Dickensian Satire

Though only in the early stages of Dickens’ Bleak House, I’m already intrigued with the author’s use of biting satire in his characters, particularly Mr. Skimpole.

Skimpole is the obvious fool of this section. He is often referred to as a “child” by the master of the house, Mr. Jarndyce, and though he exhibits the characteristics of a genuine loafer, his most salient attribute, his cavalier nature is consistently ignored and even accepted among the inhabitants of Bleak House. Although his light-hearted speech regarding the ways of bees in chapter eight is meant to be a humorous representation of his character’s overall personality, Skimpole’s ignorance is more so revealed in the narrative. Dickens uses the bee metaphor to describe the efforts of the working class, paralleling the nature and purpose of the insect to its pitiful human counterpart. The narrator says, “He [Skimpole] didn’t at all see why the busy Bee should be proposed as a model to him; he supposed the Bee liked to make honey, or he wouldn’t do it – nobody asked him.” Skimpole then goes on to describe the bees as “egotistical,” as its work seems to grow in value only upon recognition; furthermore, he states that this type of motivation proves unsupportable, and that one would have a “very mean opinion of the Manchester man if he spun cotton for no other purpose” than the positive attention he might receive.

The speech, delivered in a fanciful, blithe manner certainly highlights Skimpole’s whimsical character. However, it also exposes an obvious bias he has against the working man. While he credits the drones for living a life free of work and responsibility, he condemns the bees for producing honey and doing so in such a way that garners attention. Here, the reader sees Skimpole’s complete ignorance of not only the natural existence of bees, but the social conditions of the working man. Bees, like the human workers, produce only for the profit and well-being of a higher power; the former, of course, provides for the queen bee and her entire hive while the humans work in suffering conditions to support factory owners and commercial endeavors. Similarly, the bees and humans are never fairly compensated for their work, since bees are solely responsible for the continuous support of a hive’s ecosystem, rarely receiving any sort of benefit at all. The same can be said about the working class. Their own civil freedoms are sacrificed for the well-being of the bourgeois factory heads.

Dickens’s satire is clear here, using Skimpole as a way to expose the uninformed and prejudiced thinking of the upper class. I’m interested to continue reading more of the author’s satirical arguments throughout the novel. More so, I’m curious to learn about Dickens himself to see if these satirical sketches are merely archetypal characterizations of ridiculous thinking and behavior, or if he really is infusing the text with personal sentiments.