CHARLES DICKENS - BLEAK HOUSE

CHAPTER I In Chancery

The object of the present text is to provide my personal analysis of an extract belonging to Bleak House first chapter, a novel written by Charles Dickens.

I am going to (make an accurate)  analyse it  supported by textual reference.

To start with, the extract (I am going to analysis) belongs to the first chapter of Bleak House and its title is In Chancery.

Considering the title of the novel Bleak House the intelligent reader asks himself why the writer decided to give (to a) the  novel (this ) such a title and he may assume it refers to something abandoned and lifeless. In addition, it is probably the novel is set in a house but not a common and usual house because it is usually an hospitable place and here it is juxtaposed to the adjective “bleak”(meaning) since a chancery is a diplomatic building, it may be the place (in which there is) to discussed something happened in the bleak house. 

However it is difficult to suppose the (novel’s) topic of the nove only through the title and without (analyst) a previous analysis ( it:). Therefore now I am going to make an accurate analysis of the extract to discover if (the) my  expectations were correct or not.

Considering (the) structure: it is organized into five paragraphs but they probably belong to the same sequence, indeed the whole extract is a description (The extract is a description) of London during a November day, as you can see since the first line, a day (characterized) inhabited by fog and smog. 

Indeed the protagonist of the extract is fog which goes everywhere. 

Charles Dickens personified (the)  fog. In addition,  he used (a) lots of adjectives, such as “wonderful”,”soft ball drizzle”, “new deposits”, “great ships”, “barges and small boat”, ”dense fog”, to describe the city in order to create a clear image in reader's mind (and) in order to get closer to reality.

(There are repeated the some things) Concepts and words are repeated more and more times in different ways to focus the reader’s attention (on them)  such as “Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them..”, “The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation..”. 

(There are useD) words belonging to multiples semantic fields INHABIT THE TEXT : “Lord Chancellor”, “interest”, “pensioners”, “Lord High Chancellor” and “High Court of Chancery” belonging to the field of diplomacy and economy (in order) to make the reader conscious that in the second part of the novel the chancery may assume an important role and (became) become  the (narration’s) key point od narration. Other words such as “collier-brigs”, “ships” and “boats” belonging to the naval semantic fields maybe because London is a harbour city and when sailors (they) navigated they often (meet) met fog, “waters, “mud”, “earth”, “elephantine”, “sun”, “snow flakes”, “dogs”, “horses”, “fog”, “river”, “clouds”,  and “fields” are all elements of the natural sphere in opposition to the artificial world which Dickens described thanks to the expressions “Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle”, “streets”, “the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city”, “bridges”, “gas looming”← PERSONIFICATIONS Through (it ) the devices illustrated so far, C.Dickens underlines  consequences of the Industrial Revolution also highlightED  by “infection of ill temper” which highlighted people’s sad and dramatic mood.

Moving now to the analysis of the language of sense impression l(anguage), C.Dickens appeals to colors, to (visive) visual  images (and) as well as to sound to REcreate (in the reader’s mind) the scene into the reader’s mind.

For what concernS (the) colors, (in the extract there are) black (which) reminds (to the) the pollution caused by factories and industries and green which is the symbol of wealth.  Indeed,  after the revolution a large PART OF the population(’s part) is enriched, and the symbol of harmony and balance, (which)  existing only in nature (green is usually associated to nature). Moving now to (the) sound, in the whole extract (there are used)  different (sound) rhetorical figuresof sound are exploited such as the onomatopoeia “flows” that reminds to the idea of the water motion (rivers’ movement), “..and the muddy streets are muddiest..” which creates the sounds of the trampled mud, the alliteration of the letter s “..streets as if the waters..” ( which creates) add to the idea of (the)  flowing waters (and ) also with the repetition of the same (world) word for multiples times. Finally C.Dickens appeals to (visive) images because he provideS an accurate description of London during a November day using a lot of adjectives and particulars.

The scene is created by a a third person narrator  who is omniscient and (interview) INTERVENES  inTO the scene to provide information[s ] (to readers) and there is (a) prevalence of telling.

The overall effects is the creation of a realistic situation but, only reading (this) THE extract,IT  is difficult to put IT inTO a specific (contest.) CONTEXT.

The ideal reader is one able to read between the lineS because the extract is full of hidden meanings and symbols therefore (it is not sufficieny) a common reader would not be able to make yhe most of the text.

All things considered I believe C.Dickens'S intention was to present to the reader London during a November day, where, through the fog, the chancery is visible.

Probably the chancery may become an important place for the whole novel.