Bleak House | Themes

Bleak House Themes

Law and society

Dickens expresses his protest against the law that delivers little justice while being arrogant and full of folly. Chancery is the most unjust system there is and even the name suggests that the result has more to do with an accidental chance rather than the steady pursuit of justice. It is surrounded in fog, dragged by fog, and at the very center of the fog. Its judgments are clouded with ignorance and pretense.

Those that engage in it most deeply become ruined by the system, despite the fact that the system is considered great by lawyers. Dickens shows that the system is able to finance itself, leaving those that come for justice penniless. It is against any reason to put trust in something that turns out to be only a matter of chance.

Richard Carstone is one of the most affected characters. His life ends up in tragedy...
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