Dicken's Bleak House

I just finished reading Bleak House my English class and was hoping I could get some ideas from everyone on the essay I have to write for it.

The prompt I was given:

Spontaneous Combustion: is it a cheap trick, or a brilliant plot device? Does it promote the concerns and themes of the novel in a rich and meaningful way, or is it just a little bit of sensation that Dickens throws in to appease his readers and dispatch a character he wants to get rid of?

This of course is in reference to Krook. I think it would be fun to contrast the slow development of nearly every element in the plot (the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case, Tom-all-alone's, Esther's life and search for her mother and love) with the suddenness that is Krook's death.

Anyone have any suggestions or analysis of their own that would work well with this prompt?

by means of spontaneous combustion was widely held in the early part of the nineteenth series. I don't know whether Dickens held ths belief or not. Somehow I doubt if he did. Two movies were made of Bleak house: one by Masterpiece Theatre and one by the BBC. I would get a dvd and watch at least one of these since Krook's demise is clearly shown by spontaneous combustion.

I would try to find out more about this theory before writing my essay.