Bleak House MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

Bleak House MCQs
Updated on: October 21, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 18 min

Bleak House MCQs

1. The weather described in Chapter 1 during Michaelmas Term is what kind of weather?

A. Sunny and clear
B. Implacable November weather
C. Cold and dry
D. Spring-like

B. Implacable November weather.
The implacable November weather sets the novel’s gloomy tone, reflecting the stagnant Court of Chancery.

2. What large creature might one expect to meet waddling up Holborn Hill due to the weather?

A. An elephant
B. A Mastodon
C. A Megalosaurus
D. A Hippopotamus

C. A Megalosaurus.
The Megalosaurus reference satirizes the slow, archaic nature of the Court of Chancery.

3. The High Court of Chancery is referred to as “most pestilent of hoary sinners” holding what kind of condition?

A. Wealthy and grand
B. Groping and floundering
C. Just and fair
D. Decaying and empty

B. Groping and floundering.
The Court is described as groping and floundering, highlighting the chaos and confusion that ruin its suitors.

4. What warning do honorable practitioners give regarding coming to the Court of Chancery?

A. Hire the best counsel
B. Suffer any wrong rather than come here
C. Be patient
D. Bring copious documents

B. Suffer any wrong rather than come here.
This highlights the destructive power of the legal system, which consumes all who enter.
5. What is the name of the endless cause currently “in hand” in Chancery?

A. Dedlock v. Boythorn
B. Krook v. Nemo
C. The Great Seal Case
D. Jarndyce and Jarndyce

D. Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
This central lawsuit represents the legal system’s paralyzing inefficiency and self-perpetuating nature.

6. Who is always present in court, expecting an incomprehensible judgment?

A. A sallow prisoner
B. The man from Shorpshire
C. A little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet
D. Miss Barbary

C. A little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet.
The mad old woman is Miss Flite, a victim driven insáne by her long wait for a judgment.

7. What happened to old Tom Jarndyce in despair over the suit?

A. He died of sickness
B. He blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane
C. He ran away
D. He went into bankruptcy

B. He blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane.
His suicide shows the tragic, destructive human cost of the endless legal delays.

8. When the Chancellor says he will see “both the young people,” what two people are referred to?

A. Richard Carstone and Ada Clare
B. Esther Summerson and Ada Clare
C. Richard Carstone and Esther Summerson
D. Mr Tangle’s friends

A. Richard Carstone and Ada Clare.
Richard and Ada are the young wards of the court, hopeful suitors destined to be affected by the suit.

9. Mr Tulkinghorn’s dress expresses him as the steward of legal mysteries or the butler of what?

A. The legal cellar
B. Chesney Wold
C. The Dedlock fortunes
D. The court

A. The legal cellar.
This suggests Tulkinghorn controls the secret, dark knowledge that Chancery and high society holds.
10. Sir Leicester Dedlock regards the Court of Chancery as something devised by the perfection of human wisdom for what purpose?

A. The eternal settlement of every thing
B. His personal status
C. The continuation of the Dedlock name
D. Avoiding Wat Tyler

A. The eternal settlement of every thing.
Sir Leicester’s view shows his deep, conservative reverence for antiquated and flawed institutions.

11. What interrupts Mr Tulkinghorn’s reading of the court document?

A. Lady Dedlock’s request to skip formalities
B. Sir Leicester dosing
C. Lady Dedlock’s swoon
D. Lady Dedlock asking who copied the papers

D. Lady Dedlock asking who copied the papers.
Lady Dedlock’s sudden question about the handwriting is the first clue to her hidden, secret past.

12. What is the estimated aggregate amount of costs in Jarndyce and Jarndyce?

A. From twenty to thirty thousand pounds
B. From sixty to seventy thousand pounds
C. Over one hundred thousand pounds
D. Five thousand pounds

B. From sixty to seventy thousand pounds.
The immense cost highlights the legal corruption, as the lawsuit has consumed the entire estate.

13. From whom does the receiver in the cause acquire distrust and contempt?

A. His own kind and his own mother
B. The solicitors
C. The suitors
D. The court

A. His own kind and his own mother.
The suit’s moral decay is so complete it causes people to distrust even their own families.

14. Who is the mild bald gentleman in spectacles who drops into dinner at Mrs Jellyby’s house?

A. Mr Quale
B. Mr Kenge
C. Mr Jellyby
D. Richard Carstone

C. Mr Jellyby.
Mr. Jellyby is the silent, defeated husband of Mrs. Jellyby, completely neglected due to her obsessive philanthropy.
15. Caddy Jellyby suddenly say she wished was dead?

A. Borrioboola-Gha
B. Africa
C. Her mother
D. Philanthropy

B. Africa.
Caddy wishes Africa were dead because her mother’s obsessive focus on it has ruined their home life.

16. What kind of shop had legal inscriptions written in law-hand among the prices for rags and bottles?

A. Mr Snagsby’s
B. Mr Krook’s
C. Coavinses
D. Mr Tulkinghorn’s

B. Mr Krook’s.
Mr. Krook’s rag and bottle shop is symbolic of Chancery itself: a chaotic repository of decay.

17. What was written on the inscription advertising a respectable man wanting engrossing or copying work?

A. Address to Mr Snagsby
B. Address to Nemo, care of Mr Krook within
C. Law Books, all at 9d
D. Marine Stores

B. Address to Nemo, care of Mr Krook within.
The inscription points to Nemo, the law-writer, linking the mystery of the deceased man to Krook’s shop.

18. What is the name of the old lady who keeps birds in the garret?

A. Mrs Snagsby
B. Miss Flite
C. Mrs Jellyby
D. Miss Barbary

B. Miss Flite.
Miss Flite keeps caged birds, symbolizing the suitors trapped by the Court of Chancery.

19. What word does Richard say is “a weary word”?

A. London
B. Adventure
C. Chancery
D. Costs

C. Chancery.
This signals Richard’s initial disillusionment with the suit that will eventually consume and destroy him.
20. What is the name of Mr Skimpole’s steward, according to his philosophy?

A. Ada
B. Richard
C. Jarndyce
D. The World

C. Jarndyce.
Skimpole calls Mr. Jarndyce his steward, showing his selfish, childlike philosophy of living off others’ wealth.

21. What is the name of the man who comes to arrest Mr Skimpole?

A. Mr Tulkinghorn
B. Mr Tangle
C. Coavinses
D. Mr Kenge

C. Coavinses.
Coavinses’s arrest of Skimpole highlights his complete financial irresponsibility and parasitic nature.

22. Who is mentioned as a mother who had two sons, one who ran wild and one who constructed steam-engines?

A. Mrs Jellyby
B. Mrs Snagsby
C. Mrs Rouncewell
D. Mrs Bagnet

C. Mrs Rouncewell.
Mrs. Rouncewell’s sons contrast the old aristocracy (via her wild son) with the new industrial power.

23. Sir Leicester Dedlock sees Mrs Rouncewell’s second son (the ironmaster) as one of a body of conspirators who do what?

A. Turn out by torchlight, for unlawful purposes
B. Practice law
C. Seek election to Parliament
D. Engage in philanthropy

A. Turn out by torchlight, for unlawful purposes.
Sir Leicester’s view shows the old aristocracy’s páranoid fear of the rising, powerful industrial class.

24. The housekeeper says the family greatness of the Dedlocks consists in their never having done anything to distinguish themselves for how long?

A. Since the Conquest
B. For seven hundred years
C. In modern times
D. For a century

B. For seven hundred years.
This satirizes the arrogance of an aristocracy whose only claim to greatness is ancient, useless lineage.
25. What did the man on the floor, whom Mrs Pardiggle visited, accuse his wife of when asked about her black eye?

A. Giving it to herself
B. Having been in a brawl
C. Being a Lie if she denied he gave it her
D. Falling down

C. Being a Lie if she denied he gave it her.
This brutal denial reveals the misery and violence hidden by Mrs. Pardiggle’s intrusive “charity.”

26. What phrase does Jo sum up his mental condition with?

A. That he ‘don’t know nothink’
B. That he is unfortunate
C. That he is wicked
D. That he is homeless

A. That he ‘don’t know nothink’.
Jo’s phrase sums up his deep ignorance, highlighting his complete social neglect and lack of education.

27. Mr Boythorn says he would have bought what animal to loose upon the first encroaching robber?

A. A dog
B. A lion
C. A wolf
D. A bull-dog

B. A lion.
Mr. Boythorn’s wish for a lion illustrates his exaggerated rage and constant defiance toward Sir Leicester.

28. What is the name of the couple who are the expected guests at Mr Snagsby’s house?

A. Mr and Mrs Guppy
B. Mr and Mrs Tangle
C. Mr and Mrs Chadband
D. Mr and Mrs Bogsby

C. Mr and Mrs Chadband.
Mr. Chadband is a hypocritical, verbose preacher who exploits piety for his own gain.

29. What is the main product resulting from Mr Chadband’s heavy consumption of food and drink?

A. Verbose speech
B. A feeling of contentment
C. Oil of a certain quality
D. Spiritual profit

C. Oil of a certain quality.
This satirizes his greasy, meaningless, and self-serving sermons, which he produces after being well-fed.
30. Who cross-examines Jo regarding the sovereign he received from the veiled lady?

A. Mr Snagsby
B. Mr Chadband
C. Mr Guppy
D. The constable

C. Mr Guppy.
Mr. Guppy is obsessed with uncovering Lady Dedlock’s secret for his own professional gain.

31. What is the name of the detective officer Mr Tulkinghorn introduces to Mr Snagsby?

A. Mr Snagsby
B. Mr Mooney
C. Mr Tangle
D. Mr Bucket

D. Mr Bucket.
Mr. Bucket is the highly competent detective who is the primary agent in resolving the murder mystery.

32. What affliction did Caddy Jellyby’s daughter ultimately suffer from?

A. Blindness
B. Inky fingers
C. Deaf and dúmb
D. Fits

C. Deaf and dúmb.
This tragic affliction symbolizes the terrible neglect and communication failure in the Jellyby home.

33. The law-writer Nemo died from too much of what substance?

A. Alcohol
B. Opium
C. Poison
D. Cholera

B. Opium.
Nemo’s (Captain Hawdon’s) opium overdose highlights the desperate poverty and self-medication of the urban póor.

34. Mr Snagsby compares Krook’s burning body to what phenomenon, though the idea disconcerts him?

A. An explosion
B. Spontaneous combustion
C. A dreadful mystery
D. A dreadful accident

B. Spontaneous combustion.
Krook’s bizarre death symbolizes the spontaneous corruption and self-destruction inherent in the Court of Chancery.
35. What does Tony Weevle/Jobling confess about Krook’s reading ability?

A. He is too old and too drunk to acquire the knack of reading
B. He reads very well
C. He reads only law books
D. He only reads by night

A. He is too old and too drunk to acquire the knack of reading.
This reveals the irony of the keeper of legal documents (the “Lord Chancellor”) being illiterate.

36. What were the papers Mr Guppy intended to bring to Lady Dedlock?

A. Old letters
B. New affidavits
C. Warrants
D. Bills of mortality

A. Old letters.
The letters were old, personal documents relating to Lady Dedlock’s connection with Captain Hawdon (Nemo).

37. Mr Vholes insists he cannot be selfish because he must maintain his daughters and what other relative?

A. A dear grandmother
B. An aged father in the Vale of Taunton
C. His wife
D. His cousin

B. An aged father in the Vale of Taunton.
Vholes uses his “aged father” as a hypocritical justification for exploiting his clients, especially Richard.

38. Mr George describes Mr Tulkinghorn as what kind of man?

A. A confoundedly bad kind of man, slow-torturing
B. A fine old soldier
C. A legal genius
D. A man of great generosity

A. A confoundedly bad kind of man, slow-torturing.
This description perfectly captures the lawyer’s cold, methodical cruelty and his use of psychological torment.

39. What two words were written on the anonymous letters received by Mr Bucket?

A. Tulkinghorn murdered
B. Lady Dedlock
C. George Rousewell
D. Find her

B. Lady Dedlock.
These anonymous letters, written by Mademoiselle Hortense, drive the tension and the murder investigation forward.
40. What specific words were written on the letter directed to Sir Leicester, intercepted by Mr Bucket?

A. Lady Dedlock
B. Lady Dedlock, murderess
C. Guilty
D. Forgiveness

B. Lady Dedlock, murderess.
This is the core revelation of the mystery and the climax of Tulkinghorn’s (and Hortense’s) plot.

41. How did Mr Bucket say he originally acquired the information leading to Jo/Toughey?

A. By following Kenge and Carboy
B. By throwing a morsel of gravel at Harold Skimpole’s window
C. By listening to Mr Jarndyce
D. By questioning the beadle

B. By throwing a morsel of gravel at Harold Skimpole’s window.
This shows Skimpole’s casual betrayal of Jo (and Jarndyce) for a small sum of money.

42. Who does Mr Bucket say was Krook’s own brother?

A. Mr Tulkinghorn
B. Captain Hawdon
C. A brimstone magpie (Mrs Smallweed)
D. Mr George

C. A brimstone magpie (Mrs Smallweed).
The revelation that Mrs. Smallweed was Krook’s sister adds another grotesque family complication to the mystery.

43. Why does Sir Leicester keep Volumnia at his bedside?

A. To entertain him
B. To read to him
C. To prevent her talking somewhere else
D. To comfort him

C. To prevent her talking somewhere else.
This shows Sir Leicester’s obsession with appearances and controlling the narrative, even after his stroke.

44. What did the man on the floor, whom Mrs Pardiggle visited, accuse his wife of when asked about her black eye?

A. Giving it to herself
B. Having been in a brawl
C. Being a Lie if she denied he gave it her
D. Falling down

C. Being a Lie if she denied he gave it her.
This brutal denial reveals the true misery and domestic violence hidden by Mrs. Pardiggle’s intrusive charity.
45. What is the name of the woman who raised Esther Summerson?

A. Mrs. Jellyby
B. Mrs. Rouncewell
C. Miss Flite
D. Miss Barbary

D. Miss Barbary.
Miss Barbary, who is later revealed to be Lady Dedlock’s sister, raised Esther with cold severity.

46. What secret does Miss Barbary reveal to Esther on her deathbed?

A. That Esther is her mother
B. That Esther’s mother was her sister
C. That Esther’s mother was a disgrace
D. That Esther has a twin sister

C. That Esther’s mother was a disgrace.
Miss Barbary’s dying words, “Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace,” haunt Esther’s childhood.

47. What object does Esther find at Krook’s shop that matches the handwriting in the Jarndyce papers?

A. A letter
B. A will
C. A small placard with “Nemo” on it
D. A diary

C. A small placard with “Nemo” on it.
Esther recognizes the “Nemo” (No-one) handwriting as the same as the legal documents, deepening the mystery.

48. What illness does Esther contract from Jo the crossing-sweeper?

A. Tuberculosis
B. Smallpox
C. Cholera
D. Influenza

B. Smallpox.
Esther’s selfless care for Jo results in her contracting smallpox, which permanently scars her face.

49. Who is finally revealed to be Esther’s mother?

A. Miss Flite
B. Mrs. Rouncewell
C. Mademoiselle Hortense
D. Lady Dedlock

D. Lady Dedlock.
The central mystery reveals that Esther’s mother is the cold, proud Lady Dedlock, and her father is Nemo (Captain Hawdon).
50. What is the final outcome of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit?

A. Richard and Ada win the entire estate.
B. The estate is divided equally among all suitors.
C. Legal costs consume the entire estate.
D. Sir Leicester Dedlock inherits everything.

C. Legal costs consume the entire estate.
In the end, the lawsuit that destroyed so many lives concludes because no money is left to fight over.

Brief Overview

Bleak House is one of Charles Dickens‘ most complex novels. It tells two separate stories that slowly come together.

The first story is about a famous court case called Jarndyce and Jarndyce. The case has been in the slow, broken legal system for many years. It wastes the money and destroys the hopes of everyone involved.

The main characters in this plot are Richard Carstone and Ada Clare. They are related to the case and live with their kind guardian, John Jarndyce.

The second story is a mystery told by Esther Summerson. She is a kind orphan who doesn’t know who her parents are. She moves in to live with John Jarndyce as his companion.

This plot involves the rich and powerful Lady Dedlock. She seems cold and bored but hides a huge secret from her past. A ruthless lawyer, Mr. Tulkinghorn, suspects her secret and tries to expose her.

This leads to blackmail, desperation, and eventually murder. A famous detective, Inspector Bucket, is called in to solve the crime. The novel shows how Esther’s hidden past connects the rich Lady Dedlock to the póor and the failing court case.

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