The ending of Bleak House is ultimately a happy one, as it wraps up the lives of the characters we like in a very positive way. At first, a “happy ending” seems enormously unfit for a novel titled “Bleak House” with so much negative social commentary present throughout. However, Dickens has created this happy ending to show how those who refuse to take part in the Chancery Court system can escape a destructive life.
    Upon reading the novel’s opening pages, one already gets a sense of the dreary tone that surrounds Chancery Court, and one might immediately foresee a desolate ending. However, a close reader would accurately associate this opening chapter’s title, “In Chancery,” with such bleakness rather than the entire novel. In other words, we might read the novel with the expectations that dealings within Chancery Court will not turn out well while those who are disinterested in the court cases and legal documents will be free to have happy lives. Thus, Esther, Mr. Jarndyce, Woodcourt, and Ada have lived “full seven happy years” (767), while Richard, who repeatedly devotes his time to the pointless Jarndyce v. Jarndyce case, ends up dead.
    It does seem surprising that Esther, who has always been more concerned with fulfilling her duties and putting others before her own self-interest can make a statement like, “I was the happiest of the happy” (767). Still, readers expect Esther to end up in a happy life because we want good characters to be rewarded for their goodness. Thus, Esther’s ultimate happiness is completely unsurprising, but her abandonment of her duties to her Guardian, John Jarndyce, who has given her everything, seems quite uncharacteristic. Esther is perpetually dutiful, so her agreement to leave Mr. Jarndyce for Woodcourt seems to be the most surprising of the events that take place, yet Mr. Jarndyce seems to happily sacrifice his own love for her joy. This selflessness, of course, is expected of Mr. Jarndyce, as he has exhibited such good qualities throughout the entire narrative. Perhaps Esther’s marriage to Woodcourt retains her dutiful nature, after all, since she transfers her duty for Mr. Jarndyce to her husband as she acknowledges that she “[does] everything [she does] in life for his sake” (769).
    Another slightly surprising element was Sir Leicester’s happy ending. Perhaps Dickens feels that his forgiveness and ultimate devotion to his wife, despite her years of deceit, are deserving of a peaceful ending. In fact, his devotion out of love parallels Esther’s, so each dutiful character justly receives a rewarding life, after all. Another novel with an extremely happy ending for the protagonist is Mansfield Park, but it is much less resolute in the end than Bleak House.
    The opening sentences of Mansfield Park give us a brief summary of the supposedly defining qualities of the Ward sisters, based on their marriages to men with very different social statuses, thirty years ago. Thus, without Austen’s ironic tone or commentary about the need for social reform, we might expect these women’s daughters to portray their individual worth as congruous with their mothers’ marriages. However, we quickly establish a rapport with Fanny, whose mother married beneath her class, and discover that she, of course, merits more praise than Lady Bertram’s daughters, even though Sir Thomas Bertram has a high social rank. Because of Austen’s ironic tone from the beginning, readers fully expect Fanny Price to end happily, as she does, married to her true love.
    Fanny finally has a social status after her marriage to Edmund. This seems appropriate, as she is actually worthy of society’s praise, unlike her cousins. Fanny’s improved status also aligns with Austen’s other protagonists, like Elizabeth Bennett. Maria, on the other hand, loses her social status after her divorce from Rushworth, and Fanny’s observations, along with the narrator’s commentaries, have prepared us for Maria’s deserving state. These changing social ranks certainly recall the reader’s feeling that they each deserved these changes, so the ending of the novel is unsurprising in this way.
    Mansfield Park’s ending satisfies our expectations of Fanny, yet the lack of resolution overall remains frustrating. Austen wraps this novel up much more sloppily than Dickens. While the good characters are rewarded and the bad are seemingly punished, the consequences seem fleeting and temporary. Maria and Mrs. Norris have moved away, but their characters seem lurking in a foreboding manner, as they seem perfectly able to return to interrupt life at Mansfield Park once again. Tom Bertram seems to have changed for the better, but we still wonder whether he now deserves to inherit Mansfield Park upon his parents’ death. Mary Crawford also seems to have disappeared only temporarily, as we know she is conniving and has had a difficult time getting over Edmund, so we cannot eliminate her threats.
    Though this novel is less conclusive to readers than Bleak House, I think Austen has purposefully left things in this uncertain state. After all, Fanny has finally earned a social status,  but Austen still must disagree with the notion that one’s place in society, through either birth or marriage, should determine one’s moral value. Therefore, the social ranks need to disappear completely for Austen’s goals to be altogether resolute.