smallweed had gone through them after Krook’s death. He reveals that the letters had previously belonged to Krook’s lodger, Captin Hawdon. This twist, at the end of installment sixteen, is also very important to the rest of the novel in how it affects Lady Deadlocke’s fate. Before this, we were led to believe that both the paperwork connecting Lady Deadlocke to her ex-lover was destroyed, along with Esther’s striking resemblance to Lady Deadlocke, effectively “destroying” the evidence of her having had Esther out of wedlock. With this new development, however, the evidence that we had thought to have been previously destroyed had actually survived.

Overall, the sixteenth installment of Bleak House proved to be very important to the rest of the novel in how it developed character relationships and interactions, in starting to tie up the loose ends of the novel’s subplots, and in building events towards the novel’s conclusion. Due to the work that this installment does in laying out Lady Deadlocke’s eventual death, and due to Dickens seemingly using this installment to “test the waters” for pushing the boundaries of Esther’s romantic relationship with Mr. Woodcourt, these events are able to fit into the novel in a smooth way, despite the slower pacing of this installment compared to the rest of Bleak House. Through analyzing both the text and Dickens’ working notes, I believe that Dickens was intentional in how he went about finishing the novel. The overall events of this installment were very thoughtfully planned out, and while there most likely was an audience-response nature to Esther and Mr. Woodcourt’s romantic relationship, true to its serial format, we are able to see that the idea was something that Dickens had entertained beforehand.

The seventh installment of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House is comprised of the 20^th, 21^st, and 22^nd chapters. Not only does the seventh installment not include Esther Summerson’s narrative, which readers may have grown accustomed to, but there is no appearance of the character at all within the three chapters. The chapters of the September 1852 installment, instead, are titled “A New Lodger” (314), “The Smallweed Family” (332), and “Mr. Bucket” (352). Each chapter introduces a new character, or group of characters to the plot through the lens of the familiar omniscient narrator. Chapter 20 introduces readers to Tony Jobling, a friend of Guppy’s who fills Nemo’s old room, and agrees to spy on Krook. Chapter 21 repositions readers with a view of the always “old” Smallweed family, who is visited by a friendly trooper, George, stopping to repay debts. At the end of this chapter the omniscient narrator follows George to his own shooting gallery, where we meet the scarred man who lives in the plain building with him, Phil Squod. The installment concludes with the 22^nd chapter, in which Mr. Bucket, a detective enlisted by Tulkinghorn, is introduced. He investigates the mysterious woman who had inquired to Jo about Nemo’s death. Mr. Snagsby and Mr. Bucket venture to Tom-All-Alone’s where they encounter life in a poor neighborhood and find Jo. By the end of the chapter, it is revealed that Madamoiselle Hortense is no longer considered the suspect, and the question of the mystery woman’s identity remains unanswered.

Despite the readjustment in focus from many existing characters, the chapters of this installment are imperative to Bleak House. Through new character formulations, installment seven provides functional links between the characters and settings already established before the September issue, and the monthly installments that follow. This installment also highlights certain events and interactions to underscore the overarching purpose of social satire that extends from the beginning of Bleak House to the final installment. These functions are supported by Dickens’s working notes, wherein some of these essential characteristics and important interactions are emphasized by additional ink markings.

In Chapter 20, the omniscient narrator follows Mr. Guppy in order to produce a new character: Tony Jobling. Jobling, who by the end of the chapter operates under the alias Mr. Weevle, functions to encourage readers to become acquainted with the new character and his relationship to Mr. Guppy, the law, and Krook. The organization of the relationship between these three men is explicitly mapped the in chapter “A New Lodger” in order to construct a dynamic that becomes more significant twelve chapters later, in “The Appointed Time”, when Krook is discovered to have spontaneously combusted. Beyond this functional purpose of Jobling, his lack of stable identity may hold a more allegorical purpose. The chapter’s title is dedicated to Jobling, but uses neither his original name nor his assumed name. Rather, the character is reduced to his occupation of a room in the chapter title “A New Lodger”. This sets chapter 20 apart from the following two chapters in the installment, which directly cite the focal characters’ names. The erasure of Jobling’s name from the title and the alias assigned to him by Guppy may serve to contribute to the satirical tone of Bleak House, by indirectly blaming this fluidity on the character’s relationship with the law. Guppy’s ascription of “Weevle” to Jobling for Guppy’s own interests about Krook’s involvement with legal papers shows his methodical process. “Weevle” is just another general, fictitious name like Coodle, Doodle, Boodle, Duffy, and Cuffy (Dickens 190). This signifies how people so consumed with the law, or in Jobling’s case, people used as devices by others who are completely fixated in legal matters, can be reduced, manipulated, and completely warped into different characters by the association.

