So in the last installment we finally get to see Lady Deadlock admit that she is in fact Esther's mother, and to be honest it was not very interesting. We read all throughout the book about Esther's curiosity towards her parents and when she finds out she has a very dull reaction. at the start of the novel she is very meek but as the book progresses she has been a bit more opinionated and vocal about her feelings and i wanted her to get upset with Lady Deadlock. It might not really be in her nature to do so but it would have been interesting to have them fight a bit. instead Esther tells Deadlock that she still has love for her even after she is told that she and her mother can't have a relationship. Esther's reaction to the news is as though she knew it all along.
Lady Deadlock annoyed me too. I can understand her being upset at the fact that she had a child that she didn't know was alive but if you're not going to try to have a relationship with her, what difference does it really make? when reading the chapter i felt as though Lady deadlock was overacting to compensate for the lack of presence in Esther's life. as though Esther would feel better about still not having a mother if she cried her eyes out. i was actually waiting for Lady Deadlock to spontaniously combust (which I am determined to prove), she suddenly had this burst of emotion and i wasn't sure what to expect. I mean if she keeps this secret bottle up any longer she might just do so.
But seriously i think that Lady Deadlock chose that time to tell Esther because she had been through so much with her sickness and her temporary blindness that it would have just been rude not to sprinkle some good news in there somewhere. she was probably feeling bad for Esther and thought that telling her she was her mother and then that she didn't want anything to do with her was going to make Esther feel better.
While Esther has a new outlook on life now after surviving her sickness i think everyone feels bad for her. She is scarred all over her face and it doesn't seem like people can handle it. she has spent so much time focusing on her that the scars on her face serve as a reminder that she needs to focus on herself. i mean after those kids were commenting on how awful she looks now, who wouldn't feel bad for her? Even Guppy gave up on her, their engagement was not all that real but it's called off after she gets sick and looks like a mess, it sounds weird to me...
The title of your post is funny and I do agree with you that them uniting together after so many years was DRY! I wanted more drama and tears but it was like "Oh hey Im your mother, sorry I can't be in your life...OK have nice day". I was waiting for that moment and when it came, I don't want to read this book anymore because the lack of drama.
ReplyDeleteLady Dedlock is selfish and heartless. I mean it was her who created all this mess because she chose to fornicate and give birth to an illegit child. And it was Esther who had to pay for her mother's mistake while Lady D is living lavishly (but bored).
I agree Carlos that Lady Dedlock annoyed me also...she drove me nuts but I am however proud of Esther for taking the news well (sort of) I mean she didn't flip out on Lady Dedlock. I agree with Mona also I wanted the drama of it but it was so bare and stale I mean after all that reading to get to that point with Esther and Lady Dedlock it was so DRY as Mona said. I mean Lady Dedlock is selfish when you look at what Mona said, "I mean it was her who created all this mess because she chose to fornicate and give birth to an illegit child. And it was Esther who had to pay for her mother's mistake while Lady D is living lavishly (but bored)."- Mona, I could not say it better myself I COMPLETELY agree. I mean come on Dedlock created this and Esther SUFFERS for it, this is a mess.
ReplyDeleteDo you really think that Lady D has not suffered? I don't think we need to equate Esther's considerable suffering with Lady D's to allow that hers has not been an easy road. Indeed, Dickens represents her as lost and marked by her life choices. But on some level, it's all about Esther. If Lady D just stepped in for Reunion Time and invited Esther to come live at Chesney Wold, would that be good for Esther?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carlos and Katharina... Lady Deadlock is really annoying. I mean eventhough it seems as if she is only trying to protect her husband and also Esther I feel as if it was unfair for her to tell Esther that she was her mother and then use the same breathe to tell her that they could not have a relationship... Now Esther has to live with the fact that not only is her beauty disfigured because of the scars, she also knows who her mother is and can not interact with her. It seems as if whenever Esther tries to get a break she can not get a one. I know that Lady Deadlock may also be hurting because she can not be with the daughter she did not know she had but she seem to be making the wrong decisions about things.
ReplyDeleteTo play devil's advocate, telling Esther that she can't be in her life was the practical thing for Lady Dedlock to do. It would be unrealistic for a Victorian woman to take in the illegitimate child she initially left behind. Both Lady Dedlock and Esther have suffered in different ways, eventhough Esther's pain appears to be more severe than LD's struggles. If Esther was invited to come live in Chesney Wold, chances are that she would receive ill treatment from everyone around her, especially Sir Leicester Dedlock. She would probably become one of the maids.
ReplyDeleteI, too, was surprised by Esther's reaction to the news. It feels like a cop-out by Dickens to do this. He built Esther up with every Chapter and in the section where she learns whom her mother is she regresses to what she was like in the beginning. Esther was just too calm, eerily so. Its just not normal to get the news you have been looking for your whole life and react the way she did.
ReplyDeleteA thought: Were we expecting some drama when Esther found out whom her mother was because we are just so used to it happening in all those TV shows we all watch?
If you think about it a book is structured like a mountain, gradually climbing up until you reach the peak, the climax, and then just as gradually going down. In this book the would be Esther getting sick and overcoming it. Right after it is when we get the scene with LD. But the tone of it was so bland that it felt like this part belonged somewhere at the bottom.
I am fascinated by your comments and I think Ilona is right to point out that part of what is at work here is a modern mindset that has been conditioned by sensation and drama and Jerry-Springeresque live reunions/confrontations. The 19th century was a different time than our own, despite the great similarities (public health concerns, environmental worries, the issue of a social safety net, limiting stereotypes for women, etc.), and it would be wrong to expect to have the same exact reaction that 19th century readers would have had. However, the Victorian period was itself a time of melodrama (that was the main kind of theater at the time), sensation novels, mysteries, etc. Indeed, the entertainment slogan at the time was "make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, make 'em wait." And even though Karla and I seem to be the only ones crying at BLEAK HOUSE, you can see how Dickens writes to manipulate our emotions (the grotesque burial of Nemo, or scenes involving Jo or Gridley). So this brings us to the question, why is the scene between Lady D and Esther so tame (I won't say lame)? Wondering why, rather than lamenting the lameness, seems the more productive way to go. I think it has a lot to do with Esther's re-birth as an individual -- the problem becomes not what Lady D will do to make things right but how Esther, still alone, will sort things out. This is why it is the scene, together with her recovery, that precedes her announcement of selfhood (the "innocent of her birth" passage we've talked about).
ReplyDeleteIf I had been Lady Dedlock I would have come clean with Sir Leicester & introduced him to Esther. And then alerted him to the despicable machinations of Lawyer Tulkinghorn.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, as the Dedlocks were regularly in Town, they shouldn't have encouraged him to prowl round Chesney Wold.