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Quiz about Bleak House  worst title but best Dickens book
Quiz about Bleak House  worst title but best Dickens book

"Bleak House" - worst title but best Dickens book? Quiz


Many people are put off one of Charles Dickens' best books by the depressing title. However, those who have read it will know how good it is and get the answers to most of these questions.

A multiple-choice quiz by Philian. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Philian
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
130,811
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
25
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
17 / 25
Plays
1865
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 172 (25/25), angostura (3/25), Guest 125 (25/25).
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Question 1 of 25
1. The opening chapter of "Bleak House" describes a foggy day in London town, but where does Dickens declare is the heart of the fog? Hint


Question 2 of 25
2. What is the name of Sir Leicester Dedlock's family lawyer who manages to ferret out the truth about Lady Dedlock's background? Hint


Question 3 of 25
3. Who proposes marriage to Esther Summerson? Hint


Question 4 of 25
4. What is the name of Sir Leicester Dedlock's grand house in Lincolnshire? Hint


Question 5 of 25
5. What is the name that is given to the dreadful slum where Jo, the crossing sweeper, just manages to live? Hint


Question 6 of 25
6. Which of Mr. Jarndyce's friends lives next door to Chesney Wold and carries on a legal dispute with Sir Leicester Dedlock? Hint


Question 7 of 25
7. What are the names of the two wards in Chancery that have Mr. Jarndyce appointed as their guardian? Hint


Question 8 of 25
8. Which friend of Mr. Jarndyce's is constantly on the verge of being arrested for debt? Hint


Question 9 of 25
9. Which (probable) illness does Esther catch which proves to have very serious consequences? Hint


Question 10 of 25
10. How does Mr.George, the ex-soldier, try to earn a living? Hint


Question 11 of 25
11. What does Mr. Tulkinghorn want Mr. Smallweed to obtain from Mr. George? Hint


Question 12 of 25
12. How many sons had Mrs. Rouncewell, the old house-keeper at Chesney Wold? Hint


Question 13 of 25
13. What is the occupation of Mr. Snagsby? Hint


Question 14 of 25
14. What false suspicion did Mrs. Snagsby have about Jo? Hint


Question 15 of 25
15. What is the name of the reverend that Dickens describes as having a good deal of "train oil" in his system and looking like a "bear that has been taught to walk upright"? Hint


Question 16 of 25
16. Who is the person who kills Mr. Tulkinghorn? Hint


Question 17 of 25
17. What is the name of the police inspector created by Dickens to solve the murder of Tulkinghorn and to investigate the disappearance of Lady Dedlock? Hint


Question 18 of 25
18. Which character in the book is referred to sarcastically as "The Lord Chancellor"? Hint


Question 19 of 25
19. How does Mr. Krook die? Hint


Question 20 of 25
20. Into the hands of which lawyer does Richard place his affairs? Hint


Question 21 of 25
21. What finally happens in the great legal case of "Jarndyce and Jarndyce"? Hint


Question 22 of 25
22. What is the name of Krook's cat? Hint


Question 23 of 25
23. What are the names of the Smallweed grandchildren? Hint


Question 24 of 25
24. Which of the following is never a lodger at Krook's house? Hint


Question 25 of 25
25. Whose children have to give up their pocket money to good causes whether they want to or not? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Sep 16 2024 : Guest 172: 25/25
Sep 14 2024 : angostura: 3/25
Sep 13 2024 : Guest 125: 25/25
Sep 08 2024 : Guest 14: 19/25
Aug 30 2024 : Guest 49: 22/25
Aug 16 2024 : Guest 77: 2/25
Aug 15 2024 : Guest 223: 10/25
Aug 13 2024 : Guest 174: 3/25
Aug 10 2024 : Guest 125: 22/25

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The opening chapter of "Bleak House" describes a foggy day in London town, but where does Dickens declare is the heart of the fog?

Answer: In the Court of Chancery

Dickens' most savage criticism in this book is directed at the law and at lawyers in general. The fog is a metaphor for the delay and confusion that always took place in civil cases before the Court of Chancery.
2. What is the name of Sir Leicester Dedlock's family lawyer who manages to ferret out the truth about Lady Dedlock's background?

