The Role Of Mothers In Bleak House

A recurrent theme in the narrative of Bleak House is the failings of mothers to their natural born daughters. In the narrative many mothers are both unintentionally and intentionally uncaring to the physical, mental, and emotional state of their daughters. The cruelty that mothers can and will subject their daughters to can be clearly shown in many of the relationships of some of the important characters in the story, such as, Mrs. Jellyby and Caddy Jellyby. We are shown that many women succeed in finding the maternal support the need and crave in their friendships to other women. Although Esther is essentially Dickens design of what traits women should want to embody, she manages to become a surrogate mother to many of the females characters

In making Esther to be the ideal woman, he gives her the perfect amalgamation of traits to make her a kind and nurturing mother figure. She allows herself to be a source of confidence and kindness to multiple female characters in the novel despite her own neglectful childhood under her aunt. Esther gives unconditional love to all the characters she meets, but offers as specific type of maternal care to three young women in the story, each with their own circumstances. She’s a source of maternal love for Ada, who she is governess to, Caddy Jellyby, who becomes her friend, and Charley Neckett, who works as her

Ada is orphaned and Esther is there to be nothing more than her governess, Esther’s job is to simply teach Ada how to be a proper lady. Upon their first meeting, Esther sees Ada and thinks she’s a beautiful young girl, but a few minutes into their meeting she says,” it was so delightful to know that she could confide in me, and like me”(85). Throughout the entire narrative Ada’s mother is never mentioned, and because she’s orphaned her only source of maternal comfort is Esther. She confides in Esther of her love of Richard and tells Esther of her eventual elopement with Richard. When Esther falls ill Ada is so distraught at Esther forcefully keeping her out as to not get small pox that it puts a brief strain on their relationship “ I heard my Ada crying at the door, day and night; I had heard her calling to me that I was cruel and did not love her”(449). When Esther recovers from smallpox, she isolates herself from Ada as she is so terrified that Ada will no longer love her as she was, Esther’s afraid that Ada will be scared of her scarred face. When they are supposed to be reunited, Esther is so afraid that she goes to her room and attempts to hide from Ada. But when Ada finds her, Esther discovers that nothing has changed between them “Ah, my angel girl! The old dear look, all love, all fondness, all affection. Nothing else in it- no, nothing, nothing!” (471). Their relationship grew so much that when Ada and her son