Bleak House

This is probably my favourite Dickens novel of all time. It has everything that constitutes as the Victorian Gothic and even has connotations to it in the title. 

I found this book when I was 13 and reading Oliver Twist and Tale of Two Cities. I got really into Dickens then and began looking for other stuff and simultaneously (alongside Bleak House) I began reading Great Expectations and Hard Times. I am proud to say that in that year, I had completed the majority of Dickens novels (my second favourite being David Copperfield or even The Pickwick Papers) as I closed the year with Little Dorit and Nicholas Nickleby. I thoroughly believe that Dickens is one of the greatest of the Victorian storytellers - especially where children are concerned. 

Characters: 

My favourite character was not Esther, but was instead Lady Dedlock. She had the most emotional range in the book - starting of as a secret woman of a sensationalist vibe - she slowly descends into apology and then finally, depression. She ends up in a horrible situation and feels that now her secret has been released - she can never be fully forgiven for her wrong doings. So sad *cries*. 

Themes:

My favourite theme was the gothic. From the very beginning of the novel, there is an awesome sense of the gothic setting - the dreary and dark surroundings, the strange yet industrial atmosphere. It is very Victorian in its telling and I really did love the setting descriptions - something that Dickens is known to do well. Covered with great pathetic fallacies, this novel has been written consciously with setting detail in mind. 

Storyline:

SPOILER ALERT 

Okay, well my favourite part of the book is the image in which Lady Dedlock wanders out into the cold graveyard upon her secrets and wrong doings being found out by Esther and the others. She crouches beside the grave of her former lover (whom she kept secret) - it is so cold that she ultimately dies there. It is a sad ending for her - but it is not the end of the book, maybe only around 3 quarters of the way through. 

Verdict:

Since this is my favourite Dickens novel, I will give it 9. 

100% for characters: Lady Dedlock is one of my favourite tragic Victorians. She has so much range and seems to become more and more moralistic and humane throughout the novel. 

100% for themes: Nobody in the Victorian era writes pathetic fallacy like Dickens. You have to admit that. 

100% storyline: Such a Romantic and artistic image that completely juxtaposes the era it is written in - the image of Lady Dedlock's death is so aesthetic that it runs over in grand overtones above the industrial vibes. So very successful.