The Problem of Resistance and Personal Obsession in Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House’

Obsession is something that everyone goes through at some point but destroys those who take it to the extreme. Richard Carstone is an example of how obsession can consume an individual. In ‘Bleak House’, Richard is an orphan who comes into contact with the Jarndyce case. The Jarndyce case is the major plot point that goes on throughout the entire novel and affects every character. The Chancery Court System, the court that houses the Jarndyce case, deals with noncriminal cases, inheritance issues, and wills, and is notorious for having long, drawn-out cases that have no definitive end. Because of this, many become consumed and obsessed with the cases and devote their lives to something with no return. The case has an especially large effect on Richard. Richard is consumed by the Jarndyce case because he hopes to gain a large amount of revenue from the inheritance money being distributed by the case. This causes him to obsess overworking and trying to resolve the case and causes him to return to it repeatedly. Richard’s obsession with the Jarndyce case and resistance to new opportunities parallels negative reactions Victorians had towards scientific progress and teaches twenty-first-century readers to be open-minded and accepting.

Science at the time ‘Bleak House’ was published was developing rapidly, and the industrial revolution was in full swing. These changes to society at times were met with adversary. The church played a major part in society during the Victorian era, so science had to agree with the religious ideas people had. Most of the scientific literature that was published early in the nineteenth century was approved by the church because they included ideas such as nature being god’s creation. But as more literature was being published, the less attached to the church scientific ideas were becoming. Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ was a major scientific literature piece that people had issues with. Some saw it as radical because how could a developed species like humans evolve from something so primitive. People wanted science to align with their own beliefs about how the world is and were unwilling to let go of what they believed. Also, Galton’s theory of Eugenics, which was heavily influenced by Darwin, stated that humans can manipulate and predict certain traits through selective breeding. This was opposed by many because it meant God was not responsible for giving human-specific traits that make us different from other species.

At the start of the novel, Richard is a promising young man who has been given an opportunity as John Jarndyce’s ward. Richard works on the case for a while with his cousin Ada, and Esther. Because the Jarndyce case is going nowhere, Richard is persuaded to pursue a new occupation that is stable and will allow him to support himself. He decides, almost at random, to go into medicine as Mr. Badger’s apprentice, but his mind is still fixated on the case. Richard doesn’t last long working in medicine and comes back to the Jarndyce case because he believes this will be his big break. He tries to reason with Ada by explaining how “the longer it goes on, dear cousin, the nearer it must be to a settlement one way or another” (Dickens, 209). Richard convinces himself that the case has to come to a close soon and refuses to believe the signs that are telling him otherwise. Similarly, people in Victorian England, especially members of the church, had their ideas about the natural world and when a new scientific idea went against it, they would reject the idea and return to their original beliefs. This tendency Richard has to revert to his beliefs continues and gets worse when he decides to apprentice himself into Kenge’s office again to become a lawyer. After Richard explains to Esther and Ada that he wants to return to practicing law, Esther “was not by any means so sure of that; and I saw how his hankering after vague things yet to come of those long-deferred hopes, cast a shade on Ada’s face” (Dickens, 249). In Kenge’s office, he constantly pores over documents about the Jarndyce case day and night. This becomes a problem and Esther starts to be concerned about his blind ambition and can see his obsession and Ada’s worries increase.

In the nineteenth century when people were first exposed to Galton’s theory of eugenics they disagreed and rejected his idea that traits can be biologically manipulated because it meant God did not implement qualities. People who were resistant to Galton’s theory had a similar tendency as Richard to only see things from their predetermined viewpoint, resulting in their inability to change.

Richard and Ada get engaged, but when Richard goes through another career change by enlisting into the army, Jarndyce asks them to undo the engagement until they are older. When Richard returns, he goes straight back to the case, however, he becomes suspicious of Jarndyce and his motives, so he decides to work elsewhere. As science became more radical and less attached to the church, the more resistant clergymen became to these new thoughts and reason. Richard goes through resistance to change occupation and leaving the Jarndyce case behind, similar to how the church was resistant to accept Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Darwin theorized that animals, including humans, adapt and survive through natural selection. This was a radical thought that was not appreciated at first because people believed they were special and an elevated species. Clergymen especially resisted the belief that their origins were not divine and that they come from a primitive species. Richard spends all of his time on the case and becomes extremely ill. The Jarndyce case finally ends because all of the money has been spent in court costs. When Richard learns about the case ending he says he must “begin the world” (Dickens, 746), but dies moments after. Richard finally realizes that he needs to start his life, but his obsession with the case caused him to waste his entire life.

