Is Esther Summerson an emotionally neglected child? Is she complex? Is she believable? Is she the creation of a misogynistic author? Is she a suitable narrator for Bleak House?

An orphan of uncertain parentage, we meet Miss Summerson at the age of 20, having completed her schooling in the Greenleaf School in Winchester, England. She has been raised by a woman whom she thought her godmother, but learns after that woman's death that she was her aunt. Esther is the legal ward of John Jarndyce, a mysterious benefactor whom she has never met. She is assigned by the Court of Chancery (which is roughly equivalent to family and probate court) to be a companion to a relative of John Jarndyce. This cousin is a young woman of 17 named Ada Clare.

Esther's main motivation throughout the novel appears to be adherence to duty. Throughout her narrative, we catch glimpses of her own personal desires for love, respect, and comfort for herself, but, not unsurprisingly, having been raised by a woman who considered it "better if she had not ever been born", she has trouble allowing herself feelings of desire for her own well-being.