Esther Summerson

Last updated
Esther Summerson
EstherSummerson.jpg
Esther Summerson by Hablot Browne
First appearance Bleak House
Created by Charles Dickens
In-universe information
GenderFemale
FamilyLady Dedlock (Mother)
Captain James Hawdon (Nemo) (Father)
Miss Barbary (Aunt)
Alan Woodcourt (Husband)

Esther Summerson is a character in Bleak House , an 1853 novel by Charles Dickens. She also serves as one of the novel's two narrators; half the book is written from her perspective. It is the only example of a double narrative in Dickens and the first person female voice may have been influenced by the example of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre , published in 1847.

Contents

As a baby, she was brought up by Miss Barbary, a woman she knew as her godmother; this woman was in reality the sister of her unmarried mother, the future Lady Dedlock, and thus Esther's aunt, "in fact if not in law." When her aunt dies suddenly, Esther's care is taken over by the philanthropist, John Jarndyce, who arranges for Esther to receive a sound education as a future governess. When Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, two wards in Chancery, need a home, John Jarndyce welcomes them to Bleak House, his home near St Albans. Esther joins the establishment as Ada's companion and the family's housekeeper. Over the course of Esther's stay at Bleak House, she learns more about her family, contracts smallpox, which results in facial scarring, and learns the identity of her mother, who dies not long after. She becomes engaged to Mr. Jarndyce, her guardian, but ultimately marries a doctor named Allan Woodcourt who had fallen in love with her over the course of the novel. [1]

Personality

From her first introduction as narrator, Esther is firmly established to be a shrewd but damaged and self-deprecating character; her first line contains the claim that she has difficulty writing her story because she knows she is not clever, and she repeats this claim to both her childhood doll and her new guardian Mr. Jarndyce. Throughout the novel, Esther continues to profess her shortcomings through both her narration and dialogue, often internally dismissing compliments given to her by other characters.

Esther is selfless, hard-working and affectionate. She has a tendency to quickly grow fond of the characters she meets; this trait is especially obvious in her first meeting with Ada Clare, whom she refers to as “my love” after only a single conversation. Esther's loving and nurturing personality is also clearly visible in her interactions with Miss Jellyby and Charley, the young girl who becomes her maid. Esther is extremely affectionate toward Charley, going so far as to nurse her back to health when she falls ill even though she contracts the disease herself as a result.

However, Esther is also capable of standing up for herself. When Mr. Guppy proposes to her, for example, she deflects his offer with no small amount of scorn and dislike, going so far as to tell him that his advances are ridiculous.

Adaptations and portrayals

In 1920 silent film of the novel, Esther is portrayed by Berta Gellardi. Diana Fairfax played the role in the 1959 serial. Suzanne Burden starred as Esther in the 1985 adaptation. Later, in the 2005 BBC TV series, Esther is portrayed by Anna Maxwell Martin. An infant Esther also appears briefly in the 2015 series, Dickensian .

Related Research Articles

<i>David Copperfield</i> 1849–1850 novel by Charles Dickens

David Copperfield is a novel by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to maturity. As such, it is typically categorized in the bildungsroman genre. It was published as a serial in 1849 and 1850 and then as a book in 1850.

<i>Little Dorrit</i> 1855–1857 novel by Charles Dickens

Little Dorrit is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Clennam encounters her after returning home from a 20-year absence, ready to begin his life anew.

<i>Great Expectations</i> 1860–1861 novel by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman & Hall published the novel in three volumes.

<i>Oliver Twist</i> 1837–1839 novel by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.

<i>Bleak House</i> 1852–1853 novel by Charles Dickens

Bleak House is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several subplots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and partly by an omniscient narrator. At the centre of Bleak House is a long-running legal case in the Court of Chancery, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which comes about because a testator has written several conflicting wills. In a preface to the 1853 first edition, Dickens said there were many actual precedents for his fictional case. One such was probably Thellusson v Woodford, in which a will read in 1797 was contested and not determined until 1859. Though many in the legal profession criticised Dickens's satire as exaggerated, Bleak House helped support a judicial reform movement that culminated in the enactment of legal reform in the 1870s.

<i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i> 1870 novel by Charles Dickens

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by the English author Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870.

