Quilp: My favourite Charles Dickens character - Telegraph Charles Dickens Quilp: My favourite Charles Dickens character Daniel Quilp, one of the villains of The Old Curiosity Shop, is the second in the Telegraph pick of the best Charles Dickens characters. Image 1 of 4 Daniel Quilp smokes a pipe, watched by his 'Legal Gentleman' friend Brass - two of the characters in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Photo: Alamy Image 1 of 4 The Old Curiosity Shop, in a picture taken in the 1930s. The shop, in Portsmouth Street, Holborn, is still in existence, selling shoes and T-shirts. Charles Dickens set a novel in it in 1841. Photo: Rex The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens was written in 1841. By Christopher Howse , Letters Editor 8:02AM GMT 02 Feb 2012 My Favourite Charles Dickens character: Quilp from The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) "I'm a little hunchy villain and a monster," says Daniel Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop.

He's dirty, stubble-chinned, mis-shapen, grinning, cruel, full of energy and lust. He is habitually referred to by Dickens as "the dwarf" as though he were of a different species from men. Quilp's favourite term for those he speaks to is "dog" and his favourite object of cruelty is his wife. More than Bill Sikes he embodies violence: "I'll beat you with an iron rod, I'll scratch you with a rusty nail, I'll pinch your eyes, if you talk to me – I will." There's no livelier character in the whole of Dickens than Quilp. The reader's flesh is made to creep well and truly when Quilp kisses Little Nell. "Ah!" said the dwarf, smacking his lips, "what a nice kiss that was – just upon the rosy part." At last, of course, he comes to a violent end.

Related Articles The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens: Character Summary NELL TRENT: a beautiful 13 year old girl who lives with her grandfather THE GRANDFATHER (OF NELL): an elderly man who owns a curiosity shop CHRISTOPHER (KIT) NUBBLES: a lad with a comical expression and odd mannerisms who works for the grandfather RICHARD (DICK) SWIVELLER: a friend of Fred Trent who lives above a tobacco shop DANIEL QUILP: a shady associate of the grandfather’s who is involved in many occupations (sometimes referred to as the dwarf). SAMPSON BRASS: an attorney of ill-repute that works for Quilp BETSY QUILP: a pretty, mild woman who is the wife of Daniel Quilp MRS. JINIWIN: Betsy Quilp’s shrewish mother, who disapproves of her son-in-law TOM SCOTT: Boy who works for Mr. Quilp who has an odd affection for him (also referred to as the tumbling boy or boy who stands on his head) MRS. NUBBLES: Kit’s hard-working, good-humored mother.

BABY NUBBLES and JACOB NUBBLES: Kit’s siblings MR. GARLAND: club-footed elderly gentleman MRS. GARLAND: Mr. Garland’s fat wife ABEL GARLAND: The Garland’s 28 year old only son, a quiet lad MR. WITHERDEN: a Notary who handles paperwork for the Garlands (often referred to as the Notary) MR. CHUCKSTER: works for Mr. Witherden BARBARA: The Garlands’ servant girl. MR. MARTON: Schoolmaster of a small village that takes in grandfather and Nell (usually referred to as the schoolmaster) MRS. JARLEY: Owner of a wax work caravan. MISS SARAH (SALLY) BRASS: The sister of Sampson Brass, who assists him in his practice SMALL SERVANT GIRL: A little girl who is a servant to the Brasses (later referred to as Marchioness or Sophronia Sphynx) BEVIS MARKS: A mysterious man who rents the room in the Brass house and is interested in finding Nell and her grandfather (often called the lodger, the single gentleman, Mr.

Garland's friend, or the younger brother) SUPPORTING CHARACTERS (*) indicates a character that is referred to rather than one that has an active part in the story THE NARRATOR: an elderly gentleman relating a story about a little girl he encountered on one of his habitual walks FREDERICK TRENT: Nell’s 21 year old brother SOPHIA WACKLES: 20 year old girl Dick Swiveller is romancing that runs a school with her mother and sisters MELISSA WACKLES: Sophia’s 35 year old sister, who doesn’t approve of Dick Swiveller JANE WACKLES: Sophia’s 16 year old sister MRS. WACKLES: Sophia’s shrewish mother, who disapproves of Dick Swiveller REBECCA SWIVELLER (*): Dick Swiveller's spinster aunt ALICK CHEGGS: a market-gardener who is in love with Sophia Wackles MISS CHEGGS: Alick’s sister who advocates Alick’s courtship of Sophia and tries to help him MR.

