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Mr. Tulkinghorn
Mr. Vholes is a lawyer who takes on Richard Carstone’s case in the lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Mr. Vholes is a predatory and morally bankrupt man, but, like Mr. Tulkinghorn, conceals this under a veneer of professionalism and respectability. Mr. Vholes is middle-class and supports a small family on his legal income. He bribes Mr. Jarndyce’s friend, Mr. Skimpole, for an introduction to Richard because he knows that Richard is a ward in Jarndyce and Jarndyce and that this is a famously unsolvable case. Although Mr. Vholes tells Richard that he is dedicated to helping him solve the case and receive his inheritance, Mr. Vholes really wants Richard as a client because he knows that Richard will pay him a fortune in legal fees. Mr. Vholes subtly encourages Richard’s hopes, while denying that he does this, and claims that he is only doing his job and thinking of Richard’s best interests when he convinces him to pursue the case, even though Mr. Vholes knows the case is unlikely to ever be resolved. Mr. Vholes also implies that Richard’s guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, is secretly working against Richard—a tactic that ensures Richard blames his guardian for his lack of success solving the case and not Mr. Vholes. Mr. Vholes is morally irresponsible and does not care that Richard grows desperate, delusional, and saddled with debt as time goes on. Esther Summerson feels that Mr. Vholes is like a “vampire” and describes him as looking “lifeless.” This implies that he wishes to suck the life out of Richard, which he ultimately achieves when Richard goes mad from the strain of the case and dies. His name, Vholes, also associates him with a rodent, and when Richard is in his office, Dickens uses the image of the office cat, who sits and watches a mousehole, to suggests that Mr. Vholes is a predator and that Richard is his prey.
Mr. Vholes Quotes in Bleak House
The Bleak House quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Vholes or refer to Mr. Vholes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 37
Quotes
I never shall forget those two seated side by side in the lantern’s light; Richard, all flush and fire and laughter, with the reins in his hand; Mr. Vholes, quite still, black-gloved, and buttoned up, looking at him as if he were looking at his prey and charming it. I have before me the whole picture of the warm dark night, the summer lightning, the dusty track of road closed in by hedgerows and high trees, the gaunt pale horse with his ears pricked up, and the driving away at speed to Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
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Chapter 39
Quotes
The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings. Viewed by this light it becomes a coherent scheme, and not the monstrous make the laity are apt to think it. Let them but once clearly perceive that its grand principle is to make business for itself at their expense, and surely they will cease to grumble.
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Mr. Vholes gives it a rap, and it sounds as hollow as a coffin. Not to Richard, though. There is encouragement in the sound to him. Perhaps Mr. Vholes knows there is.
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Mr. Vholes Quotes in Bleak House
The Bleak House quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Vholes or refer to Mr. Vholes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 37
Quotes
I never shall forget those two seated side by side in the lantern’s light; Richard, all flush and fire and laughter, with the reins in his hand; Mr. Vholes, quite still, black-gloved, and buttoned up, looking at him as if he were looking at his prey and charming it. I have before me the whole picture of the warm dark night, the summer lightning, the dusty track of road closed in by hedgerows and high trees, the gaunt pale horse with his ears pricked up, and the driving away at speed to Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
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Chapter 39
Quotes
The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings. Viewed by this light it becomes a coherent scheme, and not the monstrous make the laity are apt to think it. Let them but once clearly perceive that its grand principle is to make business for itself at their expense, and surely they will cease to grumble.
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Mr. Vholes gives it a rap, and it sounds as hollow as a coffin. Not to Richard, though. There is encouragement in the sound to him. Perhaps Mr. Vholes knows there is.
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