Answer: Mr. Tulkinghorn

All of these are the names of lawyers in "Bleak House", but Mr. Tulkinghorn proves to be the most persistent and ruthless of them all. It comes as no real surprise to discover that he ends up as a murder victim.
3. Who proposes marriage to Esther Summerson?

Answer: All of these people

Indeed Esther receives an unwanted proposal from Mr. Guppy, the lawyer's clerk. Later Mr. Jarndyce makes a proposal, but Esther is more of a daughter to him than a future wife. Mr. Woodcourt is the one whom she eventually marries.
4. What is the name of Sir Leicester Dedlock's grand house in Lincolnshire?

Answer: Chesney Wold

The house in Lincolnshire and the house in London are both important locations in the unfolding story of Lady Dedlock's secret. Chesney Wold itself is at the centre of the general election campaign in the chapter entitled "National and Domestic". Dickens gives a very clear picture of the bribery and corruption that was endemic to English politics.
5. What is the name that is given to the dreadful slum where Jo, the crossing sweeper, just manages to live?

Answer: Tom-all-Alone's

Dickens links the powerlessness of politicians, the delay of the law, and the ineffectiveness of charity by his picture of Jo and Tom-all-Alone's. He traces the connection between this fever-ridden slum and the beautiful and haughty Lady Dedlock.
6. Which of Mr. Jarndyce's friends lives next door to Chesney Wold and carries on a legal dispute with Sir Leicester Dedlock?

Answer: Mr. Boythorn

Mr. Boythorn is a man who is full of life and ebullience, but he is also a very gentle man whose pet is a bird that is allowed to fly freely in his house and land on his head. He proves to be the man disappointed in love by Esther's aunt.
7. What are the names of the two wards in Chancery that have Mr. Jarndyce appointed as their guardian?

Answer: Richard Carstone and Ada Clare

The decision about their guardianship is what is under question in Chapter One of the book, but we actually learn what happened to Richard and Ada from Esther's narrative several chapters further in to the book. By the end of the book Richard has died, crushed by the weight of the "Jarndyce and Jarndyce" legal case.
8. Which friend of Mr. Jarndyce's is constantly on the verge of being arrested for debt?

Answer: Mr. Skimpole

Mr. Skimpole is one of the most infuriating characters in the book. He is the epitome of selfishness, yet excuses himself by declaring that he is a mere "child" in the matter of money. It was rumoured that he was based on Dickens' friend, the minor poet Leigh Hunt.
9. Which (probable) illness does Esther catch which proves to have very serious consequences?

Answer: smallpox

When she catches the smallpox which has probably come into the household via Jo, it makes Esther very ill and leaves her with a much altered set of facial features. Fortunately, Mr. Woodcourt and everybody else loves Esther for her character and it makes no difference to their feelings.
10. How does Mr.George, the ex-soldier, try to earn a living?

Answer: He runs a shooting gallery and gives fencing lessons

Mr. George runs a shooting gallery (where he also lives and sleeps) with the help of a man called Phil Squod. However, because he is in debt and can only pay off the interest each month, his existence is very precarious. Thus he becomes an easy target for blackmail.
11. What does Mr. Tulkinghorn want Mr. Smallweed to obtain from Mr. George?

Answer: A sample of Captain Hawdon's handwriting

Mr.Tulkinghorn is trying to make the connection between Lady Dedlock and the man who wrote the legal document and who had passed under the name of "Nemo". Lady Dedlock had been upset when she saw the writing for the first time.
12. How many sons had Mrs. Rouncewell, the old house-keeper at Chesney Wold?

Answer: Two

At first it seems she only had one son who had moved away from home and become an important Ironmaster in the Midlands. Then we learn that her other son had run away to join the army. We are not surprised to learn that this is Mr. George, who owns the shooting gallery.
13. What is the occupation of Mr. Snagsby?

Answer: a law stationer

Mr. Snagsby owned a law-stationer's shop and was the person who had recuited Nemo to make copies of the legal documents that Mr. Tulkinghorn was trying to trace. He was a kind man but tended to be dominated by his wife.
14. What false suspicion did Mrs. Snagsby have about Jo?

