Rach and Boze, what a marvelous walk down memory lane: When a number of us when on an extended pilgrimage through the major works of the Inimitable! Recalling this gallery of his extraordinary characters is pure delight!
I also enjoy the other comments, including "sins of omission"--characters who need to be part of this gallery!
There are too many great captures in your essay to comment on. Let me just take a moment of delight in the quirky cucumber man, who is wooing Mrs. Nickleby.
"I recited his monologue to Rach when I proposed, to which she replied, “Barkis is willin’!” through tears. A friend and her kids threw cucumbers at our wedding."
And, I can attest to the truth of this claim: that Rach and Boze were pelted with cucumbers after their wedding, at the threshold of the reception!!!
For some reason I'm thinking about Jenny Wren most often lately...but would also add votes for the Artful Dodger and Uriah Heep...and countless other characters. Even though there is so much I have yet to discover. One of my reading plans this year is to focus on Dickens.
This is wonderful. My personal favorites also include: Mr. Venus, the articulator of skeletons, and Silas Wegg, the one legged ballad seller who visits his amputated tibia in Mr. Venus‘s shop, both of Our Mutual Friend. Mr. Boffin, who hires Silas Wegg to read to him, is right up there too. From Great Expectations, Wemmick, with his post office of a mouth, and, from David Copperfield, Mr. Dick, the addled gentleman who lives with Betsy Trotwood, and spends all his time writing about the beheading of King Charles. Soft spot also for every last one of the Jellybys, and, of course, for Mr. Krook, who spontaneously combusted right in the middle of Bleak House. By the way, I have two cats: one is named Pip and the other is named Jenny Wren.
We thought about including Krook, but weren't sure a great death equals a great character! How could I have forgotten Wegg, though? And your having a cat named Jenny Wren will endear you to Rach forever :)
One point of disagreement: I hated Little Nell. LOL. I mean, I hated her. I knew she was going to die, and couldn't wait for it to happen. I found her horribly treacle-y.
But agree on Betsey Trotwood! I have been re-reading "David Copperfield," my favorite of Dickens' novels, and it occurred to me that Betsey Trotwood is unlike any other woman in Dickens' canon of characters. I might be wrong. There are books I haven't read ("Barnaby Rudge," for instance). But here she is, fully capable, a woman fully realized, who has her own income, is quite a force to be reckoned with, and not a man in sight, other than Mr. Dick. And we all know Betsey's true heart beneath her sometimes-crusty exterior, simply by Mr. Dick's presence.
And: A vote for Eugene Wrayburn, droll, imperfect, who must overcome his near-fatal flaw of arrogance and class snobbishness to finally realize his dream of love with Lizzie. He also outlasts Bradley Headstone, which is not nothing.
Another vote for Smike.
These and all over votes by readers simply point to Dickens' genius.
I neglected to add a note about Betsey Trotwood, perhaps you can enlighten me. I don't know how the timing coincides, but Copperfield is rather late in the Dickens canon; I'm wondering if he based Betsey on Angela Burdett Coutts (Wikipedia has other ideas, saying she was based on Mary Pearson Strong, which has merit). She is so unlike most of Dickens' women, who are either beautiful and unattainable or beautiful and earnest and good but come into full flower only after marriage. Agnes, of course, is also quite capable but not in the way Betsey is. Agnes, after all, is in tremendous fear of being handed off to Uriah Heep, a marriage-less state being considered tragic for women in Victorian England.
I so enjoyed this ! I’m now busy thinking about my favourites … I too adore Mr Jingle …Miss Flite in Bleak House is a particular favourite of mine. I’d add that I thought Ruth Jones’ portrayal of Flora in the BBC’s ‘Little Dorrit’ was excellent. I am so delighted by your personal stories and shared quotations that are part of your family discourse … one of ours is to say “ever so ‘umble” at any overt ‘martyring’ by any of us. And I can’t go to stay with friends in Kent without saying ‘apples, cherries, hops and women’ !
Love it. Well done! Would have to throw in the fact-loving superintendent Thomas Gradgrind from Hard Times, but perhaps he's a bit too satirical to seem realistic. Regardless, he gave me some good belly laughs. Thanks for sharing this.
A pleasure, Sam!!! Thanks for reading! I was pondering Gradgrind too 😄 …just one of those great Dickensian characters whose name has come to be an adjective 😂 - “Gradgrindian”, etc.
My favorite character, the one I hold close to my heart, is Joe Gargery, from "Great Expectations". I'd like to cast him my vote!
But to me, Mr. Micawber is one of the most amusing characters of all time. The chapter of "David Copperfield" in which he meets with Mr. Dick is probably the best piece of literary humour I've ever read. Truly unforgettable.
And that's something only Dickens can do: he's so good he makes you remember the funny parts of his novels. It's easy to remember what is heart-breaking, moving, lyrical, grotesque or surprising. But people tend to forget what once made them laugh. Not with Dickens, tho. He's that funny.
As re: the tension between the author and the narrator in "David Copperfield," ... not only is the tension fascinating, it's also very difficult to pull off, since the author is, in a way, also the narrator. Dickens was truly at the height of his brilliance while writing DC. The several mentions of that book in this blog have led me to re-read it yet once more. I am forever mindful of GK Chesterton's comment: "Men like Steerforth are not as boys like David see them, but boys like David do see them so." This is an interesting comment, b/c not only is it true, it also acknowledges that even when he was a boy in school, Steerforth was a "man" in terms of experience and cynicism, as compared with the callow David.
Rach and Boze, what a marvelous walk down memory lane: When a number of us when on an extended pilgrimage through the major works of the Inimitable! Recalling this gallery of his extraordinary characters is pure delight!
I also enjoy the other comments, including "sins of omission"--characters who need to be part of this gallery!
There are too many great captures in your essay to comment on. Let me just take a moment of delight in the quirky cucumber man, who is wooing Mrs. Nickleby.
"I recited his monologue to Rach when I proposed, to which she replied, “Barkis is willin’!” through tears. A friend and her kids threw cucumbers at our wedding."
And, I can attest to the truth of this claim: that Rach and Boze were pelted with cucumbers after their wedding, at the threshold of the reception!!!
Oh, what a delightful list and literary walk down memory lane!
Aged P and Wemmick
A word for Harold Skimpole from Bleak House - did ever a literary character more thoroughly deserve a smack around the head?
Amen, brother!
Wonderful post!
For some reason I'm thinking about Jenny Wren most often lately...but would also add votes for the Artful Dodger and Uriah Heep...and countless other characters. Even though there is so much I have yet to discover. One of my reading plans this year is to focus on Dickens.
How lovely!!! I look forward to hearing more about your journey with Dickens 📚🖤
Sydney Carton might be one of my favorite characters of ALL time, not just in Dickens novels. Great article!!
This is wonderful. My personal favorites also include: Mr. Venus, the articulator of skeletons, and Silas Wegg, the one legged ballad seller who visits his amputated tibia in Mr. Venus‘s shop, both of Our Mutual Friend. Mr. Boffin, who hires Silas Wegg to read to him, is right up there too. From Great Expectations, Wemmick, with his post office of a mouth, and, from David Copperfield, Mr. Dick, the addled gentleman who lives with Betsy Trotwood, and spends all his time writing about the beheading of King Charles. Soft spot also for every last one of the Jellybys, and, of course, for Mr. Krook, who spontaneously combusted right in the middle of Bleak House. By the way, I have two cats: one is named Pip and the other is named Jenny Wren.
We thought about including Krook, but weren't sure a great death equals a great character! How could I have forgotten Wegg, though? And your having a cat named Jenny Wren will endear you to Rach forever :)
One point of disagreement: I hated Little Nell. LOL. I mean, I hated her. I knew she was going to die, and couldn't wait for it to happen. I found her horribly treacle-y.