HARRIS (NICKNAMED SHORT TOPPERS): Owner of a traveling Punch puppet show, nicknamed for his short legs TOMMY CODLIN: The puppeteer’s disillusioned assistant JERRY AND HIS DOGS: Jerry is an owner of dancing dogs HARRY: The schoolmaster’s beloved student, who is top of his class—and who has fallen seriously ill (often referred to as the little scholar or little pupil). GEORGE: works for Mrs. Jarley MISS MONFLATHERS: head of the Boarding and Day Establishment, who takes some of her pupils to see Mrs. Jarley’s exhibit. JAMES GROVES: landlord of the Valiant Soldier and professional gamester MAT: One of the card players at the Valiant Soldier, a surly man. ISAAC LIST: One of the card players at the Valiant Soldier, a sour fellow MISS EDWARDS: a pupil at Miss Monflather’s establishment who was sympathetic to Nell. SISTER OF MISS EDWARDS: Much younger than Nell, Miss Edwards saved her money so she could see her again. BARBARA’S MOTHER: The mother of the Garland servant girl, who has a similar history to Mrs. Nubbles. MR.

JOE JOWL: a gypsy that is in with Isaac List and his friends BOAT MEN: Three rough but kind gentleman who offer Nell and her grandfather a ride on their boat. OLD FOXEY (*): The father of Sampson and Sally Brass, who encouraged his daughter’s interest in law and regretted that she could not become a lawyer. FIRE WATCHER: The man who watches the fire at a factory SEXTON: hires Nell to be the Church keeper (also referred to as the clergyman) THE BACHELOR: a friend of the clergyman’s and brother to Mr. Garland DAVID: a deaf gravedigger (referred to as the clergyman's assistant) HIDE AND SEEK BOY: little boy playing with friends in graveyard whose brother is buried there (referred to as Nell's little friend or Her little mourner) OTHER CHARACTERS MRS. GEORGE: a stout woman who is the leader of a group of neighborhood ladies who visit Mrs. Quilp and try to persuade her to stand up to her husband’s tyranny. HENRIETTA SIMMONS: another lady in the group that visits Betsy Quilp, who has told Mrs.

George many of the tales about the Quilp marriage THE WIDOW, UNMARRIED WOMAN, LADY FROM MINORIES, AND OTHERS: Other neighborhood women who visit Betsy Quilp SERVANT GIRL OF SWIVELLER'S: Servant girl who works for the tobacco shop owner who Dick rents from WAITER OF EATING HOUSE: delivers a meal to Dick Swiveller but only receives a promise of payment. MR. TOMKINLEY (*): teacher at Abel Garland’s school that took him on an outing to Margate. COTTAGER, HIS WIFE, AND THREE SONS: A family that is kind to Nell and her grandfather when they stop to rest. CARRIAGE DRIVER: Gives Nell and grandfather a ride into the next town at the request of the cottager. LANDLORD AND LANDLADY #1: Own a house that the puppeteer, his assistant, Nell, and her grandfather stay at OLD WOMAN AT GRAVEYARD: an old woman Nell meets in a graveyard who reminisces about a lost love MR. GRINDER AND COMPANY: Mr.

Grinder beats on a drum while a young man and woman walk on stilts behind him LANDLORD OF THE JOLLY SANDBOYS: landlord of an inn that puppeteer, his assistant, Nell, and grandfather stay at MR. VUFFIN: Proprietor of a freak show SWEET WILLIAM: An ugly, silent conjuror LADY IN THE CARRIAGE: A sympathetic lady in the carriage who buys one of Nell’s nosegays and advises her to get away from the races. MRS. GREEN (*): a reference for Kit, a lodger at the cheesemonger’s. MR. BROWN (*): a reference for Kit, a corporal in the East Indies. HARRY’S GRANDMOTHER: The grandmother of the schoolmaster’s star pupil SCHOOLMASTER’S PUPILS: The other students, ranging from four to fourteen, who are idle DISAPPROVING OLD LADY: An old lady that yells at the meek schoolmaster after he lets the boys out of school early SUMMONING OLD WOMAN: The elderly woman who summons the schoolmaster to Harry’s deathbed.

CONSOLING WOMEN: Women who are consoling Harry’s grandmother. BOY CARRYING TRUNK: A boy carrying Quilp’s trunk slower than Quilp likes MAN IN VELVETEEN PANTS: An assistant who helps George unpack the waxworks. MR. SLUM: a military man who sells something “very dear” to people like Mrs. Jarley. LUKE WITHERS (*): A man who won thirteen times running, but who had lost more times VALIANT SOLDIER SERVANT GIRL: A servant girl who is unhappy with her employer because she believes the place is a den of crooks. THE BARONET’S DAUGHTER: Another student of Miss Monflather’s who comes from a prestigious family, but who is plain and stupid. MARQUIS OF MIZZLER AND LORD BOBBY (*): Two men who got into a dispute over a bottle of champagne. DUKE OF THIGSBERRY AND VIOLETTA STETTA OF THE ITALIAN OPERA (*): Duke gives Violetta a sum of money. NEIGHBOR: One of the Nubbles neighbors GOSSIP NEIGHBOR: A neighbor who is Mrs.