This relates to how some scientific ideas were not appreciated by the public until they let go of their previous beliefs to have a more open mind. On the other hand, twenty-first-century science and literature work more cohesively and have a less biased audience. In society today, most new scientific thoughts or ideas that are shared with the public are received by open-minded people who are less influenced by personal biases to alter their opinions. This allows for a united relationship between science and literature, which was not as present in the nineteenth century. Now people want to obtain as much knowledge and information as possible so that they can learn new ideas and have multiple different points of view. For example, global warming is discussed continuously by people all over the world with varying opinions on the issues it causes and how to deal with these issues. However, instead of only listening to and believing ideas that align with their personal beliefs, people want to understand every viewpoint to find the best possible solution to the problems. Similarly, in literature when there is a new idea that is presented, people are more likely to be interested and want to learn more about how it can affect their lives. When self-driving cars were first introduced people were skeptical about the safety and practicality of it. But many kept an open mind allowing them to see the benefits and capabilities the new technology offers to them. This allows the idea to develop and progress at a much faster rate than if people resisted. It also increases the opportunity for projects to be seriously considered, whereas before, in the nineteenth century, many new thoughts and ideas were shut down before they were tried. In addition to science and literature being more close-knit, science and literature has become more accessible. New technology has allowed the distribution of new thoughts and ideas to become easy. People can access science through the internet allowing them to learn whatever they might be interested in or curious about. More accessibility allows for more science learned by the public, increasing knowledge about new ideas and thoughts. An increase in knowledge brings opinions and criticism with it. Many people become critical to the ideas that combat their own, but in many ways, this is positive for the relationship between science and literature. With different opinions and criticism, more nuanced and well put together conclusions are made because they are influenced by not only their own beliefs but the beliefs of other people who have slightly different ideas. This allows scientists to build off of those ideas to improve their own and keep progress going forward. Obsession often brings resistance with it.

In Richard’s case, he was so obsessed with the Jarndyce case he resisted finding a job to support himself and his family. For people loyal to the church during the Victorian age, it was their obsession with their ideas about science that led resistance to new scientific thought. Both have proven how obsession can blind an individual or a whole population to what is important in their lives. Richard is unable to progress through his life, and constantly working on the case leads him to an early death, while the church disabled themselves from appreciating science that was years before its time and ultimately has become widely accepted.

This reveals how readers of the twenty-first century can learn from the nineteenth century. People now should be grateful for the amount of access they have to new information to learn. Instead of rejecting ideas that they disagree with, people need to keep an open mind and acknowledge new thoughts to help progress science.

Comparison of Law and Literature: Analysis of Bleak House

Introduction

Literature is freedom of literature and expressing your thoughts whereas law is fixed and its boundaries cannot be expanded. Law is set of rules through which society is governed and literature is reflection of human behaviour. Law is neutral but literature is personalized. Law is limited by its own connotations. Law, Literature and Cinema have evolved and are evolving gradually. Variations in law come from society and law provides trouble-free methods to acquire those variations. Law is that science of society that designates manoeuvre and transform. Thus law and literature, cinema differs yet they are interrelated. It is hard to characterize law however literature is the main conceivable approach to portray it. Law is about people and their satisfactory lead in a general public. It would not be right to express that law has stood the trial of time since literature and commitments of the essayists cleared its approach to who and what is to come. Literature is the amalgamation of the real world and creative mind. Law is developing and creating, adjusting to evolving needs-social, financial and social. Thus, literature additionally advances with time. Both discussion about society and its consistently evolving needs.

With time, the two-wheeled vehicle of law and literature got its awkward extra person wheel as cinema. In India starting its voyage during the 1890s as quiet movies, at that point talkies and even the local cinema has made a critical commitment.

At present, the cinema has an exceptionally wide reach and it would not be right to state that it affects its group of spectators. Since its coming it has attempted to interface individuals of different strata and time to time has effectively weakened the undetectable limits which do exist in the general public.

What is law?

It has consistently been a bone-breaking assignment to give a solitary meaning of law. Numerous endeavours have been made to characterize law however in my view law is an umbrella term which covers all the part of human conduct and controls our lead for the better working of the general public.

Law isn’t just worried about the direct of individuals however is an impetus for figuring a superior climate, where people, verdure, and all the regular sources are saved and can make due in agreement with one another for a more drawn out term.

What is cinema?

Cinema has been always a powerful tool to impact minds of individuals. Cinema can easily change the opinions of people and their life outlook. Nearly all, good films influence the audience, just how much varies from spectator to viewer. Individually, since the sole purpose of films is to influence the audience and to send a message, people are bound to be influenced by films. Cinema have both negative and positive way to affect society.

What is literature?

Literature is an impression of the general public is a reality that has been broadly recognized. Literature in fact mirrors the general public, its great qualities, and its ills. Literature fills in as an element of a mirror that will bounce back the foulness of the general public to commit the general public understand its errors and offer some kind of reparation. It likewise extends the excellences in the public arena and makes these ethics reach to a more extensive segment. Literature, as an impersonation of human activity, frequently shows an image of what individuals think however can’t rehearse. In literature, we discover stories intended to depict human life and the genuine characters are made to remember on a paper. Works consistently pass on certain message be it for instruction, diversion or change.

Literature is past only creative mind as an author’s creative mind is an impression of what he is being presented to in the public eye. This demonstrates the truth is an operator to creative mind and literature is the result of the two.

Similarities

In the event that we take a gander at the surface we would think that it’s difficult to draw likenesses among law and literature, yet in this procedure, we go over the real closeness that the two have is a person is the main point of the two. Both law and literature are for the individuals and by the individuals. They are worried about society and the species which establish it.

Language is another comparable angle that the two offer. Language is the mode through which law and even literature are transmitted from one end to the next.

Time assumes a key job in helping them exist together. Law is developing and creating, adjusting to evolving needs, monetary and social. Additionally, literature likewise develops with time. Both discussion about society and its consistently evolving needs.

Law and literature both direct certain basic parts of one another. Great command over literature enables legal advisors to exhibit their contentions in a superior manner. Then again through the law of copyright, scholars get credit and insurance for their abstract works Law and Literature have a similar technique for clarification, be that as it may, Literature introduces a fine art using scholarly words. Planning as its objective, a consistent procedure and the execution of the entire structure as a feature of the work’s masterful worth. The clarifications in Law, then again, need to meet two criteria. Law clarifications must be viable. As a result of this law should likewise express the significance of the training and its worth. In clarifying Literature or Law, their worth and uniqueness become evident. The two disclose what they expect to so as to achieve their fitting objective.

In the event that we turn back the pages of history we have numerous instances of literaturist who themselves were legal advisors or if nothing else had aptitude in law.

Literature and law have developed with time, even consolidated changes and disposed of the negative viewpoints.

Dissimilarities

The principal contrast which exists is that law is specialized while literature gives opportunity in such manner. Literature is a stylish bit of work while lawful content isn’t. It is imperative to adhere to the guidelines associated with the documentation of legitimate work.

Law is explicit in its working and pursues a lot of rules in its working. The ones enjoyed the legitimate work can’t go amiss from the set system. In actuality, literature doesn’t have such confinements. In the event that the law is thick, literature is liquid.

It is hard for a typical man to comprehend the lawful terms and how does the legitimate framework work except if there is appropriate correspondence by the attorney to the offended party or respondent, here for correspondence literature assumes a key job.

Literature is constantly open to quick changes, a combination of a few thoughts and translations. Law does not have these elements as it isn’t available to understand and passes on one explicit importance. Law depends on issues and the realities which are gotten from them. Literature manages nearly everything are it reality or creative mind and even the combination of both.

Law is in itself an inflexible structure. In law, just the assigned authority has the option to hold the pen and pass the judgment. Despite what might be expected, literature is adaptable and anybody being able to compose and express his creative mind on paper can grasp the pen. Literature has consistently been available to elucidations of the peruses. It doesn’t pursue an entrenched example however puts stock in broadening its limits.

Literature is an individual voice that turns into the tune of the majority. It communicates the intricate human feelings which a legitimate piece neglects to reflect.