The middle portion of Bleak House’s seventh installment launches a new character grouping: The Smallweed family. The main characterization of the family as a whole is the incredible age each character exhibits; even the twin teenage grandchildren are continually represented as remarkably old. This chapter is largely focused on social critique by magnifying the family’s concern with money, whether that be through sore feelings on the subject or greedy prospects, and the unnatural age that accompanies this capital focus.

“There has been only one child in the Smallweed family for several generations. Little old men and women there have been, but no child, until Mr. Smallweed’s grandmother, now living, became weak in her intellect and fell (for the first time) into a childish state.” (332)

The necessity and thirst for money can become an all-encompassing matter which robs people of youth by acceleration into working-class adulthood. Charley’s appearance in the chapter is interesting, and adds yet another layer to social commentary when the Smallweed family exploits the work of poor Charley.

“Timidly obedient to the summons, a little girl in a rough apron and a large bonnet, with her hands covered with soap and water and a scrubbing brush in one of them, appears, and curtseys.” (336)

Even Charley, an outsider of the family, is accelerated into responsible maturity far beyond her physical maturity, for the dire necessity of money. Judy’s callous treatment towards the young girl generates even more tension for readers.

Chapter 21 in the seventh installment also functions by extending Bleak House’s setting. The trooper, George, is the vehicle through which the omniscient narrator travels from the Smallweeds’ residence to George’s Shooting Gallery, &c. This establishes the shooting gallery as a casual, mostly blank-canvas setting with potential; this comes to significance in installment 15, with the discovery of Tulkinghorn’s body, followed by George’s arrest.

Chapter 22, “Mr. Bucket”, is arguably the most important chapter in the seventh installment, with the introduction of detective Mr. Bucket. This character reappears in later installments to drive much of the plot to its finale. The inclusion of Mr. Bucket at this point in the installments, just before the mid-point, seems to be a strategic decision about reader engagement for the serial format. After six months of continual question materialization and very few answers, the introduction of Bucket presents readers with a character whose purpose is to collect information and answer questions. The name “Mr. Bucket” itself embodies the investigative man who constantly collects puzzle pieces of information, and although it takes more time for the omniscient narrator to notify readers of Bucket’s discoveries, the existence of the character alone seems to imply an eventual pay-off for invested readers. This chapter also functions to stall and moderate pace; Jo identifies evidence, but Mademoiselle Hortense is the wrong body filling “the wale, the bonnet, and the gownd” (364). The mystery of the inquisitive woman is prolonged, and the last chapter for the month produces more intrigue about a growing investigation, rather than closure.

Just as in chapters 20 and 21, the mechanics of character introduction and plot direction don’t limit symbolic importance in the installment’s final chapter. Spatial movement plays an especially large role at the end of this installment, when Mr. Snagsby and Mr. Bucket advance towards Jo in Tom-All-Alone’s. The third-person omniscient narrator privileges the perspectives of Snagsby and Bucket in the descriptions of the neighborhood and its inhabitants. The neighborhood is described as an otherworldly, hellish landscape.

“Between his two conductors, Mr. Snagsby passes along the middle of a villainous street, undrained, unventilated, deep in black mud and corrupt water—though the roads are dry elsewhere—and reeking with such smells and sights that he, who has lived in London all his life, can scarce believe his senses. Branching from this street and its heaps of ruins are other streets and courts so infamous that Mr. Snagsby sickens in body and mind and feels as if he were going every moment deeper down into the infernal gulf.” (358)

This description of the poor neighborhood sharpens the contrast between the juxtaposed characters and setting. Most notably, Snagsby’s astonishing fear contributes to the social critique in Bleak House about willful ignorance of the affluent.

