# Miss Flite — Bleak House character guide

> Miss Flite in Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Flite, little Miss Flite

**First appearance:** 0006-v-a-morning-adventure

## Snapshot

A gentle, half-mad old woman who has spent decades in Chancery's shadow, keeping caged birds she means to set free.

## Who they are

Miss Flite haunts the courts and Lincoln's Inn, dressed in faded finery and attended by a collection of birds she names after legal virtues and delays. She is a living warning of what the Chancery suit does to those who wait on it, yet she is also kind, ceremonious, and oddly hopeful, calling the wards her friends and dressing up for her Monday calls. Her birds and her patience make her one of the novel's most haunting figures, a small human emblem of the law's slow cruelty.

## In the story

### [In Chancery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/i-in-chancery)

A little mad old woman who is always in court, expecting a favorable judgment in her own suit, carrying documents consisting of paper matches and dry lavender.

### [A Progress](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/iii-a-progress)

A curious old woman who greets the wards in court, claiming to expect a judgment on the Day of Judgment.

### [A Morning Adventure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/v-a-morning-adventure)

The 'poor half-witted creature' who lives above Krook's shop; tells the story of Tom Jarndyce; keeps caged birds she hopes to free after her judgment.

### [Deportment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xiv-deportment)

Recovering from illness caused by the death of Nemo; receives weekly shillings from an unknown benefactor.

### [A New Lodger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xx-a-new-lodger)

Lends Mr. Weevle a needle and thread for his new lodging.

### [An Appeal Case](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxiv-an-appeal-case)

Present in court; agrees to visit Gridley; refers to Esther as 'Fitz Jarndyce'.

### [XXXV: Esther’s Narrative](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxxv-esther-s-narrative)

Visits Esther; brings news of Mr. Woodcourt's heroism in a shipwreck and speaks of her own expectations in the suit.

### [XLVII: Jo’s Will](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xlvii-jo-s-will)

Now lodging with Mrs. Blinder, she welcomes Allan and offers to help with Jo.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters/miss_flite
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters