First by keeping Esther up his sleeve from when she was a child as a future wife for himself. And then after Richard died and he had the younger and prettier Ada all to himself he immediately packed Esther off oop north to be Woodcourt's wife. All disguised as being in Esther's best interests of course. What an operator!
"The players of The Game are the scum of the earth"
If you step back and look at John Jarndyce although he may have had motives but over all he was a decent man. Well compared to some of the others.
shareI disagree; I think John was a kind and good-hearted person. He was generous to everyone, including the smarmy Skimpole. He was considerate to Richard, even though Richard was not kind to him. He recognized that Esther was a good woman, and he kept his engagement to her secret in case she changed her mind. Then he willingly gave her up so that she would be happy with someone else. He didn't get angry when Ada and Richard got secretly married and was willing to take them all back as Richard requested. I don't think there was any inclination for him to take up with Ada; she simply wasn't Esther.
shareYou have a point, Purple, though I don't believe Dickens intended for him to be seen as a "sly old devil." Jarndyce has a bit of the "dirty old man" syndrome. To force the idea of marriage on a vulnerable young lady who he was supposed to be a parent to is kind of despicable no matter what his intentions. She was left to believe she had no other options. And imagine if she had said no. In the back of her mind, surely there would be the thought that he might not treat her with such kindness if she bit the hand that was feeding her. Isn't that the basis of coercion? It's all about the dynamics of power. In this day and age we would call it "grooming."
shareThe first time I saw it, I thought he raised her from childhood and then made advances after she'd grown, which would have been just creepy, He knew she wasn't in love with him and also knew that she had known true love with Mr. Woodcourt. I think it was selfish and unreasonable for her to expect to be happy marrying him. I got the impression that he fell in love with her because of her maturity and "steadiness"
In seeing the series again, I see that Esther and John met for the first time at the beginning of episode 1 where she was an adult. I know her aunt was instrumental in getting Mr. Jarndyce involved, but don't know when that took place. That takes the "creepiness" factor out, and everything else, the same.
In the book, they had met briefly when Esther was younger but without her knowing who he was. He had promised her aunt to look out for her in the event of the aunt's death.
I think he genuinely offered her a home out of kindness and to provide a female companion for Ada, then gradually grew to love her. We only see the occupants of Bleak House through Esther's eyes (she narrates all those episodes), but it appears that, with Woodcourt apparently out of the picture, Jarndyce let himself be tempted by a dream of marriage to Esther but came to realise that it would be unfair to her.
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Jarndyce has zero attraction to or designs on Ada -- not sure where you got that idea.
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