Esther Summerson

Esther Summerson
An illustration of Esther Summerson, the narrator of Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Esther Summerson by Hablot Browne
First appearance	Bleak House
Created by	Charles Dickens
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Family	Lady Dedlock (Mother) Captain James Hawdon (Nemo) (Father) Miss Barbary (Aunt)

Esther Summerson is a character from Bleak House, a novel written by Charles Dickens. She also serves as the story’s narrator, and much of the book is written from her perspective. At the start of the novel, Esther lives with Miss Barbary, a woman she knows as her godmother; this woman is in reality the sister of Lady Dedlock, and thus Esther’s aunt. When her aunt dies suddenly, Esther is sent to live in Bleak House with Mr. Jarndyce, along with Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. Over the course of Esther’s stay at Bleak House, she learns more about her family, contracts an unknown disease (probably smallpox) which results in facial scarring, and learns the identity of her mother, who dies not long after. She becomes engaged to Mr. Jarndyce, her guardian, but instead marries a doctor named Allan Woodcourt who had fallen in love with her over the course of the novel.

Personality

From her first introduction as narrator, Esther is firmly established to be a very humble and self-deprecating character; her first line contains the claim that she has difficulty writing her story because she knows she is not clever, and she repeats this claim to both her childhood doll and her new guardian Mr. Jarndyce. Throughout the novel, Esther continues to display her modesty through both her narration and dialogue, often internally dismissing compliments given to her by other characters.

Esther is also very loving and affectionate. She has a tendency to quickly grow fond of the characters she meets; this trait is especially obvious in her first meeting with Ada Clare, whom she refers to as “my love” after only a single conversation. Esther’s loving and nurturing personality is also clearly visible in her interactions with Charley, the young girl who becomes her maid. Esther is extremely affectionate toward Charley, going so far as to nurse her back to health when she falls ill even though she contracts the disease herself as a result.

However, Esther is also capable of standing up for herself. When Mr. Guppy proposes to her, for example, she deflects his offer with no small amount of scorn and dislike, going so far as to tell him that his advances are ridiculous.