Marrying one's ward and bleak house
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Oxford Journals Oxford University Press
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
School of Communications and Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications
RAS ID
5683
Abstract
JOHN JARNDYCE'S proposal of marriage to his ward Esther in Bleak House (1852–3) by Charles Dickens (1812–70) comes as a shock. The age difference between them is nearly forty years, and their social roles are that of guardian and ward. Although, seemingly, they are not linked by blood or marriage,1 there is a hint that the tight web of close family connections goes beyond John Jarndyce, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, the three cousins in the Jarndyce and Jarndyce Chancery case, which is popularly thought to have been based on a real-life case that resulted in the disputed property being eaten up entirely by legal costs.2 Since the fictional Chancery suit has already been in progress for more than a couple of decades, the family connections have widened considerably and an interested onlooker informs the two young cousins, Ada and Richard, that, together with their surnames, the names of Barbary and Dedlock are also interconnected, but he fails to explain how (Bleak House, 71).3
DOI
10.1093/notesj/gjm247
Comments
Durey, J. F. (2008). Marrying One's Ward and Bleak House. Notes and Queries 55(1), 39-41. Available here