I’ve always thought Charles Dickens’s portrayal of Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House unfair, and quite misogynistic. Mrs Jellyby is harshly satirised for being so involved with promoting education in a faraway African state, Borrioboola-Gha, while being a neglectful mother of ten children. She’s become a classic figure, mocking mothers meddling in all kinds of outside endeavours instead of confining themselves to their domestic duties. But being involved with education of poor children overseas is a big philanthropic cause. Why shouldn’t women, even if they have a large brood, focus on a big enterprise? Should their world be restricted to the kitchen sink? A rewarding exhibition about Dickens’s women has just opened at the Charles Dickens Museum (until September) in London’s Doughty Street, highlighting the women in his life, and their links to the women in his novels. So who was Mrs Jellyby based on? The curators say she is a...
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