Bleak House

Bleak House

by

Charles Dickens

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Mrs. Smallweed Character Analysis

Mrs. Smallweed is the wife of Mr. Smallweed and the grandmother of Judy Smallweed and Bart Smallweed. Mrs. Smallweed is an elderly woman who suffers from dementia. She spends her days sitting in her chair opposite her husband, who throws a pillow at her face every time she speaks. Although Mrs. Smallweed is now a frail, helpless character, in her youth she was just as greedy and obsessed with wealth as her husband. This is made clear in the fact that all she does in her old age is shout out amounts of money and make vague references to stashes of money which are hidden around the house and which Mr. Smallweed wishes to keep secret. Mrs. Smallweed is Krook’s sister; this connection is revealed after Krook’s death when Mr. Smallweed gleefully inherits the contents of Krook’s shop on his wife’s behalf.

Mrs. Smallweed Quotes in Bleak House

The Bleak House quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Smallweed or refer to Mrs. Smallweed. 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:
Social Mobility, Class, and Lineage Theme Icon
).
Chapter 21 Quotes

Everything that Mr. Smallweed’s grandfather ever put away in his mind was a grub at first, and is a grub at last. In all his life he has never bred a single butterfly. The father of this pleasant grandfather, of the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, was a horny-skinned, two-legged, money-getting species of spider, who spun webs to catch unwary flies, and retired into holes until they were entrapped. The name of this old pagan’s God was Compound Interest.

Related Characters: Bart Smallweed, Mr. Smallweed, Mrs. Smallweed, Judy Smallweed
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mrs. Smallweed Quotes in Bleak House

The Bleak House quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Smallweed or refer to Mrs. Smallweed. 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:
Social Mobility, Class, and Lineage Theme Icon
).
Chapter 21 Quotes

Everything that Mr. Smallweed’s grandfather ever put away in his mind was a grub at first, and is a grub at last. In all his life he has never bred a single butterfly. The father of this pleasant grandfather, of the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, was a horny-skinned, two-legged, money-getting species of spider, who spun webs to catch unwary flies, and retired into holes until they were entrapped. The name of this old pagan’s God was Compound Interest.

Related Characters: Bart Smallweed, Mr. Smallweed, Mrs. Smallweed, Judy Smallweed
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis: