Written during the beginning of the Realism, Charles Dickens’ lengthy Victorian novel Bleak House is a masterpiece of fiction that contains many social and political commentaries relative not only in Dickens’s world but also in the world today. A timeless issue in literature, the fallen woman plays a significant role in the novel’s plot. In determining Dickens’ views on fallen women it is important to consider the reactions of four primary characters in Bleak House towards Lady Dedlock’s transgression.
First of all, from the beginning of Bleak House, Miss Barbary gives a very decided opinion about her sister, Lady Dedlock’s, youthful indiscretions which resulted in Esther’s birth. To begin with, Esther does not understand her bastardly origin, rather believing herself to be an orphaned child left in the care of her severe aunt. “She was so very good herself, I thought,” Esther describes Miss Barbary, “that the badness of other people made her frown all her life” (28). The succeeding description that Esther attributes to her aunt is less than flattering; however, she is the virgin, the sister who supposedly played her cards right, living by the letter of the law. In short, Dickens paints a picture of an exceedingly self-righteous older woman whose bitterness and anger over her sister’s offense has eaten her up inside so that she has no quality of life left to live. On Esther’s birthday, Dickens’ records that Miss Barbary tells her, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday; that you had never been born” (30). Esther responds by asking her if her mother died on her birthday, which, of course, she did not. However, based on her reaction and vehement statements of reproach, it would seem that Miss Barbary wishes that it were so.
Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers. The time will come—and soon enough—when you will understand this better, and will feel it too, as no one save a woman can. I have forgiven her the wrong she did to me, and say no more of it, though it was greater than you will ever know—than any one will ever know, but I, the sufferer. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written, Forget your mother, and leave all other people to forget her who will do her unhappy child that greatest kindness. (30)
Miss Barbary believes that Lady Dedlock not only sinned against God, but also against all womankind, of whom Miss Barbary herself is the greatest of sufferers. She victimized herself via Lady Dedlock’s disgrace, depriving her sister of her own child and herself becoming an old maid. Miss Barbary’s bitterness shrivels her up and ruins her life. Ironically, although she warns Esther lest she reap the consequences for her family’s actions, it appears that Miss Barbary had bitterness and hatred heaped in her own soul over her sister’s sin. Through Miss Barbary, Dickens shows that failure to forgive even the worst of sins wastes away at the soul, and also uses her character to warn against judging others for their sins.
Secondly, Esther’s response to the reality that she is her mother’s bastard child must be taken into account. Throughout the first five hundred pages of the novel, several minor characters note the close similarity in the appearances of Lady Dedlock and Esther; however, Esther’s face is so marred during her illness that no resemblance remains afterward. One day, while Esther is staying at Chesney Wold to recover her strength, Lady Dedlock comes to her while she is resting in the park-woods. As she approaches, Esther notes that there is “something in her faced that [she] had pined for and dreamed of when [she] was a child” (578). With weeping, kisses, and passion, Lady Dedlock reveals her maternity to Esther, saying, “O my child, my child, I am your wicked and unhappy mother! O try to forgive me!” (579). Although one might expect Esther to respond in either anger or shock, she instead says that "When I saw her at my feet on the bare earth in her great agony of mind, I felt,through all my tumult of emotion, a burst of gratitude to the providence of God that I was so changed as that I never could disgrace her by any trace of likeness; as that nobody could ever now look at me, and look at her, and remotely think of any near tie between us. (579)"
In other words, rather than hold bitterness or anger over the entire situation, she rejoices that her illness has so disfigured her that her appearance would not lead to the revelation of her mother’s indiscretion. Lady Dedlock goes on to tell her that she must bear the burden for her sin alone “on [her] guilty feet. I bear it, and I hide it” (Ibid). She asks Esther then to keep her identity and their relationship secret. Rather than taking offense, Esther affirms her mother’s decision and agrees that it is the wisest course of action under the circumstances. In sharp contrast to her aunt, Esther deems her mother’s transgression almost as her own fault. She is frightened that she will be the cause of her mother’s downfall, which she perceives as an pardonable wrongdoing. Through Esther, Dickens not only provides hope for redemption and forgiveness to the fallen woman, but he also conjectures about the affects promiscuity may have on bastard children.
Thirdly, Sir Leicester Dedlock, the husband to the guilty party, plays a key role in portraying Dickens’ views of the fallen woman in his novel. In chapter 54, “Springing a Mine”, Mr. Bucket finally reveals the truth about Lady Dedlock’s promiscuity to Sir Leicester when he solves the murder mystery surrounding Mr. Tulkinghorn’s death. Sir Leicester’s response to this shocking revelation is surprising. As he contemplates what to do, he realizes that
"It is she… [about whom] he has never had a selfish thought. It is she whom he has loved, admired, honoured, and set up for the world to respect. It is she, who….has been a stock of living tenderness and love, susceptible as nothing else is of being struck with the agony he feels. He sees her, almost to the exclusion of himself; and cannot bear to look upon her cast down from the high places she has so well graced." (838)
As he considers all of this, he falls to his knees uttering her name “in a tone of mourning and compassion rather than reproach” (Ibid). Instead of becoming irate when he hears the truth, Sir Leicester refuses to view her as his perfect Victorian wife fallen from her ivory tower, but rather as his love who still remains on a golden pedestal. As the plot progresses and Lady Dedlock runs away, leaving an explanatory note behind her, Sir Leicester has a stroke as a result of his grief that makes him “the decrepit shadow of himself” (857). Despite a handicap that requires him to write rather than speak, he orders a search party out to find Lady Dedlock, to whom he desires to offer “full forgiveness” (859). Sir Leicester’s response to Lady Dedlock is perhaps Dickens’ strongest statement about the nature of fallen women. While many people considered such a sin unpardonable and worthy of death, Sir Leicester reverses the norm by offering pardon. He serves as a Christ-figure by continuing in his undying love for his wife even after he learns of her betrayal and disgrace.
Fourthly, Lady Dedlock’s response to her own sin is of exceeding importance in Dickens’ novel. She not only decides to hide her secret for years, but she also takes whatever measures she deems necessary to continue to cover up her sin when it begins to surface. Several chance events, such as the spontaneous combustion of Mr. Krook, the murder of Mr. Tulkinghorn, and the deferral of Mr. Guppy by Esther, help her to conceal it for a while, but ultimately all those she holds dear find her out. In accordance with the biblical truth that your sins will find you out, although it takes many years, Lady Dedlock’s transgression ultimately catches up with her. Next, when she realizes that all hope is lost for hiding her secret any longer, she writes a note to her husband and then runs away in disgrace. Sadly, although Esther and, more importantly, Sir Leicester offer redemption and love, Lady Dedlock cannot accept their grace and forgive herself. She feels she must do some sort of penance for her misdeed, and so she runs away before even learning of Sir Leicester’s reaction. She would rather flee the shame and rejection that she believes will come with confrontation than humble herself enough to accept whatever penalty those she has wronged deem fit. Although Mr. Bucket and Esther lead a perilous search for her, they do not find her until it is too late—she is already frozen to death by the gate of the public burial ground where her premarital lover, Captain “Nemo” Hawdon, lies.
Dickens depicts an interesting commentary on fallen womanhood and those that it affects in his novel Bleak House.
Through Miss Barbary he presents the affects that harbored bitterness can have on the life of the unforgiving. Esther shows how lies can affect children of indiscretion through both her childhood under Miss Barbary’s care and her blame-taking response to the truth. Sir Leicester reveals that full forgiveness can be extended to fallen women on the basis of true love, yet Lady Dedlock shows that not all women can reach a point where they are able to forgive themselves before arriving at a point of self-destruction caused by imposing penance on themselves for their transgressions. Dickens’ personal view of the fallen woman is multi-faceted yet hopeful. He critiques the life-long ripple effects that the sin of a fallen woman may have on those who surround her. While he offers hope, he still harbors skepticism as to whether or not a fallen woman can really accept the hope of forgiveness even if it is offered.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
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