Hana’s Comments (group member since Apr 09, 2014)

Hana’s comments from the Bleak House View and Read group.

Dear, sweet Mr. John Jardyce trying to write his letter to Esther--I loved the addition of that scene!

In the next sequence, we backtrack to Chapter 38 as Esther and Ada go to London to visit with Caddy Jellaby-Turveydrop. Everyone is dancing away, Mr. Turveydrop is still the picture of Deportment and Caddy (now expecting) looks positively radiant. It says so much about the misery of her life with Mrs. Jellaby, that all her hard work at the dance studio is a pleasure to her by comparison.

And now (with slight changes to the setting) Esther encounters Guppy--the spinless, slimy Guppy whose horror at the pockmarked face of 'his angel' is all too apparent. He takes back his 'declaration'--vile creature (Ch. 38, p 534-538).

The face-off between Mademoiselle Hortense and Tulkinghorn is wonderful (Ch. 42. p 514-581). Who will come off the winner in this contest?

Back at Bleak House, Esther tells Mr. Jarndyce the truth about her mother and learns something about her 'godmother' Miss Barbary (Ch. 43).

Mr. Jarndyce proposes! (Ch. 44) I much prefer the film version--the book, while touching, was so indirect that it lacked a certain emotional impact. Esther burns her flowers and accepts the proposal (Ch. 44, p. 603).

Meanwhile, Vholes want to be paid (Ch. 39, p 539-546) and, knowing the dismal state of Richard's finances, decides to apply to Mr. Jarndyce.

There is one very significant addition in the film: a conversation between Boythorn and Mr. Jarndyce in which (view spoiler)[ Mr. Jarndyce reveals his intention to ask for Esther's hand in marriage. Mr. Boythorn thinks the worst! (hide spoiler)]. What do you think? I find it rather touching.

The episode opens with reaction shots of Lady Dedlock and Esther immediately following the meeting in which M'Lady tells Esther the truth. Beautifully played.

Next, Richard comes for a visit meeting Esther and Ada at the local inn (having made sure that Mr. Jarndyce is not around). Esther's reluctance to be seen without her veil is very well done (Chapter 37, p. 513). The kind and open way that Richard reassures Esther made me like him more than I expected too, but we see his growing obsession with the Chancery case (and glimpse Mr. Skimpole lurking in the corner of the village inn, drinking at Richard's expense).

The next day, Esther meets Skimpole and Vholes (Richard's new lawyer) and Skimpole has the nerve to admit that Vholes bribed him (Ch. 37, p. 525-526). I love how clearly Esther sees these two as the worthless, parasitical scum they are, and how bluntly she confronts them.

Tulkinghorn meets Guppy at Krook's, where Smallweed is sorting through the papers. Needless to say, Tulkinghorn completely intimidates the Guppy, who came in hope of obtaining Lady Dedlock's letters (Ch. 39 p. 551-583). The Weevle storyline is left on the cutting room floor (no loss!).

Back in London, Vholes reviews expenses with Richard (Ch. 39, p. 539, 546). The case is once again postponed, but the bills are admitted by the Lord Chancellor.

Chapter 40 is compressed and the political story involving Mr. Rouncewell, the self-made son of the housekeeper (p. 554, p 562) is referenced only briefly. In the final two climactic scenes Tulkinghorn tells an 'apocryphal' tale (Ch. 40, p. 564) and later confronts Lady Dedlock (Ch. 41 p. 566-571).

Bleak House

Chapter 37 Jarndyce and Jarndyce
Chapter 38 A Struggle (skipped)
Chapter 39 Attorney and Client
Chapter 40 National and Domestic
Chapter 41 In Mr Tulkinghorn's Room

Almost all of the material in Episode 8 is not in the book, with the exception of the wonderfully moving and dramatic encounter between Esther and Lady Dedlock in which Esther learns the truth at long last (chapter 36, p 500-506.) The scene is beautifully played and I confess it had me in tears. We hear more about Captain Hawdon than is revealed in the book--I was glad to know that he was in the Light Dragoons and was to be posted to the West Indies. The death rate from yellow fever there was incredibly high and that makes it so plausible that Lady Dedlock (then Honoria Barbary) would have assumed him dead when she heard nothing from him. It also make it even more believable that she would have made love to him in their last meeting. The way she explains her marriage to Sir Leicester and why she and Esther must never meet again makes more sense in the film than the book.

All of the other scenes in this excellent episode are set ups for later events and are very well done--even those that are complete inventions. The scene where Miss Flite has a premonition about Richard was wonderful, as was the scene where Mr. Jarndyce hears Esther tell Ada that any hopes she might have had of marriage have been ended by her disfigurement. Jarndyce's conversation with Esther was very touching--he comes across as a dear, shy man who really loves Esther on many levels.

