Society of Surveillance

            At first it was hard to imagine how Foucault’s “Panopticism” would play out in Bleak House because I was primarily imagining the city as a panoptic construction which at first did not seem evident in the novel. Perhaps the structure of the city (as Certeau had demonstrated) in the novel does work as a panoptic place. However, I had never read this particular portion of “Panopticism” focusing on the society of surveillance that constantly documents individuals. Envisioning the panopticon as a society rather than a physical structure, I realized how each character in Bleak House is almost always surveying and at the same time under surveillance.

            In “Obstinacy,” we can see how this society of surveillance attempts to regain social order. In an attempt to clear up the disorder of Tulkinghorn’s death, George is atomically accused of the murder because of his actions surrounding the event. While Jarndyce and Esther both agree that George is innocent, they realize that “some appearances are against him” (691). Jarndyce’s list of George’s “appearances” reflects the ways in which the society of surveillance has documented George’s actions that have placed him into his accused position. However, the use of “appearances” implies the way that hard facts are not necessary for discipline, but only observations that suggest actions. And, therefore, these assumptions reveal how this system is only “egalitarian” at the imaginary level as Foucault suggests (222). We also see George trying to make some sense out of this confusion when he gazes upon Esther and takes note of “her height and figure” linking her to the woman who he had seen before Tulkinghorn’s murder (698). While he does not necessarily accuse Esther, his observations show how the characters in the novel are under constant surveillance and attempt to clear up confusion

Arresting George also shows how this society of surveillance attempts to restore order. As Foucault explains, “the image of the plague stands for all forms of confusion and disorder” (199). In order to regain order, the society of surveillance “use[s]…individualization to mark exclusion.” George realizes that he is a “marked and disgraced man” by his accusation and his life as a “vagabond” (694-5). While his denial of a lawyer is a part of his own disgust for the “breed,” he is also self-disciplining himself by accepting the false accusation which is arguably the most effective and efficient use of the panopticon (694). George realizes that even though he is innocent, these markings will work against him. Even if he attains a lawyer, he laments that he would only “keep circumstances back, chop the evidence small, quibble, and get me off perhaps” (my emphasis, 695). Again, George demonstrates how this “egalitarian” system is only imaginary because it does not necessarily serve justice, but instead works to maintain social order (Foucault 222). When Jarndyce tries to argue that George getting a lawyer is “equity” he is “at a loss” because he also realizes that a lawyer will not necessarily help the situation (694). While it is frustrating and frightening to envision the ways in which our judicial system closely mirrors the one in the novel, it is also hard to imagine it functioning in any other way.