About the novel:

The story begins at the Chancery High Court, where Jarndyce and Jarndyce’s case has been going on for generations and has ‘been so complicated that no man alive knows what it means.’ The current issue concerns two young court wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, who are seeking permission to reside with a distant cousin, Mr. John Jarndyce. Earlier, Mr Tulkinghorn’s counsel calls at Sir Leicester Dedlock’s London home and Lady Honoria Dedlock’s London home. She is also linked to the case, and as the attorney goes through affidavits with her, she unexpectedly takes an interest in handwriting on one of the papers.

The narrative is then told to Esther Summerson. Her unfeeling godmother, who died when Esther was about 14 years old, raised her. She heard then that her godmother was indeed her aunt and that Mr. Jarndyce was now her guardian. He paid in a boarding school for her education and then hired her to be Ada’s companion. The three young people come to a warm welcome at the home of Jarndyce, Bleak House. While the novel goes on, in the expectation that he will inherit a large amount once the case is settled, Richard attempts and discards multiple career options, and he and Ada fall in love.

Tulkinghorn learns that a copyist named Nemo belongs to the handwriting Lady Dedlock asked about and that he died of an overdose of opium. The lawyer also meets Jo, a street urchin who says he’s been kind to Nemo. Subsequently, Tulkinghorn relays this knowledge to Lady Dedlock, and after disguising herself as her maid, Hortense, she is searching for Jo and telling him to show her any place related to Nemo. Tulkinghorn also has a police detective, Inspector Bucket, seeking help from Jo to find the girl who was involved in Nemo. Jo accepts the clothes of Hortense, but not Hortense, who was shot by Lady Dedlock. Nevertheless, Tulkinghorn has promised to help Hortense find a job in exchange for her cooperation. Tulkinghorn starts to search for a handwriting sample from a Captain Hawdon

Mr. William Guppy, a clerk of a solicitor, informs Lady Dedlock that he has heard that Esther’s name is Esther Hawdon and that Nemo’s last name is Hawdon. Lady Dedlock realizes that Esther is her daughter from an affair with Captain Hawdon and that Esther had been taken and secretly raised by her sister, who had told her that the baby had died. One day, Esther met Lady Dedlock and revealed to her that she was her mother. Tulkinghorn manages to acquire a sample of Hawdon’s handwriting during this time.

Subsequently, Tulkinghorn admits to Lady Dedlock that he has heard her secret but agrees without warning not to inform Sir Leicester. A angry Hortense later threatens Tulkinghorn for not giving her a job, and she offers to help him bring down Lady Dedlock, but he declines her. Subsequently, Tulkinghorn admits to Lady Dedlock that he has heard her secret but agrees without warning not to inform Sir Leicester. A angry Hortense later threatens Tulkinghorn for not giving her a job, and she offers to help him bring down Lady Dedlock, but he declines her. Tulkinghorn is shot to death that evening, however, and Bucket arrests George Rouncewell, an estranged brother of the housekeeper of the Dedlock household. Jarndyce and Esther are asking Mr. Allan Woodcourt, a doctor who works among the poor and is a mentor, to look into Richard, whose obsession with the litigation is tolling his health. Ada reveals that she and Richard have married.

Bucket is not convinced that George is guilty of Tulkinghorn’s murder and continues to investigate. Eventually, he tells Sir Leicester about Lady Dedlock’s relationship with Hawdon and the resultant daughter. He then arrests Hortense for the murder, having discovered that she was trying to frame Lady Dedlock. Such efforts led Lady Dedlock to believe she was accused of the murder, and she is certain that her humiliating secret will soon be exposed. She writes a letter to her father denying but acknowledging her past involvement in the murder.

As his wife’s letter is read by Sir Leicester, who has had a stroke from the shock of Bucket’s disclosures, he instructs Bucket to find her and tell her that he forgives her absolutely. Bucket enlists Esther’s help, and they find Lady Dedlock dead at the gate of Hawdon’s burial ground after an exhaustive search.

Woodcourt tends toward her after Esther falls ill, and one night he tells Esther he’s in love with her. Esther and Jarndyce then decide the following month to set their wedding date. Bucket notes that a more recent Jarndyce than those involved in the case has been discovered. Jarndyce later gave Woodcourt a house to be named Bleak House and gave Esther his permission to marry Woodcourt instead of him. The new will finally end the case in favor of Richard, but all the cash in the property has been expended in legal costs already. Even though Richard dies that day, the other major characters enjoy happier fates.