I enjoyed hearing the story of the Ghost Walk at Chesney Wold told by Mr. Boythorn, rather than Mrs. Rouncewell (Ch. 7) and he told it with great Gothic flourishes. The producers correctly chose to show and not tell and used the scenes with Mr. George, Tulkinghorn, Smallweed and Guppy as perfect set-ups for later events. I was glad to see Lady Jane (the cat) survived Krook's combustion!

Bleak House Chapters
Chapter 36 Chesney Wold

Hana wrote: "Chapter 2: "It is but a glimpse of the world of fashion....the evil of it is, that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller's cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger wo..."
I often think that Hollywood is like this. All these beautiful people all buffed, polished and rearranged by plastic surgeons--and completely insulated (at least while they are at the 'top') from anything like real life.

I've been enjoying the way Dickens uses his savage and very sharp wit to puncture all sorts of pretentious people:

Mrs. Jellaby seems to be one of those do-gooder types who gets her kicks from corresponding with all sort of important people about important causes, but can't see her own family's needs.

And how about Mr. Tangle, the pompous lawyer and his learned friends, who all bob about 'each armed with eighteen hundred sheets...make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity.'

And then there is Sir Leicester Dedlock, who is 'only a baronet, but there is no mightier baronet than he. His family is as old as the hills, and infinitely more respectable. He has the general opinion that the world might get on without hills but would be done up without Dedlocks.'

But Dickens also seems to have a little (a very little) bit of compassion for these punctured pretentious characters. I sort of think it seems sweet and sad that Sir Leicester married Lady Dedlock for love.

And for still more Bleak House discussions, check out this other new discussion thread just starting up:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Yes! Mrs Jellaby was something else--she's turned poor Caddy into a total drudge. That bit where she stands in Esther's room dipping her fingers in vinegar to get some of the ink off. Pitiful!

I'm so glad you liked Esther. I took a while to warm up to her. I'm really enjoying her evolution as the book goes on.

Yeah! I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Well done, BBC screenwriters! They had the courage to cut large chunks of chapter 32, 33 (the pointless Weevle story line), Charlie's illness, much of Esther's story of the smallpox (chapter 31, 35), and Mr. George's debates over Captain Hawdon's writing sample (chapter 33, 34). I was sorry to lose Mrs. Bagnet, but she probably works better in print than on film.

The whole story flows much more smoothly and the drama of Tulkinghorn's machinations is heightened. The moment when Tulkinghorn encounters Guppy leaving Lady Dedlock's simply drips with menace.

They handled the scene with Krook's spontaneous combustion splendidly--I loved the moments before the event when the sodden Krook suddenly discovers he can read; the gruesome bit where Snagsby and Miss Flite comment on the greasy air quality; and the line during the inquest when the coroner likens Krook to 'a Christmas pudding in a pool of brandy'. 'In this case, gin', is Guppy's contribution. All wonderfully melodramatic!

They got in some useful yet economical bits to show motivation and character and create suspense: Esther's handkerchief requested by a veiled lady, Esther putting away Mr. Woodcourt's flowers, Ada and Mr. Jarndyce reacting to Esther's disfigurement, Mr. George's threats.

Book grade B-
Film grade A+

Bleak House Chapters
Chapter 31 (end) Nurse and Patient
Chapter 32 The Appointed Time
Chapter 33 Interlopers
Chapter 34 A Turn of the Screw
Chapter 35 Esther's Narrative

Episode 6 starts with Chapters 26-27, and brings the noble trooper, Mr. George, together with Tulkinghorn and the money lender, Smallweed.

Tulkinghorn wants a sample of the handwriting of one Captain Hawdon, under whom trooper George served. Smallweed notes that Mr. George is up to his neck in debt to him and Tulkinghorn observes that Mr. George once gave shelter to Mr. Gridley, who was due to be arrested. They threaten him--and any dependents--with ruin. Mr. George is a man of honor and refuses to comply (p. 384), but in the next scene we see George with Phil, his injured servant (no where near as badly injured as in the book) and we know that Mr. George will probably cave in to save his dependent friend.

Next, the scene shifts to Chesney Wold, where the housekeeper's son-made-good, comes to call. The Ironmaster (chapter 28) is a handsome and plainspoken man and bears the news that his son is in love with Lady Dedlock's pretty young maid, Rosa. Sir Leicester is incensed! Rosa leave such a splendid position to be affianced to a mere vulgar mushroom! Mr. Rouncewell takes his leave with great dignity, saying he will do his best to discourage the connection.

Sadly, Mr. George's wonderful friends the Bagnets (and in particular, the redoubtable Mrs. Bagnet--p. 379-384) seem to have been cut from the film, as has Chapter 25, which features Mrs. Snagsby stalking her husband to find out if Jo is his natural son and what other secrets the poor man might be hiding (he's perfectly innocent).

I love the way the film handles the Krook-Guppy connection and shows Mr. Guppy figuring it all out all with a diagram surrounding a drawing of 'his angel', Esther: The two Miss Barbarys, one of whom was Esther's aunt and the second, perhaps, Lady Dedlock; Captain Hawdon, with Esther's real last name--the same Captain Hawdon who was Nemo and in whose possession were found letters to a lady (Chapter 29). Then Guppy lays out the whole story for Lady Dedlock. Gilian Anderson plays Lady Dedlock with such perfectly rigid control, broken by only the tiniest movements of eyes and facial muscles; that moment when she realizes that the daughter she thought had died at birth, still lives and is none other than Esther Summrson is superb! Also that silk dress--in finest shimmering plum with glowing blue highlights--might be My Lady's best yet.

The last bit, which covers Chapter 30-31 is almost anticlimactic--the Caddy-Prince wedding is skipped and its on to a confusing bit about the street urchin Jo meeting the bricklayers wife and somehow ending up near Bleak House where Charlie and Esther take the ailing Jo home. It was choppy in the book and it's choppy in the film--not to mention improbable. But never mind, we get that wonderful scene where the loathsome Mr. Skimpole makes a diagnosis (with handkerchief pressed to his face).

And I was delighted to see the snobby Mrs. Woodcourt, going on a great length about her son, the noble seed of Morgan ap Kerrig! (Chapter 30, p 408)

Bleak House Chapters 26-31

Chapter 26 Sharpshooters
Chapter 27 More Old Soldiers than One
Chapter 28 The Ironmaster
Chapter 29 The Young Man
Chapter 30 Esther's Narrative
Chapter 31 Nurse and Patient

p. 45 'I wish Africa was dead!



p. 46: 'It's disgraceful,' she said. 'You know it is. The whole house is disgraceful. The children are disgraceful. I'm disgraceful. Pa's miserable, and no wonder!....I wish I was dead...I wish we were all dead. It would be a great deal better for us.'

Mrs. Jellaby: Telescopic Philanthropy



p. 39: 'The African project at present employs my whole time....I am happy to say it is advancing. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.'

Was there ever a nastier character than Grandfather Smallweed? Too bad this photo doesn't show his teeth.

BLEAK HOUSE EPISODE 5, Chapters 21-24

The episode opens with the last scene in Chapter 22 as Jo reconsiders the veiled lady--no, Mademoiselle Hortense is not the lady whom he led to Nemo's grave! Bucket tells Tulkinghorn and Snagsby that it was surely Lady Dedlock wearing her maid's costume.

Meanwhile, back at Bleak House, Richard has decided the law is not for him--no, the Army it is! Mr. Jarndyce has hard words for Richard and says Ada and Richard must postpone their engagement. (ch. 23)

Richard tries to learn fencing with Mr. George. Needless to say, he does not apply himself. Mr. George is hiding the once indomitable Mr. Gridley, foe of the Chancery and friend of Miss Flite.

By one of those coincidences Dickens loved, Mr. George is an old army comrade of one Captain Hawdon. Tulkinghorn suspects Nemo was actually Captain Hawdon, fallen on hard times. Tulkinghorn consults with the vile moneylender, Mr Smallweed, who has had dealings in the past with both Hawdon and Mr. George. Here's where we backtrack to chapter 21 and meet the Smallweed and his granddaughter ('Shake me up, Judy!').

But all is not grim--or Bleak, shall we say--with Esther's encouragement, Prince tells Gentleman Turveydrop of his love for Caddie Jellaby. Once they assure the Model of Deportment that they will maintain him in the style to which he is accustomed, Old Turveydrop gives his blessing.

In the last scene, Detective Bucket comes to George's school to arrest Mr. Gridley and we discover that Bucket has a heart!

Bleak House Chapters

Chapter 21 The Smallweed Family
Chapter 22 Mr. Bucket
Chapter 23 Esther's Narrative
Chapter 24 An Appeal Case

Lady Dedlock's maid, Mademoiselle Hortense, throws a fit in her jealous rage and Lady Dedlock fires her. Mais non! Do not think that you have seen the last of Mademoiselle Hortense!

My Lady Dedlock seems strangely attached to her pretty new lady's maid, Rosa.

p. 189: Just then, there appeared from a side door, old Mr. Tuveydrop, in the full lustre of his Deportment.

p. 191: 'I have been called, for some years now, Gentleman Turveydrop...'

p. 187: 'Young Mr. Turveydrop's name is Prince. I wish it wasn't, because it sounds like a dog, but of course he didn't christen himself. Old Mr. Turveydrop had him christened Prince, in remembrance of the Prince Regent. Old Mr Turveydrop adored the Prince Regent on account of his Deportment.'

p. 151 Nemo goes to a pauper's grave, but the sweeper boy Jo has not forgotten him: 'He wos wery good to me, he wos!'