The brickmakers’ families also play an extensive role in this installment, as the women interact with Snagsby and Bucket while their husbands are drunk, unconscious, and out of work (359). One notable conversation takes place about the families’ conditions. Bucket lectures Liz about her desperate idea that her child may be better off dead than alive (360). This is important because it shows Mr. Bucket’s disconnect with the realities of life in Tom-All-Alone’s. The shelter well-off people have from the reality of poor neighborhoods, to the point that may never know it exists and will likely never understand the toils, is another example of ignorance in affluence made in the Tom-All-Alone’s scene.

Although the seventh installment may not seem significant in the initial consumption of this serial portion of the serialized whole, key events that precipitate in later installments would not be as successful without these three highly functional chapters to establish imperative characters and important physical spaces. In fact, there is compelling evidence in Dickens’s working notes that supports the idea that the seventh installment is a purposely functional issue intended to operate as a springboard to propel the coming plot. The page dedicated to this installment is the only notes page that has a list (“Mems for future”) of projected events for the section’s featured characters. This is suggestive that the genesis of the discussed characters for this installment were created as tools to achieve the completed Bleak House, and therefore it holds, that the September 1852 installment carries great functional significance.

“One of the finest of all English satires” is what Terry Eagleton, famed literary theorist, terms Charles Dickens masterpiece; Bleak House. The canonical piece of literature stands to exemplify seriality in its best form. Released to audiences over a period of 19 months through installments and expanding from 1852-53, this rich and varied story containing over 900 hundred pages was a must read for many in England. Attached to the novel were the authors working notes. These provide insight on his writing process and allows researchers to analyze connections in the novel on a micro-level.  

The twelfth installment includes chapters 36 through 38 and reveals that symbolism is vital to the way Dickens constructs narratives. Chapter 36, Chesney Wold,  encapsulates Esther’s time as she visits Boythorn’s house with Charley. It is here that two major events happen; one, she looks in the mirror for the first time since she had fallen ill with smallpox and two, Lady Dedlock reveals to Esther that she is her mother. She is then visited by her dear confidant and friend Ada. This leads the reader into chapter 37, Jarndyce and Jarndyce,  in which Richard is at the Dedlock public house of Arms. He summons Esther and she finds him with Skimpole. Esther is quick to notate her criticism of him and wonders why Richard would have such a friend. Richard goes on to articulate that he has a strong distrust of John Jarndyce. Mr Vholes arrives and he and Carstone ride off into the distance of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Finally the installment ends with chapter 38, The Struggle, Esther goes back home to London where she attends dance lessons with Caddy and then they travel to Mr. Guppys house in which he and Esther discuss the secret. These three chapters are inundated with the symbolism of mirror imagery and reconcile with the uncanny similarities they induce. Bleak House as a novel holds a mirror up to 19th century English society, and the twelfth installment highlights the same subversive symbolism with which he creates these enigmatic parallels. This imagery; however, exists as a shifting metaphor. There is evidence to suggest mutability within the seemingly concrete images that a mirror creates. The following chapters try and explain this tension. 

The reader is presented with the first example of the mirror image when Esther literally stares at her reflection at Boythorn’s. She declares that her face is very strange to her now, but that it “very soon became more familiar,” she then adjudicates that there is nothing definite in this world, not even her own image. Although her shifting image is physically linked to the smallpox she has acquired, the metaphorical parallel describes the way in which Esther is unintentionally causing unhappiness to Lady Dedlock (Dickens, 572). Esther is a self-sacrificing heroine. Administering to the poor, manifesting friendships with many of those around her and allowing others to be happy before herself, but no matter how consciously honorable she can be, there is always the fact that her birth is not honorable, even if it is out of her control. She states that “I knew I was as innocent of my birth, as a queen of hers” (Dickens, 587).  Just like a disease doesn’t necessarily mean harm, it happens to manifest it. The timing of Esther’s disease and Lady Dedlock’s discovery happen at the same time. Then, the day Esther looks at herself in the mirror and visibly sees her scars, she comes face to face with her birth mother. From then on Esther’s presence is similar to a disease for Lady Dedlock. During their encounter Esther is thankful for her aforementioned scars because it will distort the appearance of any similarities between the two women, but as the reader continues through the novel, one discovers that the complicated relationship is more than just a passing resemblance and Esther’s scars do not keep people from finding out. Just as Esters physical appearance goes through a quick and radical change, so does Lady Dedlock’s life. This meeting marks a significant shift from benign to malignant for Dedlock as she is slowly driven out of house and dies cold and alone mourning her prior misgivings. They resemble mirror images of each other. Once the revelation of their relationship happens Esther cannot seemingly move without causing some distress for Lady Dedlock, even if it is beyond her control.  

