Top Ten List of Characters for Charles Dickens's "Mr. Dombey"

10. I decided to give the tenth spot on my top ten list to one of the main characters of the novel Mr. Dombey, who is the proud rich owner of a shipping house. He is a selfish person who cares only about himself and his newborn son Paul, who he was also overprotective of, and it really shows on p. 3 when his daughter Florence showed up after Mrs. Dombey gave birth to Paul: "So he said, 'Florence, you may go and look at your pretty brother, if you like, I dare say. Don't touch him!'" Mr. Dombey's first wife died after giving birth to Paul.

9. Good Mrs. Brown was a really ugly old woman, with red rims around her eyes, and a mouth that mumbled when she wasn't speaking. She was also miserable dressed and seemed to follow Florence a little at all events. She changed Florence's life at some point.

English: Cover serial, "Dombey and Son" by Charles...

English: Captain Cuttle and Florence Dombey, Charl...

Image taken from page 9 of 'Dombey and Son [by Cha...

After fooling Florence by telling her where Susan was after the earthquake Good Mrs. Brown robbed Florence (Ch. VI, p.69-73) and gave her really old and cheap clothes then sent her to town to find Dombey and Son place. That's also when she met a guy named Walter Gay, one of Mr. Dombey's employees, who ended up falling in love with her.

8. Paul Dombey Jr. was a quite interesting figure for his age. Even though he was really young he was talking about business with his father Mr. Dombey and was figuring out what the value of money was. He also helped Florence to get engaged to Walter in some way by helping Walter to borrow some money from Mr. Dombey for something that had to do with the upcoming wedding. Paul was a sick boy and he died as a child in chapter XVI p. 226. Little Paul's death changed the relationship between Mr. Dombey and his daughter Florence. Mr. Dombey started paying more attention to her and to have much more respect for her after so many years or ignoring her as his daughter.

7. Walter Gay went to work for the firm of Dombey and Son. Walter and Florence became good friends (p. 79), which caused Mr. Dombey uneasiness, as he loathes his daughter. When a position in the firm opened, Mr. Dombey found an opportunity to get rib of Walter by sending him to Barbados (p. 258). It shows how emotionless and careless he is about his daughter and her feelings for Walter. During that trip Walter's ship sunk and he was lost for many years, but then he returned.

6. Mrs. Edith Dombey was Mr. Dombey's second wife. He married her (p. 436) after Paul's death because he needed a trophy wife and another son. Even though Mr. Dombey and his daughter learned to love each other after Paul's death, there was never any love between Mr. and Mrs. Dombey. It all ended with Mrs. Edith Dombey running away with Carker, who was a confidential clerk and manager of Dombey and Son firm. After which Mr. Dombey chased after Carker in order to reclaim his prize wife, Carker ended up jumping in front of the train. That's when Mr. Dombey realized that his business was destroyed and he had nothing. That part of the novel showed how bad Mr. Dombey wanted to have another son, and that he would do whatever it takes to get one.

5. Soloman Gills was the owner of the Wooden Midshipman, a nautical instruments shop. He took care of Florence after she got in a fight with Mr. Dombey when his marriage with Mrs. Edith wasn't working out. Then later on Soloman Gills went to search for Walter, and during that period of time Soloman left his shop to his friend Captain Ned Cuttle, who also ended up taking Florence to live with him after the break up of her family.

4. Mrs. Blimber was Mr. Blimber's wife who helped Paul cope with his illness and she also taught him things when he was at Dr. Blimber's Academy. While Paul was there he changed Mrs. Blimber's opinions about him and she actually became interested in things that Paul talked about before his death. She also got attached to him he was there because he was always nice to her no matter how cruel and mean she was to him from time to time. It shows on pages 89-109 (Ch. VIII).

3. Mrs. Pipchin was a cantankerous of a boarding house when Paul and Florence were sent there for Paul's health. She later on became Mr. Dombey's housekeeper. She considered herself ill-used because her husband was killed 40 years earlier. She was also an interesting figure in the novel. She always seemed careless about many things until one night she talked to Paul, and then she was interested in his conversations, so almost every night they sat in front of the fire place and talked about things (p. 103), but even then she tried to scare Paul about some things so he would behave in a better way.

2. Mrs. Chick was Mr. Dombey's sister. I found her important in the novel because she was the one who seemed to keep the family together and made most of the decisions in the house. She also took care of Paul and Florence after their mother passed away. Mrs. Chick also seemed to start and keep most of the conversations when the entire Dombey family and their friends got together for certain occasions.

1. I decided to give the first place on my top ten list to Florence Dombey, Mr. Dombey's daughter and Paul's older sister, because she is the only one who seemed to have any sense in the family. And she was the only one in the novel who could handle any situation without freaking out and going off on people. She also impressed me by how she was still taking care of her little brother even though she knew that her father didn't like her as much as he liked Paul, and she didn't let her jealousy get in the way and still took care of Paul until he passed away.

Image taken from page 13 of 'Dombey and Son [by Ch...

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