‘For God’s Sake Look at This!’: Physiognomy in Bleak House

This essay hopes to add to the impressive array of criticism and scholarship about the ’science’ of physiognomy, derived from Lavater, in Dickens, focussing chiefly on its role in Bleak House. I survey the successful observers of physiognomy in the novel, such as Esther and Woodcourt, and what they observe—not just faces but ’manner’ or ’body language.’ I also explore the physiognomy of things, as this builds into a formidable indictment of the face of Victorian society.