Who Is Esther In A Bleak House

“I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of these pages, for I know I am not clever.” In the novel Bleak House, Charles Dickens has somehow managed to create the epitome of a perfect woman in the character of Esther. She has it all from being beautiful but modest, to humble and hardworking. Esther fits effortlessly in with our Victorian ancestor’s idea of a perfect woman. The reader is instantly drawn in by her character from these opening lines of her narration. She has been given the role of narrating half of this story yet she immediately doubts her ability to do so as she’s declares that she is “not clever”. Unlike many of Dickens other stories he is allowing the leading female character to have a voice of her
Esther’s childhood seems to have lacked everything a normal childhood should have. She was never allowed attend birthday partied for example and to make matter even more tragic she was never allowed to celebrate her own birthday as her Godmother declared her as unwanted in society. As the only maternal figure in her life refused to acknowledge her as a human being with feelings, needs and emotions Esther developed this sense of self worthlessness. At no point is she given the opportunity to have some normality in her life or even given the chance to confide her emotions in another human being. Time and time again we see how Esther pours out her deepest fears and secrets in her not so emotionally responsive doll. As she confides in her favourite doll who is always there for her, this is not healthy for her self-development as a young woman because the doll will always just blankly stare back at her when in reality what she needs is a real maternal figure to respond to her fears and reassure her that self indulgence is only natural. Without expression her emotions to a comprehending other person it is difficult for Esther to develop her identity and thus become the true character she is. Esther associates her secrecy with a need to ‘bury’ herself. She represses
This evasion is made apparent by her frequent apologizing for the tale she is supposedly telling about other by her apologies for making critical observations regarding the characters of others. She discerns, for example, that Jarndyce's friend, Skimpole, is a shiftless parasite, and that Richard Carstone, Ada's fiancé, lacks a work ethic and is obsessed instead with the Jarndyce suit in the hopes of getting rich quick. Although she glosses over and apologizes for these observations, they are critical to the narrative, lending clues to Esther's beliefs and values, and therefore, to identity, since character and identity are inextricably linked. As a person’s identity is partially bound up in their perceptions of other and in others' perceptions of them, and we internalize the characteristics and characterizations with which others instil in us. Consciously and unconsciously, these characterizations help define our identities in a way. Perhaps Esther's need to apologize for her observations signals her lack of self-confidence about her own judgments of others. These characterisations we see in Esther can also be seen in other female characters in the novel such as Ada, Esther’s companion. She loves Ada unconditionally and devotedly, finding in her a kindred spirit. The relationship between Ada and Esther is reflexive as they each seek in the