Nubbles gossiping buddy that tells Kit the location of Little Bethel. REVEREND: A shoemaker and the preacher of Little Bethel PALLID MAN: A sympathetic man who directs Nell and her grandfather to a warm fire UNEMPLOYED FATHER: a man who can’t feed his family and has lost all of his children MAN IN BLACK: a man of the law who shows mercy in one case, but who is criticized for not being merciful enough DEAF BOY: The one case Man in Black shows mercy in due to boy’s disabilities DEAF BOY’S MOTHER: mother of boy Man in Black is merciful to ANOTHER MOTHER: thinks it unfair her child didn’t get leniency just because he wasn’t disabled LANDLORD AND LANDLADY AT SCHOOLMASTER’S INN: landlady a clever woman with remedies RED-NOSED DOCTOR: a doctor who prescribes the remedies most women already know BOY AT WHEELER: Mr. Marks driver for carriage on first trip. WAITER AT INN: A waiter that works at an inn that both Mr. Marks and Mr. Quilp stay at.

TWO WATERSIDE MEN: Men who dragged wharf searching for Daniel Quilp’s body SCHOOLBOY: a boy who runs errands for The Bachelor JOHN OWEN (*): One of Mr. Marton’s new pupils, a reckless but honest boy RICHARD EVANS (*): a good pupil and a good singer, but prophesied by The Bachelor to have a bad end SWIMMER (*): a boy who saved a blind man’s dog from drowning BECKY MORGAN (*): a woman from a neighboring hamlet who dies whose age is in dispute WILLY (*): the dead brother of hide-and-seek boy CONSTABLE: Arresting officer when Kit is accused of stealing TURNKEY #1: officer that takes Kit in and out of his cell TURNKEY #2 WITH NEWSPAPER : officer that observes the visitor’s area TURNKEY #3: officer that takes Kit back from Visitor’s area TURNKEY #4: officer that delivers drinks and messages DEFENSE ATTORNEY: hired by Garlands and Notary to defend Kit.

PROSECUTOR: very clever at twisting things around in Kit’s trial JUDGE, JURY, AND SPECTATORS: listen to the prosecution and defense at Kit’s trial DICK’S LANDLADY: landlady who comes to Brasses to report that Dick is ill PORTER: carries much needed clothes and food to Swiveller residence NICE OLD LADY: prepares food for Swiveller and Marchioness MESSENGER: a boy that delivers a letter to the Quilp residence NEWSMONGER: person who is glad to see Kit go from prison now that it is apparent he doesn’t belong there GENTLEMEN WHO PARDON KIT: officials who handle the pardoning of Kit POSTBOY: driver for second trip to find Nell SHIVERING FIGURE: a man at the last stop who changes horses and gives information to Kit MRS. QUILP’S SECOND HUSBAND: a man Mrs. Quilp chooses by her own council MR. ABEL’S BASHFUL WIFE AND CHILDREN: Mr.

Abel's family KIT’S SIX CHILDREN: five boys and one girl who like hearing about Miss Nell Baugh's Blog: Essay: Twenty of Dickens's Most Memorable Characters Essay: Twenty of Dickens's Most Memorable Characters ﻿ Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller over a crowd of Dickens Characters - 19th. cent wood engraving (unknown artist) As I pointed out somewhere, in one of my blog posts, Dickens’s books are primarily built on character and setting, rather than incident and plot. It’s fair to say that Dickens attracted his audience early on by the exuberance and humour of his characters – often over-drawn and exaggerated for comic effect, but still recognisable types that the reader could connect to. E. M. Forster, in his small but influential book about novel writing called Aspects of the Novel (1927), divided literary characters into two groups: flat characters and rounded characters. He argued that the majority of the characters Dickens created were flat characters that didn't develop much – meaning that they often embodied a single trait or attitude, which could be summed up in a single phrase or descriptive detail. And these characters often said the same thing every time they appeared.

“I am a lone lorn creetur,” says Mrs. Gummidge – for example – in David Copperfield, “and everythink goes contrairy with me.” There are lots and lots of characters in Dickens’s novels. At the front of each novel, in the Everyman Library editions that I read for this project, the critical apparatus includes a cast of characters – a list of all the characters named and identified in that book. I totalled up the number of characters in all 15 novels. It’s about 650 characters. The book with the most is Pickwick Papers. And The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Hard Times have the least. From that list of 650 characters, I have selected twenty of the most memorable. Some of these characters are completely individual – one of a kind – like Bill Sykes or Ebenezer Scrooge. Others are the ultimate representative of a type that appears throughout his writing career: think Little Nell and The Artful Dodger. These stand out for me as twenty of Dickens’s best. by John Kenney, 1965 by Joseph Clayton Clarke ('Kyd') Mr. Pickwick from The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Samuel Pickwick is the central character of Charles Dickens’s first novel. He is a retired businessman, with plenty of money to fund his adventures and to support the activities and travels of his club – a ‘club’ which is really just three others who stick with him loyally and venture out into the English countryside. Pickwick is merely humorous in the early sections of the novel; but, as the book progresses, it takes on a more serious tone, and by the end, Pickwick morphs from a rather silly buffoon into an embodiment of benevolence. He is an eminent example of Dickens’s warm-hearted humanity. Sam Weller from The Pickwick Papers (1836). It was with the introduction of Pickwick’s cockney servant (or valet) Sam Weller – in the book’s fourth instalment (Chapter 10) – that The Pickwick Papers really began to seize the imagination of the reading public. Literacy was expanding rapidly, especially amongst the middle-class, and the audience for these novels – always released in monthly instalments – was growing steadily.

Working-class people, who were fascinated by an author who understood their lives and their concerns – and who loved characters like Sam Weller – could combine resources and share a monthly issue. Dickens was a champion of the poor and the working class throughout his working life. He advanced their cause in his writing and supported charitable institutions that relieved their sufferings. Sam Weller is the practical, wise-cracking, worldly sidekick who accompanies his employer on his club’s road travels – much like Sancho Panza serves Don Quixote in Cervantes’s picaresque novel. He is quick to quote some wise words, or to offer some appropriate bon mots to fit any particular occasion. by Joseph Clayton Clarke ('Kyd') The Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist (1837). John Dawkins (aka ‘the Artful Dodger’) is the leading figure in Fagin’s gang of young pickpockets. It is he who finds Oliver on the streets of London and brings the desperate boy within Fagin’s malign control.

The Dodger is the ultimate example of a type that reappears in many of Dickens’s novels – the fast-talking, wise-beyond-his-years, young whippersnapper who is always looking for the main chance. They are entrepreneurial types who will always fall on their feet. We meet his type again in the likes of Bailey Junior, Jo ‘Toughey’, Rob the Grinder, and Trabb’s boy. by George Cruikshank Fagin from Oliver Twist (1837). One of Dickens’s most corrupt and ugly creations, Fagin takes in and trains a gang of young boys to work as pickpockets and thieves. He is also a miser and hordes the best of his stolen items. Fagin’s physical repulsiveness mirrors his moral degeneracy. Throughout the first half of the novel, Dickens’s refers to Fagin constantly as “the Jew”. Mrs. Eliza Davis wrote to Dickens to complain about the anti-semitic tone to the portrait of Fagin; she argued that it “encouraged a vile prejudice against the despised Hebrew”, and that he had done a great wrong to the Jewish people. Dickens reacted defensively; his response to Mrs.

Davis was that he bore no prejudice against Jews, and that he intended no malice. But he dropped the constant reference to “the Jew” in the second half of the book. Much later in his career, Dickens made recompense to Mrs. Davis by creating the noble and gentle Jewish character of Mr. Riah in Our Mutual Friend. by George Cruikshank Bill Sykes from Oliver Twist (1837). One of Dickens’s most evil and unredeemable characters. Sykes specialises in break-and-enters, and he takes Oliver with him out into the suburbs on a failed attempt to rob the silver plate from a middle-class home. He has a long-suffering companion – his dog Bullseye. In a dramatic and memorable scene towards the end of the book, Sykes clambers across the roofs of some high, terraced houses, attempting to escape an angry mob. He falls and accidentally hangs himself with the rope he has been carrying. by Joseph Clayton Clarke ('Kyd') Nancy from Oliver Twist (1837). Nancy is the prototypical harlot with the heart of gold.

She has a brave, independent spirit that stands up to, and challenges, the bullying of Bill Sykes and the scheming of Fagin. She feels a mothering-concern for Oliver, and resents the way that Fagin and Sykes exploit the youngster’s innocence. She takes the fatal step of meeting clandestinely with Mr. Brownlow, in order to save Oliver from Fagin’s menacing grasp. Bill Sykes, her lover, kills her brutally. Dickens used the gruesome description of this murder as the sensational subject of his public-readings - during the last couple of series. He was physically and emotionally exhausted at the conclusion of each of these performances. by James Lobley Little Nell from The Old Curiosity Shop (1840). The fate of Little Nell was a literary sensation. As the fate of Little Nell hung in the balance during the final few issues of the novel (printed in weekly-parts), American crowds at the harbour-front in New York City were reported to have yelled at the sailors on board of boats coming in from Britain: “Is Little Nell dead?” Her death is considered the ultimate example of Dickens’s penchant for sentiment and pathos.

This young girl accompanies her grandfather around the country, as they attempt to evade Quilp – to whom her grandfather owes a large gambling debt. Little Nell is the ultimate example of what would become a familiar Dickens figure – the innocent young woman who sacrifices her own interests for an often ungrateful or oblivious father or grandfather. ﻿ by Joseph Clayton Clarke ('Kyd') Daniel Quilp from The Old Curiosity Shop (1840). Quilp is a nasty but entertaining villain who enlivens a novel that is often tiresome and repetitive. Quilp is an ugly dwarf. He comes at a time during Dickens’s career when he seemed to delight in creating grotesque and physically damaged characters. Sometimes these physical weaknesses increased the reader’s pity for certain sympathetic characters; but in other cases the physical repulsiveness of a character – as with Daniel Quilp – helped to emphasise his moral degeneracy. Quilp is delightfully bad, and he energises a novel that often goes soft in its reliance on pathos. by Sol Eytinge, Jr. Seth Pecksniff from Martin Chuzzlewit (1843).

Pecksniff is the dominant character in a novel that satirises greed and selfishness. Some of the book’s characters know what they are up to – and we follow their machinations, as they plot to advance their own self-interest. What makes Pecksniff so entertaining is his lack of self-awareness. He is the epitome of hypocrisy, justifying his selfishness at all times by considering himself always as a disinterested and upright pillar of his family and community. We watch with glee as the elderly Chuzzlewit exposes his smarmy duplicity. by John Leech Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” (1843). Scrooge does not appear in any of Dickens’s fifteen multi-part novels; he is the main protagonist in an extended short story – a novella – that Dickens wrote for Christmas 1843. It was the first of five so-called Christmas Books he wrote especially for the Christmas season. The first effort – A Christmas Carol – was the best, a beautiful tale of redemption that only the hardest of hearts could possibly resist.

In a sense, the book is also a ghost story, and its moody atmosphere and other-worldly motif adds helps give the book its gripping intensity. The change in attitude of Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the most convincing portraits of human redemption ever written. One of Dickens's greatest creations. ﻿ David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - Characters N-Q Nadgett ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Private investigator hired by Tigg Montigue to provide information on the customers of the fraudulent life assurance company. Nadgett exposes Jonas Chuzzlewit as Montigue's murderer. Nadgett is also landlord of Tom and Ruth Pinch in Islington. (top) Namby ( Pickwick Papers ) Sheriff's Deputy who comes to arrest Mr. Pickwick when Pickwick refuses to pay costs after the Bardell vs Pickwick trial. He incurs the wrath of Sam Weller . (top) Nancy ( Oliver Twist ) Prostitute and member of Fagin's band of thieves. Befriends Oliver and is eventually murdered by Sikes trying to help Oliver escape Fagin's clutches. Wore a good deal of hair, not very neatly turned up behind, and were rather untidy about the shoes and stockings.

They were not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great deal of colour in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty. (top) Native, The ( Dombey and Son ) Indian servant of Major Joe Bagstock who had no particular name, but answered to any vituperative epithet. (top) Neckett ( Bleak House ) Sheriff's officer who arrests debtors and delivers them to Coavin's sponging house (temporary debtor's prison) thus Skimpole gives Neckett the nickname "Coavinses". Neckett dies leaving three orphans: Charlotte (Charley) , Emma , and Tom . (top) Neckett, Charlotte (Charley) ( Bleak House ) Daughter of sheriff's officer Neckett . When her father dies Charley cares for her two younger siblings: Emma and Tom . Charley becomes Esther Summerson's maid, nursing Esther through smallpox. She later marries a miller. A very little girl, childish in figure but shrewd and older-looking in the face--pretty-faced too--wearing a womanly sort of bonnet much too large for her and drying her bare arms on a womanly sort of apron.

Her fingers were white and wrinkled with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking which she wiped off her arms. But for this, she might have been a child playing at washing and imitating a poor working-woman with a quick observation of the truth. (top) Neckett, Emma ( Bleak House ) Daughter of Neckett and baby sister to Charley and Tom . a heavy child of eighteen months. Later becomes Esther Summerson's maid after Charley gets married. (top) Neckett, Tom ( Bleak House ) Son of Neckett and brother to Charley and Emma . a mite of a boy, some five or six years old. Later apprenticed to Charley's husband, a miller. (top) Ned ( Oliver Twist ) Chimney sweep whom Bill Sikes laments has been lagged (sentenced to transportation) and the small boy Ned "kept small on purpose" and was formerly available for thief work, has been reformed and given honest work. (top) Nell's Grandfather ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Owner of the Old Curiosity Shop. He has a secret gambling habit, hoping to make a fortune for his granddaughter.

He borrows money to gamble from Quilp , when he cannot pay he takes Nell and escapes London to the country. When Nell dies he is heartbroken and dies soon after. (top) Nemo ( Bleak House ) Alias of Capt. Hawdon (Nemo is Latin for nobody). Nemo is doing some law copying for Snagsby and is a boarder in Krook's rag and bottle shop when he dies of an opium overdose. He is later found to be the former lover of Lady Dedlock and the father of Esther Summerson . When Nemo approaches Mrs. Snagsby about copying work she was rather took by something about this person, whether by his being unshaved, or by his hair being in want of attention. (top) Nettingalls, Misses ( David Copperfield ) Proprietors of a girls school in Canterbury attended by Miss Shepherd , an early love of David Copperfield . (top) Newcome, Clemency ( The Battle of Life ) Lovable, awkward, and clumsy servant of Dr. Jeddler . She later marries Benjamin Britain and together they run the comfortable Nutmeg-Grater and Thimble Inn. (top) Mrs.

Nickleby ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Mother of Nicholas and Kate . Absent-minded and self-absorbed, she continues to "put on airs" even in the reduced situation of her family after the financial ruin and death of her husband. The character is heavily drawn from Dickens' mother. (top) Nickleby, Kate ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Sister of Nicholas . She is placed by her uncle, Ralph Nickleby , with Madame Mantalini . Kate becomes the object of the undesirable attentions of some of the evil-minded clients of her uncle, who is using her to his advantage. She is rescued by Nicholas with the help of Newman Noggs . Later she marries Frank Cheeryble . (top) Nickleby, Nicholas ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Brother to Kate and nephew of Ralph . Hoping to provide support for his mother and sister after the death of his father, he turns to his uncle Ralph for assistance. Ralph wants nothing to do with his late brother's family and feigns to help Nicholas by securing a position as assistant master at the Dotheboys Hall school, run by unscrupulous Wackford Squeers .

Nicholas soon becomes disgusted with Squeer's treatment of his pupils and leaves, giving Squeers a sound thrashing and liberating Smike , whom Squeers has mistreated for years. Nicholas and Smike move in with Newman Noggs in London and then travel to Portsmouth where they take up acting in Crummles stage company. On hearing of the mistreatment of his sister at the hands of his uncle, Nicholas, with Smike , returns to London. Nicholas secures employment with the philanthropic Cheeryble brothers and later marries Madeline Bray whom he has helped rescue from the evil designs of Ralph and Arthur Gride . Nicholas seems to have a bit more pluck than many of Dickens young heroes and in the preface to the 1848 Cheap Edition of Nicholas Nickleby Dickens writes If Nicholas be not always found to be blameless or agreeable, he is not always intended to appear so. He is a young man of an impetuous temper and of little or no experience; and I saw no reason why such a hero should be lifted out of nature.

(top) Nickleby, Ralph ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Uncle to Nicholas and Kate (and later we find, father of Smike ). A rich and miserly moneylender who feigns to help his late brother's family but, in reality, tries to humiliate Nicholas and use Kate to his own advantage. His evil plans and schemes prove his ultimate undoing and he eventually hangs himself. (top) Nipper, Susan ( Dombey and Son ) Florence Dombey's maid who is discharged when she confronts Paul Dombey about his treatment of Florence. She later marries Toots . Dickens describes Susan as a short, brown womanly girl, with a little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads. (top) Noggs, Newman ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Once a well-to-do gentleman but he squanders his money and is reduced to serving Ralph Nickleby as clerk. He befriends Nicholas and eventually helps him defeat the designs of Ralph . (top) Norris family ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) New York friends of Mr Bevan whom he introduces to Martin . Their initial warm welcome cools when they discover he made the trip to America in steerage.

(top) Pancks ( Little Dorrit ) Clerk and rent collector for Mr. Casby. He assists in finding William Dorrit's fortune. Dickens employs the metaphor of Pancks as a tugboat guiding Casby's "ship." Pancks moves tugboat style "with a puff and a snort." (top) Pankey, Miss ( Dombey and Son ) Fellow boarder at Mrs Pipchin's with Paul and Florence Dombey . A mild little blue-eyed morsel of a child, who was shampoo'd every morning, and seemed in danger of being rubbed away, altogether. She is admonished by Mrs Pipchin that nobody who sniffed before visitors ever went to Heaven. (top) Paragon, Mary Anne ( David Copperfield ) The first in a succession of incompetent maids hired by David and Dora Copperfield. Her nature was represented to us, when we engaged her, as being feebly expressed in her name. She had a written character, as large as a proclamation; and, according to this document, could do everything of a domestic nature that ever I heard of, and a great many things that I never did hear of.

She was a woman in the prime of life; of a severe countenance; and subject (particularly in the arms) to a sort of perpetual measles or fiery rash. She had a cousin in the Life-Guards, with such long legs that he looked like the afternoon shadow of somebody else. His shell-jacket was as much too little for him as he was too big for the premises. He made the cottage smaller than it need have been, by being so very much out of proportion to it. Besides which, the walls were not thick, and, whenever he passed the evening at our house, we always knew of it by hearing one continual growl in the kitchen. (top) Pardiggle, Mr. ( Bleak House ) Husband of Mrs Pardiggle . An obstinate-looking man with a large waistcoat and stubbly hair, who was always talking in a loud bass voice about his mite, or Mrs. Pardiggle's mite, or their five boys' mites. (top) Pardiggle, Mrs.

( Bleak House ) Pseudo-benevolent neighbor of John Jarndyce of the type who did a little and made a great deal of noise...She was a formidable style of lady with spectacles, a prominent nose, and a loud voice, who had the effect of wanting a great deal of room. And she really did, for she knocked down little chairs with her skirts that were quite a great way off. Mother of five children: "These, young ladies," said Mrs. Pardiggle with great volubility after the first salutations, "are my five boys. You may have seen their names in a printed subscription list (perhaps more than one) in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce. Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Oswald, my second (ten and a half), is the child who contributed two and nine-pence to the Great National Smithers Testimonial.

Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form." Esther Summerson : We had never seen such dissatisfied children. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled--though they were certainly that to--but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Eghert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. I must except, however, the little recruit into the Infant Bonds of Joy, who was stolidly and evenly miserable. (top) Parkes, Phil ( Barnaby Rudge ) Friend of John Willet at the Maypole Inn.

(top) Passnidge, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Friend of Edward Murdstone whom David Copperfield meets in Lowestoft along with Mr Quinion . At this meeting Murdstone, Passnidge, and Quinion discuss Murdstone's plan to marry Clara Copperfield and David is referred to as 'Brooks of Sheffield' to keep him in the dark. (top) Pawkins, Major and Mrs ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Proprietors of a New York boarding house where Martin and Mark stay. The Major is typical of the scoundrels they meet in America. (top) Pecksniff, Charity (Cherry) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Seth Pecksniff's older daughter and sister of Mercy . Haughty and ill-tempered, without her younger sister's playful nature. She is infuriated when passed over for marriage by Jonas Chuzzlewith who chooses her sister. She later promises herself to Mr Moddle, who leaves her at the alter. Charity has a disposition which was then observed to be of a sharp and acid quality, as though an extra lemon (figuratively speaking) had been squeezed into the nectar of her disposition, and had rather damaged its flavour.

(top) Pecksniff, Mercy (Merry) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Seth Pecksniff's younger daughter and sister of Charity . Seth gives her in marriage to Jonas Chuzzlewit , who breaks her spirit, and her heart. (top) Pecksniff, Seth ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Sanctimonious surveyor and architect "who has never designed or built anything", and one of the biggest hypocrites in fiction. Father of daughters Mercy and Charity . In an effort to gain old Martin's money he embraces then throws out young Martin at old Martin's wish. When long time servant Tom Pinch learns of Pecksniff's treachery he is also thrown out. Pecksniff's self-serving designs are eventually exposed by Old Martin who reconciles with his grandson, young Martin . Dickens' description of Pecksniff's hypocrisy is telling: Some people likened him to a direction-post, which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there. (top) Peecher, Emma ( Our Mutual Friend ) Teacher of the girl's class at the school where Bradley Headstone is master. Emma is in love with Headstone but he does not return her affection.

(top) Peerybingle, John ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Carrier, deliverer of goods, who is much older than his wife, Mary . (top) Peerybingle, Mary (Dot) ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Mary is the much younger wife of John. She is called Dot due to her small size and dumpling shape. Her parents are Old Dot and Mrs Dot, both also small. Mary works to reunite old lovers May Fielding and Edward Plummer . (top) Peffer ( Bleak House ) Deceased partner of Snagsby and uncle to Mrs Snagsby . Peffer is never seen in Cook's Court now. He is not expected there, for he has been recumbent this quarter of a century in the churchyard of St. Andrews, Holborn, with the waggons and hackney-coaches roaring past him all the day and half the night. (top) Pegler, Mrs. ( Hard Times ) Revealed at the end of the story to be Bounderby's loving mother, exposing his claim as "self-made man", who raised himself in the streets, to be a sham.

An old woman, tall and shapely still, though withered by time...She was very cleanly and plainly dressed, had country mud upon her shoes, and was newly come from a journey. The flutter of her manner, in the unwonted noise of the streets; the spare shawl, carried unfolded on her arm; the heavy umbrella, and little basket; the loose long-fingered gloves, to which her hands were unused; all bespoke an old woman from the country, in her plain holiday clothes, come into Coketown on an expedition of rare occurrence. (top) Peggotty, Clara ( David Copperfield ) David Copperfield's devoted nurse and sister to Daniel Peggotty . After the death of David's mother she is discharged and marries Barkis . When Barkis dies she goes to live with David and Betsey Trotwood . David comically describes getting a hug from Peggotty: She laid aside her work (which was a stocking of her own), and opening her arms wide, took my curly head within them, and gave it a good squeeze.

