Lauren Broderick on Alex Zwerdling’s Esther Summerson Rehabilitated.

Alex Zwerdling begins his text Esther Summerson Rehabilitated by describing the common misconceptions surrounding Esther before he commences his defence of her. He believes that these criticisms are misunderstandings and so the reader must rid their comprehension of Esther of any clichés before they can be aware of her role in Dickens’ Bleak House.

The abuse Esther experiences as a child indicates a progression in how Dickens’ represents this from a physically abused Oliver Twist to an emotionally abused Esther Summerson. She is denied of any love which she consequently hungers for, so whenever she receives compliments she writes them all down and cherishes them as love even if she doesn’t believe them. In this way her constant denials of her own worth may not be false modesty but instead proof that any sense of self worth has been bullied out of Esther. This is a wound which will never heal in her and which spurs Esther on in her adult life. Her desire for love is so strong that she never clearly specifies what kind it is she strives for. Hence, her engagement to Jarndyce suggests her confusion between parental and romantic love. Furthermore, she is constantly a spectator in other people’s romances, such as Richard and Ada. This cements the idea that she is unsuitable for romantic love, something which her illegitimacy later seems confirms to her as she accepts she will never be loved in a romantic way but instead in a communal way by society. At the beginning of the novel she is treated like an old woman and so is clearly not looking for romantic love. Therefore, Jarndyce becomes the idyllic match in this situation. In addition, in her meeting with Woodcourt Esther’s style becomes flustered which depicts her anxiety at feeling a romantic attraction as opposed to a paternal or friendly love as she is used to. Esther’s love of Ada is a displaced form of romantic love. This may be a result of Esther’s view of Ada as girl she may have been if she’d not been born different. This theory is complemented in the text when Esther refuses to see Ada when she is ill as she believes: “I will die”. Her concern for Ada is so strong that if she became ill it would destroy Esther; this also validates the connection between them as the death of Ada would be the death of a possible Esther. Likewise, it is only after Richard has died and Ada is free to love her guardian again that Esther is able to marry Woodcourt. As both girls are two sides of a single nature it is impossible for them to both be engaged in romantic love at the same time and so this switch is necessary for the novels progression. In addition, Lady Dedlock is also a part of Esther. Her haughtiness and isolated opposes Esther’s immersion into the community as well as he cheerfulness. They are both also searching for something, Esther as a child and Lady Dedlock as a mother. Moreover, Lady Dedlock has given up her lover and married a man who she respects but does not love, a fate which Esther narrowly escapes. Indeed, her learning of the disgrace of her birth corresponds to her falling ill and so leads to her resolution that she too must give up the idea of romantic love and accept that she will have to live with communal love and be happy with it. Thus, she retreats into her safe world in Bleak House. Her marriage to Jarndyce would mean she would remain in this haven forever and the idea of this panics Esther meaning that her marriage to Woodcourt at the novels conclusion had rescued her from her resolve to be happy with communal love and to lock herself in Jarndyce’s Bleak House forever.