The following chapter, 37: Jarndyce and Jarndyce,  is still presented from Esther’s perspective, but is focused on the degradation of Richards character.  Dickens highlights this by reflecting the disposition of both Skimpole and Carstone. From the very beginning of the novel Skimpole is a despicable character. Within the novel he is self-described as “childlike”;  a parasitic moocher, his convulting nature drives him to take peoples money without them even realizing and he is more than willing to sell anyone out for a sixpence. His name even suggests that he skims people out of whatever they have to give. Although not as malicious in his misgivings, Richards’ disacknowledgement of basic human civility and responsibility makes him comparable to Skimpole. It is obvious that Richard has radically changed from the beginning of this text, but Esther can barely believe that he would account for someone like Skimpole. Richard describes him as someone that “does me more good than anybody,” and Esther’s response, which she mentions silently to herself,  is “I began seriously to think that Richard could scarcely have  found a worse friend” (Dickens, 593-94). Richards overt trust in Skimpole points out his extreme naivety, leaving the audience to consider him just as childlike as Skimpole. Richard hasn’t always been this way though. Yes, he has been indecisive about career choices in the past, but nothing to suggest he is akin to Skimpole’s egregious behavior. It is only once he gets caught in the windstorm of Jarndyce and Jarndyce does he exhibit such a front. He goes as far as to completely rebuke John Jarndyce by explaining to Esther that they are not on “natural terms.”

The introduction of Mr. Vholes further extends the parallel between  Skimpole and Carstone. One of the most diabolical characters in the entire novel, Vholes is introduced  to Richard by Skimple who is seemingly unaware and uncaring of the implications that this pairing will cause. On the other hand, Carstone refuses to acknowledge his exploitation. This situates both Skimpole and Richard into the same realm of infant-like behavior even further than before. Although not exactly one to one parallels exist between Richard and Skimpole, Dickens seems to be making social commentary on people who have an inability to accept social responsibility. For the the author, these people are mirror images of one another because no matter their small differences in appearance or characterization, their inability to add anything to society makes them identical. 

In the last chapter of the installment, Chapter 38: The Struggle, the audience sees one of the characters create a parallel between two places. Caddy manages to be reminded of the “Sweeps” when she looks outside her window and sees all of the appretencies. This adds another layer to the metaphor. Characters within the story are able to point out parallels within their own narrative. One reading of this reminds the audience of the sweeps of course. But another reading of this callback can serve to highlight Esther’s function as a narrator. The entirety of the twelfth installment is from Esther’s perspective. Therefore, if Esther is acknowledging this existence of meaningful past connections for one character the reader, is forced to conclude that Esther creates this for herself. Therefore the reader may ask themselves, is she intentionally leading us (the audience) to certain conclusions?  The audience has already seen from both chapter 36 and 38 that she is not willing to reveal all of the contents of the letter between her and Lady Dedlock. We know that she isn’t revealing all of her information, so in what other ways has Easter been manipulating the audience. She may be doing this unconsciously, as people are prone to have unconscious biases with which they view the world; however, that does not negate the existence of them. Since Esther is writing this in a retrospective manner the reader may ask if she is making connections inadvertently because she knows how the story ends before it even starts. This is a stark reminder for the audience that Esther is a subjective narrator. But, nevertheless it doesn’t make those connections any less real. When the reader sits down with Bleak House they submit to Esther’s story and in that particular way are forced to take at least part of the narrative as true and real or else it would be impossible to draw any significant conclusions from the story. This is all summed up in Esther’s  reply to Caddy’s callback to the “Sweep.” She states, “All this presented that art to me in a singular light, to be sure” (Dickens, 610). This is the answer to why her narrative exists. She presents to the audience her narrative or “art” for which she is sure of. Esther has to literally reflect on the past to formulate the story in which she is describing, as long as her memory serves her well she is sure of her art.  

