| Bleak House is one of the most successful novels in Charles Dickens’s writingcareer. Based on the case Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, it has been classified into thecategory of “legal novels”. Legal descriptions in this masterpiece have formed animportant element and a key topic in law and literature research. Although researchersboth at home and abroad show great interests in this proposition, current achievementis far from being satisfying. Given the situation that most researchers tend to focus onthe legal study of this great work of literature, we plan to carry out thoroughinterpretation from the literary perspective.Based on the legal descriptions in the text, the thesis will present literaryinterpretation and analysis on the legal plot, legal characterization as well as legalsystem and legal procedures. Then, the thesis will connect the legal descriptions withthe real situation in Chancery and the authors’ experience, analyzing the author’s legalthoughts and writing purpose presented between the lines. In the last part, thesignificance of the legal descriptions in Bleak House will be pointed out, therebyforming a complete analytical framework. This thesis tries to explain that legaldescription does not simply serve as a mirror of reality, but a complex of the author’sexperience, the need of the plot and the expression of the whole theme. Itssignificance can be spotted in structural, stylistic and thematic perspectives. Besides,the legal description is closely related to the sublimation of Dickens’s theme–humanism. A comprehensive understanding of legal descriptions in Bleak House willdefinitely offer a brand new method to interpret the text, the author and also the wholeVictorian Age when the novel was written. The study methods and research results ofthis thesis will provide a reference for understanding Dickens’s other works and areeven helpful when reading thousands of “legal fictions”. |
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