Answer: that Mr. Snagsby was his father

Mr. Snagsby feels sorry for Jo and is constantly slipping him half-crowns as the only way he knows of alleviating his suffering and salving his own conscience. Mrs. Snagsby automatically assumes that it must be because he is Jo's father.
15. What is the name of the reverend that Dickens describes as having a good deal of "train oil" in his system and looking like a "bear that has been taught to walk upright"?

Answer: Mr. Chadband

Mr. Chadband is one of the most repulsive characters in all Dickens. He is slimy and sanctimonious and fond of sermons on every occasion, even when stuffing himself with food whilst poor Jo starves.
16. Who is the person who kills Mr. Tulkinghorn?

Answer: Lady Dedlock's French maid Hortense

Mr. George falls under suspicion and is in fact arrested. Lady Dedlock would appear to have the motive of wanting to keep her secret safe from her husband and from society in general. Captain Hawdon is already dead. The maid has already been presented as a highly volatile creature, and it appears she kills Tulkinghhorn because he didn't keep his promise to her.
17. What is the name of the police inspector created by Dickens to solve the murder of Tulkinghorn and to investigate the disappearance of Lady Dedlock?

Answer: Inspector Bucket

Mr. Bucket is one of the first examples of the detective in British fiction. Dickens had travelled the streets of London with just such a man in order to get background settings for parts of his story and for this important character.
18. Which character in the book is referred to sarcastically as "The Lord Chancellor"?

Answer: Mr. Krook

Mr. Krook's rag and bottle shop is really a depository for a vast amount of junk and is full of apparently useless papers. Dickens draws the comparison with the "mountains of costly nonsense" that fill the Court of Chancery.
19. How does Mr. Krook die?

Answer: He explodes into small pieces through spontaneous combustion

It is a particularly disgusting scene where his body is found by the other occupants of his house. Strange as it may seem, there are documented historical cases of "spontaneous combustion" that Dickens drew upon for his novel. He wanted to suggest that the legal system could also explode because of all the evil it contained.
20. Into the hands of which lawyer does Richard place his affairs?

Answer: Mr. Vholes

Mr. Vholes is presented as yet another kind of legal parasite who is more interested in providing for his own family than seeing that Richard's case should go forward. He is given the revolting habit of picking his pimples to ensure that we are sickened by him in more ways than one.
21. What finally happens in the great legal case of "Jarndyce and Jarndyce"?

Answer: The money in the case has been absorbed in legal costs

As the case finishes, Dickens describes how a great deal of bad air comes rushing out on to the street. All the lawyers and the people who hang around the court consider this ending to be a great joke. For the ordinary people who were involved in the case it just causes more misery and despair.
22. What is the name of Krook's cat?

Answer: Lady Jane

Lady Jane is a very fierce predatory cat and not at all comfortable to be in the room with. Just like the law, once something has got into her claws, she will never let it go. Once again this adds to the oppressive atmosphere of Krook's establishment.
23. What are the names of the Smallweed grandchildren?

Answer: Bart and Judy

"Children" doesn't seem to be quite the right word to describe Bart and Judy. Dickens refers constantly to their resemblance to monkeys and Bart is described as a sort of "fossil Imp" who has acquired unlimited quantities of "owlish wisdom".
24. Which of the following is never a lodger at Krook's house?

Answer: Phil Squod

Mr. Jobling is Mr. Guppy's friend and lodges at Krook's under the name of Mr. Weevle. Nemo is the former Captain Hawdon who was Esther's father and the lover of Lady Dedlock. Miss Flite is a little mad old woman who keeps cages of birds to be released on "The Day of Judgement" in the case of "Jarndyce and Jarndyce".
25. Whose children have to give up their pocket money to good causes whether they want to or not?

Answer: Mrs. Pardiggle's children

When Esther first meets Mrs. Pardiggle at Bleak House, she notes that she has never seen more discontented children. Membership of the "Infant Band of Joy" seems to have turned some of the boys into minor criminals who attack Esther by pinching her and telling of their woeful life with their mother.
Source: Author Philian

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