This installment constitutes only 50 pages, but this is one of the most complex parts of the narrative. These three chapters contain one of the biggest revelations in the novel,  establishes a the continual shift of Richards decline in character and an gives insight to both Caddy and Mr. Guppy. Commentary on the aspects of shifting characterization is revealed through the use of parallel and mirror imagery. Dickens however complicates this by installing a shifting metaphor in which the “mirror”  is used in a few different ways. We see this with Esther and her mother, Esther and her narrative, Richard and Skimpole, and Caddy and the Sweeps. Yet, this stands against the novel as a whole in which Dickens makes a larger parallel to his novel and nineteenth century England.

MLA

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. London: Penguin Books, 1985.

Charles Dickens’ Bleak House is a rich compilation of subplots that intricately interweave and interact with the overarching judicial satire story of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. As each of the subplots develop their respective characters and story lines, the Jarndyce and Jarndyce plot remains central but loses some of its potency as the dominant plot driver. Of the various subplots, the one concerning the murder of Tulkinghorn, the flight of Lady Dedlock, and more importantly the detective, Mr. Bucket, becomes one of the most controlling plots in Bleak House. Mr. Bucket’s plot line becomes so commanding and important in Bleak House that Installment XVII cements the novel’s incorporation of detective fiction and crime genre into the novel and is crucial is driving the events of the novel, based specifically on Mr. Bucket’s apprehension of Mademoiselle Hortense as Tulkinghorn’s murderer and his tracking of Lady Dedlock. Dickens’ working notes for Installment XVII contain an intentional and crucial record of the installment’s preoccupation with detective fiction, in addition highlighting key events that are important in furthering the novel to its conclusion.

Installment XVII contains three chapters which are titled, “Springing a Mine,” “Flight,” and “Pursuit,” and each is narrated by the omniscient third person narrator. “Springing a Mine” is the chapter in which Mr. Bucket explains the possible motives for Tulkinghorn’s murder to Sir Leicester Dedlock, necessarily having to explain Lady Dedlock’s involvement. Later, Mr. Bucket apprehends Mademoiselle Hortense for the murder of Tulkinghorn, and explains exactly how he learned that she committed the crime, a key component to the novel’s genesis of detective fiction. “Flight” most importantly sees Mrs. Rouncewell and Mr. Guppy each inform Lady Dedlock of the growing knowledge of her involvement with Captain Hawdon and Tulkinghorn’s murder, which directly lead to her fleeing Bleak House. “Pursuit” details the search for Esther Summerson and then Lady Dedlock by Mr. Bucket on the call of Sir Leicester, who has been incapacitated due to a stroke suffered in “Springing a Mine.” “Springing a Mine” and “Pursuit” are most important in providing the combination of Mr. Bucket detailing how he solved the murder of Tulkinghorn and his search for Esther and Lady Dedlock, which are crucial to the detective fiction genre emergence in Bleak House, as they exemplify the importance of detective work in forwarding the plot of the novel.

“Springing a Mine” is fundamentally important to Bleak House as a whole because it completes one major plot line, as it solves the murder of Tulkinghorn through the detective work of Mr. Bucket. In Dickens’ working notes for “Springing a Mine,” there is a note that reads “all in Bucket’s hands.” This note suggests that great responsibility rests with Mr. Bucket because, at present, he is the only one with all the information concerning Tulkinghorn’s murder. While Mr. Bucket has been present earlier in the novel, this chapter is arguably his first moment with total control of the novel’s plot progression. That same note is in close spatial relation to two other notes, which concern Mr. Bucket’s apprehension of the murderer, Mademoiselle Hortense, and her motivations, as well as how he discovered she did it. For “Springing a Mine,” there are only two other working notes by Dickens, and both simply concern the characters present in the chapter. The overwhelming presence of detective work and crime drama in Dickens’ working notes for this chapter, demonstrates Dickens’ clear intention to shift the focus of the novel into this genre.

Dickens’ working notes give Mr. Bucket a newfound agency to guide the plot of Bleak House into a crime fiction genre through his detective work, and the actual text of the chapter fleshes out that agency. The first hint of his detective work, comes from Mr. Bucket explaining to Sir Leicester how he employed Jo to identify the dress of Mademoiselle Hortense as the one worn in disguise by Lady Dedlock when she wanted to see Captain Hawdon’s living space and grave (Dickens 820). Mr. Bucket demonstrates his cunning and apt detective work, to establish his own ethos for the larger and more important revelation of the murderer of Tulkinghorn. It is necessary for Mr. Bucket to assert his skills as a detective, because before he discloses the evidence against Mademoiselle Hortense, he describes the trap he laid to catch her as “such a ventur as I never made yet” (833). By casting suspicion onto Mr. George and having Mrs. Bucket as a spy, Mr. Bucket obtains incriminating evidence against Mademoiselle Hortense, specifically that she was the one writing the letters accusing Lady Dedlock of the murder of Tulkinghorn (834-35). Mr. Bucket’s elaborate and organized plan brings a conclusion to the plot concerning the murder of Tulkinghorn, a major set of events in the novel given Lady Dedlock’s involvement, and introduces the common crime genre trope to Bleak House of the investigator laying out all the facts for characters and audiences benefit alike, signaling the novel’s shift into crime fiction.

“Pursuit” incorporates more detective work by Mr. Bucket that furthers the novel’s evolution into the crime fiction genre, while making a significant development in the novel’s overall plot as Mr. Bucket begins the search for Lady Dedlock. The working notes for “Pursuit” show clear intention by Dickens to speed up the plot, with two notes which seem to be less involved with the content of the plot and more concerned with the pace of the story. The rapid increase of pace in the story centers around Mr. Bucket, as the incapacitated Sir Leicester commands him to find Lady Dedlock quickly in the fear that she is grave danger. The quickness of pace coincides with Mr. Bucket relying on his detective skills to find Lady Dedlock, and this is reflected in Dickens’ working notes with the mention of one critical piece of evidence, Esther’s handkerchief in Lady Dedlock’s room. Another note by Dickens is underlined, suggesting its importance, and demands that Mr. Bucket take Esther with him in his search for Lady Dedlock. This note is crucial because “Pursuit” is narrated by the third person omniscient narrator, which thus far has been independent of Esther. Dickens’ clear decision in this note to incorporate Esther into this narration suggests that the shift to the detective fiction genre and centering around Mr. Bucket is so important in Bleak House that it must permeate into both narrative structures in the story.

The main action in “Pursuit” is Mr. Bucket’s quick paced journey to find both Esther and Lady Dedlock, and this action is crucial in the later developments of the novel concerning Lady Dedlock. After Mr. Bucket leaves Sir Leicester to look for clues to Lady Dedlock’s whereabouts, he finds Esther’s handkerchief in Lady Dedlock’s room (861). Mr. Bucket’s ability to connect Esther to Mr. George’s Shooting Gallery and find her address there from Mr. George points to excellent detective work by Mr. Bucket (861-62). Mr. Bucket’s discovery of Esther’s handkerchief to his arrival at Jarndyce’s doorstep occur in less than two pages, clearly showing that Dickens is speeding up the pace of the novel. The pace seems to get even quicker as Mr. Bucket communicates to Esther the danger that he believes Lady Dedlock is in (863). Interestingly, after Esther agrees to go with Mr. Bucket, the chapter’s pace grinds to a halt and transitions to a description of the lone figure of Lady Dedlock exposed to the elements. The ever-present danger that Lady Dedlock is in, coupled with the quick paced pursuit by Mr. Bucket and Esther is reminiscent of the modern-day crime fiction genre pursuit trope, in which investigative forces are pitted against time and tasked with finding someone else. An important consideration for the transition of the novel to the crime fiction genre is that the first chapter of the next installment involves Mr. Bucket and Esther engaging in investigative tactics at a police station and involving other officers, arguably completing the novel’s genre transition. Mr. Bucket’s deductive work and the incorporation of Esther into the crime fiction genre transition demonstrate the seriousness of this chapter for the entirety of Bleak House, as Lady Dedlock’s death follows shortly after.

Installment XVII concludes the plot that surrounds Tulkinghorn’s murder with the apprehension of Mademoiselle Hortense and frames the beginning of the plot line that focuses on Lady Dedlock’s suicide, making the installment critical in the grand scheme of the novel. The crucial nature of this installment finds itself surrounded in the detective work of Mr. Bucket, creating a genre transition that appears intentional based on Charles Dickens’ working notes. While this installment of the novel could be examined for wide ranging implications of modern-day crime fiction, perhaps a more crucial examination arises in the function of narrative pace in that same genre. Narration and narrative structure are fundamentally important in Bleak House and the way in which the pacing varies in coincidence with the introduction of the crime fiction genre may provide more critical insight into the narration pace of modern-day crime fiction.