About the movie:

It is never fully resolved whether the accused, an army officer, is temporarily insane, was actually insane, or is simply putting on a good display. The attorney is not good at all. While he gets over it, he’s a little lazy. One feels that he’s cheap. He loves the life of his bachelor and is not always attentive to his secretary’s needs, who wants to receive payments more frequently. Eventually he is far more committed and intelligent than we could have expected him to be at first, but the fly in the buttermilk is that the better he becomes the more complex the case becomes, and the more confusing it becomes the more he finds out about his client and the man he murdered. The movie is a masterpiece of confusion in this regard. Beautifully shot in black and white place, it’s more gray than anything else. Morally brown. No one at first seems to be quite what he is. And people are changing; or we’re learning more about them. At the resort where his boss was killed at first, the bartender comes off as a jerk; at the time he appears more like a jerk. After all, he may not seem so bad; and then again he’s a jerk, but we understand a jerk. An assistant to the prosecutor, an on-again alcoholic who returns off-again, is also a mixed bag. He’s stubborn but messy, and always on the verge of failure (or so it seems). Or at least this is how he is played by Arthur O’Connell. The attorney is a dolt, but he is helped by a legal bigwig brought in by the government, but this hotshot is no match for the savvy country lawyer. The girlfriend of the plaintiff, who ‘ began the whole thing, ‘ is stunning, attractive and provocative. She’s making a play for the lawyer of her family, but he’s not bite. There is one curious about her. And one is wondering if she and her hot-tempered husband really have the relationship and if it will last.

Conclusion:

The end which I could surmise in the wake of finishing this task is the manner by which wonderfully law, literature, and film are entwined. It would not be right to express that law has stood the trial of time since literature and commitments of the authors cleared its approach to who and what is to come. Law has been a self-governing structure yet installed inside the general public. Comparable is the situation with literature and film. Subsequently the job of society ought to be recognized, which resembles a seed from which the underlying foundations of law, literature, and film start.

In the event that we endeavour to draw a similarity between the time of a couple of decades back and the present society, we will wind up battling with a similar social issues which have filled the pages of history. The general public which I prior alluded to as a goliath court sends us summons now and again and places us in the observer box to address the inquiries that the general public tosses at us. We as a whole realize it is difficult to clarify all that we have done so we either acknowledge our destiny that the general public chooses for us or we stand tall and undefeated. All things considered, in contrast to the court, in reality, we can give the last decision for ourselves whether we give up to an inappropriate or battle against it.

We as a whole are caught in an endless loop of wrongdoing, bad form, disdain, and break of good morals. We are stuck in it and rather quitting we even manoeuvre others into it. It is the means by which the ceaseless battle for equity starts prompting a definitive goal which is depressing. Law is the main impetus that gives us an exit from this dark opening and on the off chance that even law turns into a polluted delight, at that point the expectations for a superior tomorrow will break.

In the wake of scanning for the responses to the inquiries brought up in the novel and the arrangement, I infer that the arrangements as of now exist however its execution is the need of great importance. It is for us that the law appeared and it is we who can control it and by ‘we’ I mean the individuals who are said to be the watchmen of the lawful framework.

It is our circumspection whether we be Atticus Finch and assemble the mental fortitude to represent what is simply or stroll with a heard which is driven by a sheep. It is literature that gives me the opportunity to investigate the profundity and not limit myself to what is the effectively settled method for taking a gander at the world. It isn’t tied in with knowing the attributes that people have however investigating the feelings which are dormant inside the activity they execute.

As I would see it, at whatever point the free domain of law will turn into a limited limit, the embodiment of literature and film will extend these limits to endlessness. The key point is that film and literature will keep on being the interfacing join among law and a typical man.

Law and literature resemble two periods of a coin, where at a time just one side is obvious to the spectator however they do exist together. In spite of the fact that they resemble parallel lines they do unite at a point.

References

  1. https://www.rifemagazine.co.uk/2016/05/influence-and-appreciation-of-film-in-todays-society/
  2. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052561/
  3. http://www.standbyformindcontrol.com/2014/12/anatomy-of-anatomy-of-a-murder/
  4. https://www.mimimatthews.com/2015/04/06/law-meets-literature-bleak-house-and-the-british-court-of-chancery/