<i>Our Mutual Friend</i> 1864–1865 novel by Charles Dickens

Our Mutual Friend, written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting the book's character Bella Wilfer, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life".

Jarndyce and Jarndyce is a fictional probate case in Bleak House (1852–53) by Charles Dickens, progressing in the English Court of Chancery. The case is a central plot device in the novel and has become a byword for seemingly interminable legal proceedings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Maylie</span> Fictional character in Oliver Twist

Rose Fleming Maylie is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist who is eventually discovered to be the title character's maternal aunt. Though she plays a significant role in the novel, she is often omitted from dramatisations of the story.

Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lives together with them on a farm in Kansas. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she is described as having been a "young, pretty wife" when she arrived at Uncle Henry's farm, but having been "grayed" by her life there, implying that she appears older than her years. Baum tells us that when Dorothy first came to live with her, Em would "scream and press her hand upon her heart" when startled by Dorothy's laughter, and she appears emotionally distant to her at the beginning of the story. However, after Dorothy is restored to her at the end of the book, we see her true nature: she cries out, "My darling child!" and covers her with kisses.

<i>Bleak House</i> (2005 TV serial) British TV series or programme

Bleak House is a fifteen-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name, which was originally published in 1852–53 as itself a print serialisation over 20 months. Produced with an all-star cast, the serial was shown on BBC One from 27 October to 16 December 2005, and drew much critical and popular praise. It has been reported that the total cost of the production was in the region of £8 million.

<i>Bleak House</i> (1985 TV serial) British TV series or programme

Bleak House is a BBC television drama first broadcast in 1985. The serial was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft from the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House (1853).

<i>The Bondwomans Narrative</i> 19th-century slave narrative by Hannah Crafts

The Bondwoman's Narrative is a novel by Hannah Crafts who claimed to have escaped from slavery in North Carolina. The manuscript was not authenticated and properly published until 2002. Some scholars believe that the novel was written between 1853 and 1861. It is one of the very first books by an African-American woman, others including the novel Our Nig by Harriet Wilson, published in 1859, and the autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, published in 1861.

<i>Bleak Expectations</i> BBC Radio 4 comedy series

Bleak Expectations is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series that premiered in August 2007. It is a pastiche of the works of Charles Dickens, such as Bleak House and Great Expectations, from which it derives its name, as well as adventure, science fiction, and costume dramas set in the same period. Bleak Expectations parodies several of their plot devices whilst simultaneously tending toward surreal humour along the lines of The Goon Show. The series has also demonstrated a fondness for allusions to and parodies of the films of Alec Guinness, particularly the Edwardian satire Kind Hearts and Coronets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Murdstone</span> Fictional character

Edward Murdstone is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the first part of the Charles Dickens 1850 novel David Copperfield, secondary to Uriah Heep in the second part.

Bleak House is the first BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1853 novel of the same name. It was adapted by Constance Cox as an eleven-part series of half-hour episodes first transmitted from 16 October 1959. Unlike most television series of the 1950s, the complete serial survived and, in 2017, was released to DVD by Simply Media.

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff is a four-part comedy series produced by BBC, which premiered on BBC Two on 19 December 2011. It is a parody of the works of Charles Dickens, drawing its title from Bleak House and The Old Curiosity Shop. It is a television successor to Bleak Expectations, a radio parody of Dickens which began in 2007, and with which it shares the writer Mark Evans, producer Gareth Edwards and actor Richard Johnson; while not a direct adaptation it shares the same style, atmosphere and sense of humour. It is directed by Ben Gosling Fuller, who also directed the show That Mitchell and Webb Look.

<i>Dickensian</i> (TV series) British drama television series

Dickensian is a British drama television series that premiered on BBC One from 26 December 2015 to 21 February 2016. The 20-part series, created and co-written by Tony Jordan, brings characters from many Charles Dickens novels together in one Victorian London neighbourhood, as Inspector Bucket investigates the murder of Ebenezer Scrooge's partner Jacob Marley.

<i>Henrietta</i> (novel) Book by Charlotte Lennox

Henrietta is an 18th-century novel by Scottish author Charlotte Lennox. The first edition was published in 1758, and the second edition, revised by Lennox was published in 1761.

References

  1. Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. Vol. 1. London: Bradbury, Agnew & Co., Ltd.