But agree on Betsey Trotwood! I have been re-reading "David Copperfield," my favorite of Dickens' novels, and it occurred to me that Betsey Trotwood is unlike any other woman in Dickens' canon of characters. I might be wrong. There are books I haven't read ("Barnaby Rudge," for instance). But here she is, fully capable, a woman fully realized, who has her own income, is quite a force to be reckoned with, and not a man in sight, other than Mr. Dick. And we all know Betsey's true heart beneath her sometimes-crusty exterior, simply by Mr. Dick's presence.
And: A vote for Eugene Wrayburn, droll, imperfect, who must overcome his near-fatal flaw of arrogance and class snobbishness to finally realize his dream of love with Lizzie. He also outlasts Bradley Headstone, which is not nothing.
Another vote for Smike.
These and all over votes by readers simply point to Dickens' genius.
Yes, he is utterly inexhaustible!!! Great choices 🖤
I neglected to add a note about Betsey Trotwood, perhaps you can enlighten me. I don't know how the timing coincides, but Copperfield is rather late in the Dickens canon; I'm wondering if he based Betsey on Angela Burdett Coutts (Wikipedia has other ideas, saying she was based on Mary Pearson Strong, which has merit). She is so unlike most of Dickens' women, who are either beautiful and unattainable or beautiful and earnest and good but come into full flower only after marriage. Agnes, of course, is also quite capable but not in the way Betsey is. Agnes, after all, is in tremendous fear of being handed off to Uriah Heep, a marriage-less state being considered tragic for women in Victorian England.
Votes for Fagin, the Artful Dodger, and Bill Sikes...
I so enjoyed this ! I’m now busy thinking about my favourites … I too adore Mr Jingle …Miss Flite in Bleak House is a particular favourite of mine. I’d add that I thought Ruth Jones’ portrayal of Flora in the BBC’s ‘Little Dorrit’ was excellent. I am so delighted by your personal stories and shared quotations that are part of your family discourse … one of ours is to say “ever so ‘umble” at any overt ‘martyring’ by any of us. And I can’t go to stay with friends in Kent without saying ‘apples, cherries, hops and women’ !
Yes! Miss Flite and her birds!!
Love this so much 😂🖤
A small vote for Mr. Jaggers.
Love it. Well done! Would have to throw in the fact-loving superintendent Thomas Gradgrind from Hard Times, but perhaps he's a bit too satirical to seem realistic. Regardless, he gave me some good belly laughs. Thanks for sharing this.
A pleasure, Sam!!! Thanks for reading! I was pondering Gradgrind too 😄 …just one of those great Dickensian characters whose name has come to be an adjective 😂 - “Gradgrindian”, etc.
Wow, this post made my day. Thank you!
My favorite character, the one I hold close to my heart, is Joe Gargery, from "Great Expectations". I'd like to cast him my vote!
But to me, Mr. Micawber is one of the most amusing characters of all time. The chapter of "David Copperfield" in which he meets with Mr. Dick is probably the best piece of literary humour I've ever read. Truly unforgettable.
And that's something only Dickens can do: he's so good he makes you remember the funny parts of his novels. It's easy to remember what is heart-breaking, moving, lyrical, grotesque or surprising. But people tend to forget what once made them laugh. Not with Dickens, tho. He's that funny.
As re: the tension between the author and the narrator in "David Copperfield," ... not only is the tension fascinating, it's also very difficult to pull off, since the author is, in a way, also the narrator. Dickens was truly at the height of his brilliance while writing DC. The several mentions of that book in this blog have led me to re-read it yet once more. I am forever mindful of GK Chesterton's comment: "Men like Steerforth are not as boys like David see them, but boys like David do see them so." This is an interesting comment, b/c not only is it true, it also acknowledges that even when he was a boy in school, Steerforth was a "man" in terms of experience and cynicism, as compared with the callow David.