Richard and Ada were jacka**es
Between Richard's greed and Ada's submissiveness, they ended up with nothing. The true failure of the blind leading the blind.
shareTheir guardian did warn them that his own uncle took his life in pursuit of chasing this inheritance claim and he did not want them to have the same fate. Richard became obsessed with the notion that it was his born right and that somehow his guardian was obstructing him from that, he could not see because of his twisted perception and obsession, that this might also be his undoing nor could he see that he already possessed the keys to his own happiness. In all honesty, what kind of put me off about Richard and Ada, was that they were in fact cousins and started a romantic relationship that led to marriage and a child-tell me that isn't borderline incest. On the whole, Richard and Ada seemed decent but dip your pen out of the family ink for crying out loud!
share"The young gentleman was her distant cousin, she told me..." (Bleak House Ch. 3). If there had been any question of an incest taboo, Mr. Jarndyce would surely have added that to his reasons for advising against the match.
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It was not uncommon for cousins to marry in the 19th century, plus they were distant cousins (who had never even met before), not first cousins.
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You know the current Queen of England, Elizabeth II is married to Prince Philip who is both her second and third cousin? And their marriage was a century after Dickens time when cousins marrying was more normal.
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