Bleak House Lecture: Spontaneous Combustion (Vol. II, Ch. XXIII-XLV)
Added 2025-12-14 21:59:30 +0000 UTC'The Lord Chancellor of that Court, true to his title in his last act, has died the death of all Lord Chancellors in all Courts, and of all authorities in all places under all names soever, where false pretences are made, and where injustice is done.'
Welcome back to the foggy world of Bleak House by Charles Dickens, where we find ourselves increasingly tangled in the cursed case of Jarndyce & Jarndyce.
Today we're talking about spontaneous combustion, the evolution of detective fiction, duty vs delusion, responsibility, the social framework, bureaucracy, the heroine's journey, the real life inspirations for this novel's themes and characters, and much more.
Please feel free to listen before, during, or after your reading and enjoy the work at the pace that best suits you. You do not need to have read all of these chapters to enjoy the discussion as I am continuing to stay away from plot details revealed later in the work.
Timestamps:
0:00 the painful wisdom of Bleak House
2:00 appreciating your love for this novel
4:00 the world isn’t as large as we think
6:00 Esther Summerson’s heroine’s journey
8:00 real inspiration for the Jarndyce case
11:00 Richard haunted by the family curse
14:00 making ourselves wait for happiness
16:00 work should be love made visible
18:00 losing sight of what’s truly important
20:00 embrace life now because it’s short
22:00 learning from the nihilism of Macbeth
24:00 why is debt such a strong theme?
26:00 life as unsettled, temporary condition
28:00 great literature does two powerful things
31:00 Mrs Jellyby presents a cautionary tale
33:00 the ‘favourite child’ of public duties
35:00 let your loved ones know you care
37:00 voice of delusion vs voice of duty
39:00 it is never too late to begin again
40:00 sunk cost fallacy in Bleak House
42:00 how pain is the road to wisdom
44:00 why we need to reread great books
46:00 an appreciation for Mr George
48:00 what are you aiming at in life?
50:00 you only see what you focus on
52:00 crow’s eye view of the comic court
54:00 Gridley destroyed by Chancery
56:00 who was the real Inspector Bucket?
59:00 the evolution of detective fiction
1:02:00 the commandments of whodunits
1:04:00 exploring the mystery of our birth
1:06:00 the character of Captain Hawdon
1:08:00 Tulkinghorn’s search for Nemo
1:10:00 Sir Leicester’s class anxiety
1:12:00 Lady Dedlock’s secret revealed
1:16:00 ‘fallen woman’ in the Victorian era
1:18:00 ‘they dies more than they lives’
1:20:00 Esther brings Jo to Bleak House
1:22:00 suffering the scourge of smallpox
1:24:00 Esther’s blindness & sickness
1:26:00 Dickens & cliffhangers in fiction
1:28:00 spontaneous combustion of Krook
1:31:00 can one really burst into flames?
1:34:00 public criticism of Krook’s death
1:36:00 Dickens responds to the criticism
1:38:00 symbolism of Krook’s combustion
1:41:00 Esther’s near death experience
1:43:00 on learning to accept our scars
1:45:00 bound to the wheel of Chancery
1:46:00 Esther thinks of Mr Woodcourt
1:48:00 how to coach yourself through pain
1:51:00 mother & daughter reunited at last
1:53:00 darkness as opportunity to be a light
1:55:00 how can we honour our loved ones?
1:56:00 Esther sees herself as the ghost
1:58:00 liberating life philosophy of Esther
2:00:00 inefficiency is the point of bureaucracy
2:02:00 don’t let yourself become cynical
2:04:00 being a touchstone of responsibility
2:06:00 judging character by response to scars
2:07:00 Mr Guppy vs Esther Summerson
2:08:00 Tulkinghorn threatens Lady Dedlock
2:10:00 marriage proposal & burnt flowers
2:12:00 reading assignment for next discussion
Resources:
Television: We recommended the excellent 2005 BBC television adaptation for Bleak House last time. But if you would like to try a different recommendation, and are a fan of classic television, you might enjoy this charming black-and-white series from 1959. This was the very first adaptation of the great novel and the performances are wonderful.
Audiobooks: Thank you to readers who recommended the superb reading of Bleak House by Miriam Margoyles, which is available as part of the Audible Dickens Collection. You can see the great actress talking about her lifelong love of Charles Dickens and the reading project here. You may also enjoy her beautiful live performed reading of a passage from Great Expectations here. If you want to hear my thoughts on the value of audiobooks and reading aloud, I have a discussion on that topic here. We also have a discussion on serial literature and performance in the storytelling tradition here.
