Investigating the Purposes of Bleak House’s Dual-Narration Katrina McGowan College

One detail critics seem unable to agree on a conclusion regarding in Charles Dickens’s masterpiece novel Bleak House is the author’s decision to tell his story from the perspective of both a seemingly-omniscient third-person narrator and the first-person point of view of the main protagonist, Esther Summerson. The novel is also known for blending its social criticism of 19th-century London into its complex multi-plot, utilizing various literary devices to do so.

One of the most prominent examples of this is the abstract metaphor of “the system” of civilization that Dickens hints at numerous times but Gridley best puts his finger on: "The system! I am told on all hands, it's the system. I mustn't look to individuals…My Lord knows nothing of it... I mustn't go to Mr. Tulkinghorn…for I know they gain by it while I lose, don't I?... HE is not responsible. It's the system” (pg. 251). Gridley’s rage as he delivers this speech highlights how this “system” takes advantage of the city’s poor while benefiting the rich and those in positions of power. Furthermore, it shows how these individuals with “respectable” jobs can be absolved from the responsibility that comes with their titles under the belief that the larger “system” of public...