Appreciation: G. K. Chesterton would say that Bleak House 'is not certainly Dickens’s best book, but perhaps it is his best novel.' And this is the story in which we see the great writer grown up. You can read Chesterton's criticism and appreciation of Bleak House and many other works of the great writer here. Dickens himself would say that his aim in Bleak House was to purposefully dwell 'on the romantic side of familiar things.’ Do you think that's true? Is that also part of what makes the book so powerful?
Non-Fiction: Whilst Dickens was writing Bleak House, he was also dictating a work of English history designed for young readers. We can feel the writer's love of history come through in this novel. If you're curious to read this work, I highly recommend checking out A Child's History of England. We can leverage our love of Dickens as a way to joyfully gain some historical knowledge. Another great work, for those interested in the era in which Dickens was writing, is The Victorians by A. N. Wilson.
Documentary: In this section of the novel, we came to one of the most grotesque and shocking scenes in all of nineteenth century literature with the death of Krook. Charles Dickens received a lot of criticism for this scene and was keen for readers to know that it had not been his aim to willingly mislead his reading public. If you're interested in the real explanations behind the urban myth of spontaneous combustion, this video from Earth Science is good, and this video from Mystery Files investigates using real life case studies. For some shows on the writer himself, Simon Callow traverses the streets of Dickens' London here, whilst there is a superb biographical documentary called 'The Greatest Storyteller' that is worth watching here.
Exercise: I recommended reading one of your favourite passages from the book aloud last time, and also thinking about Bleak House up against some of the other works from this great novelist. In addition to reading aloud, I've found that something magical happens in our appreciations when we write out our favourite passages by hand. Keeping a dedicated journal with these handwritten passages allows us, over time, to see commonalities and patterns in what resonates with us. Treat yourself to a nice notebook, either something portable like the pocket range from Molskine or something larger like from Leuchtturm1917, my favourite range of bullet journals, and see how it feels to slow down and print your favourite words on the page.
Reading Assignment:
Our next discussion will cover the events from chapter forty-six up to and including chapter sixty-seven, which takes us through to the ending of this masterpiece. We'll have a little extra time for this assignment for those wishing to catch up and relish the climax over the holiday season. This coming weekend, we'll revisit one of my discussions going deep into A Christmas Carol that many readers might not have heard. This means the final Bleak House lecture will be the weekend after that. I'm very excited to hear your thoughts on where the story goes next.
Questions for You:
1) Why do you think the works of Charles Dickens remain so popular today?
2) What did you make of the revelation of Esther's personal history?
3) How did you react to the spontaneous combustion scene?
4) Is the social and moral purpose of Bleak House effective?
And please let us know your favourite passages and any insights that have come to you during your reading. If this is a first reading, is Bleak House living up to its reputation? If this is a rereading for you, are you finding new things to appreciate this time around?
Happy reading, folks!
Comments
This book needs a character guide, and there are many available for that reason.
Tom Walker
2026-01-15 20:06:50 +0000 UTCwith you all the way
Tom Walker
2026-01-15 20:01:59 +0000 UTCI have found reading BH quite a slog for most of the first half. My goodness, all the characters. However I have gotten through it because I just find Dickens to be so so funny. The names of his characters - what! And the. The sardonic descriptions of the Boodles, Coodles, doodles, Foodles, etc. exactly!! Made me laugh out loud and whack my forehead at the same time. Now it’s picking up and the connections are being made more explicit and it’s going and going.
Leigh Coop
2026-01-14 02:51:43 +0000 UTCThis is my favorite Dickens and this reread is just reminding me why. This books breaks my heart and makes it soar. Esther as the heroine makes me want to be a better person and woman. I love her just as much as the other characters do. I love little Joe and want to punch some of the other characters in the nose.
Lindsey Chastain
2025-12-27 22:46:11 +0000 UTCBleak House has many such moments doesn’t it?
Lily
2025-12-27 11:32:57 +0000 UTCChapter 47 has broken my heart. 😢
Guillermo Medina
2025-12-27 01:25:37 +0000 UTCWhat a delight it was listening to this lecture. Dickens intricate plot with luminous prose is truly awe-inspiring and just like your other lectures, keeps the listeners engaged and inspired. Moreover, your instructional style Ben, encourages us to delve more deeply into literature with renewed curiosity and appreciation. Thanks to you, Bleak house will certainly be my next read on my to-do list.
Fozy
2025-12-25 21:53:19 +0000 UTCI finally got to finish this lecture and my first takeaway is how I learn things I’d never heard of through our books. The oddest bit of trivia was that fear of spontaneous combustion was an actual reality in Victorian times : just when thought I’d heard it all 😂 Esther’s history didn’t shock me (Lady Dedlock was clearly hinted as being her mother from early chapters ) but her story continues to be the highlight and central point of interest for me. Waiting for and finally being rewarded her narrative chapters is the biggest treat of Bleak House. She has become one of my favorite literary characters. I find it interesting that Dickens has managed to create some of my most hated male characters but he makes up for it with some wonderful females.
Ellen M
2025-12-24 22:44:56 +0000 UTCYes Elizabeth! Very hearty favorites are Bucket, George, Mrs. Bagnet, Esther (in no order) and Charley (though diminutive)….and I cannot help it Hortense!
Lily
2025-12-24 10:53:35 +0000 UTCAlmost at the end and my favorite character is Mrs. Bagnet, Who also supplies my favorite passage in the book so far. In Chapter 55, at her second visit to George, she is overcome by emotion, leans against the wall, wipes her eyes, "and quite enjoys herself like the best of old girls as she is."
Elizabeth
2025-12-24 06:28:14 +0000 UTCAh, I thought you were making a clever pun “Bucket filled”! I agree with you Sean. I finished reading it yesterday and the last hundred pages were cascading waves of alternating emotions. Now that I am done the feeling remains of friends having left after a month long visit. I hardly knew what to do after the last chapter. I stared at the closed book in my hands and marveled at all it contained and said out loud “Thank you Charles”.
Lily
2025-12-23 09:45:59 +0000 UTCI agree! Mr. Bucket and the Bagnets truly deserve their own volumes!
Sean Taylor
2025-12-23 03:23:44 +0000 UTCOh my this book! I’ve read too many books to count. In this “group of friends” at the HLBC I’ve read some brilliant books that have affected me, but this was a very different experience. Perhaps the time of year, perhaps time of life…. There are very few books that moved me so that there is “life before reading” and “life after reading” Bleak House. It was not a perfect book and even had some sloppy parts, but I loved it. Ironically the last book that had this affect on me was “Great Expectations” Thank you Mr. Dickens! Bucket filled!
Sean Taylor
2025-12-23 03:19:16 +0000 UTCI am now so very near the end of this tremendous novel and must declare Mr. Bucket to be one of my most loved characters in quite some time. I have thoroughly enjoyed every instance of him and dearly hope he does not let me down! I must say also that I am fascinated with Hortense. I do not want to befriend her like I do Mr. Bucket but her fiery and brightly charged character within the book absolutely snarls. Such characters are here! I love when reading a book like this when I am easily able to identify all of these characters in my real life. I have mentioned already that on weekends I work at a very busy cafe near a university. All manner of humans inhabit my space and I make efforts to connect with them all meeting them in whatever commonality I am able to detect. I can say for certain I have a Hortense (who I love to talk to so I can hear her talk but would never ever dare be outside of the cafe with), a Mr. Bucket, an Esther (believe it or not), Smallweed, George, adult versions of Jo, Guppy, Bagnet. Very many Richards and Boythorns. All of them. Dickens really saw the people around him in London and fully placed them in this book with all of their shades of spirit.
Lily
2025-12-21 23:32:12 +0000 UTCProgress is slow! But I’m allowing myself time to be struck by wonder…and it happened in Chapter 5. Miss Jellyby rants: “O! Don’t talk of duty as a child, Miss Summerson; where’s Ma’s duty as a parent? All made over to the public and Africa, I suppose! Then let the public and Africa show duty as a child; it’s much more their affair than mine. You are shocked, I dare say! Very well, so am I shocked too; so we are both shocked, and there’s an end of it!” This struck me. The person who penned this, felt this. I started poking around online and found these quotes from interviews and biographies of Dickens: He thought himself “a very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy.” Reflecting upon being sent to the blacking factory, “How could I have been so easily cast away at such an age?” When his father was released from prison and his mother did not advocate for his removal from the factory, “I never afterwards forgot, I shall never forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back.” Wow. The pain comes through. Dickens’ depiction of the pain of children hits hard, over and over again. But it’s comforting, too. For those of us who have experienced childhood pain, it’s hard to read, but affirming. I keep seeing a James Baldwin quote that “you read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important.” INDEED!!!
Linda Hall
2025-12-21 22:32:48 +0000 UTC