I know it was a good squeeze, because, being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew off. And I recollect two bursting to the opposite side of the parlour, while she was hugging me. (top) Peggotty, Daniel ( David Copperfield ) Crotchety fisherman and dealer in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish. Brother of Clara . He lives in a converted boat on the beach at Yarmouth with Emily , Ham , and Mrs. Gummidge . When Emily abandons them to elope with Steerforth , Daniel vows to find her. Steerforth later leaves Emily and she is re-united with Daniel. At the end of the novel Daniel, Emily, and Mrs Gummidge resettle in Australia. A hairy man with a very good-natured face. Quote: You'll find us rough, sir, but you'll find us ready. (top) Peggotty, Ham ( David Copperfield ) Fisherman and boatbuilder. Ham is the son of the drowned Joe Peggotty . He is taken in by his uncle, Daniel Peggotty .

Later he is engaged to his cousin, Emily . He drowns trying to rescue Steerforth . He was a huge, strong fellow of six feet high, broad in proportion, and round-shouldered; but with a simpering boy's face and curly light hair that gave him quite a sheepish look. He was dressed in a canvas jacket, and a pair of such very stiff trousers that they would have stood quite as well alone, without any legs in them. And you couldn't so properly have said he wore a hat, as that he was covered in a-top, like an old building, with something pitchy. (top) Peggotty, Joe ( David Copperfield ) Brother of Daniel Peggotty and father of Ham Peggotty . Joe was drowned before the story begins. (top) Pell, Solomon ( Pickwick Papers ) Shady lawyer whom Tony Weller engages to arrange Samuel Weller's imprisonment in the Fleet in order to be with his master, Samuel Pickwick . (top) Pepper - The Avenger ( Great Expectations ) A servant boy hired by Pip .

I had got on so fast of late, that I had even started a boy in boots - top boots - in bondage and slavery to whom I might have been said to pass my days. For, after I had made the monster (out of the refuse of my washerwoman's family) and had clothed him with a blue coat, canary waistcoat, white cravat, creamy breeches, and the boots already mentioned, I had to find him a little to do and a great deal to eat; and with both of those horrible requirements he haunted my existence. Pip has such a hard time finding things to keep him busy that I sometimes sent him to Hyde Park Corner to see what o'clock it was. (top) Peps, Dr Parker ( Dombey and Son ) Physician present at Paul Dombey's birth and death. One of the Court Physicians, and a man of immense reputation. (top) Perch ( Dombey and Son ) Messenger at the firm of Dombey and Son. He and his Wife live at Ball's Pond, a suburb on the northern edge of London. (top) Perker ( Pickwick Papers ) Solicitor of Mr.

Wardle , later represents Samuel Pickwick in the Bardell vs Pickwick breach of promise suit. (top) Petowker, Henrietta ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Minor actress at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and neighbor of Kenwigs and Noggs . She marries Mrs Kenwigs' uncle, Mr Lillyvick , but later runs off with a half-pay (retired) captain. (top) Pickwick, Samuel ( Pickwick Papers ) Retired businessman and founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club. Pickwick, along with his friends Tupman , Snodgrass , Winkle , and his servant Sam Weller , travel around England in search of adventure. Pickwick is one Dickens most loved characters and his story propelled Dickens to literary stardom. (top) Pidger, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Supposed wooer of Miss Lavinia Spenlow , making her an authority of affairs of the heart.

Both Miss Lavinia and Miss Clarissa had a superstition, however, that he would have declared his passion, if he had not been cut short in his youth (at about sixty) by over-drinking his constitution, and over-doing an attempt to set it right again by swilling Bath water. They had a lurking suspicion even, that he died of secret love; though I must say there was a picture of him in the house with a damask nose, which concealment did not appear to have ever preyed upon. (top) Pilkins, Mr ( Dombey and Son ) The Dombey's family medical practitioner who performs his duty in the shadow of the eminent Dr Parker Peps . (top) Pinch, Tom ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Devoted admirer and assistant to Pecksniff . A kindly, sweet-tempered fellow, completely blind to Pecksniff's hypocrisy despite a multitude of evidence to the contrary. He finally becomes aware of Pecksniff's true character and is dismissed. He goes to London to live with his sister and is employed by a mysterious gentleman which turns out to be old Martin Chuzzlewit .

(top) Pinch, Ruth ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Sister of Tom Pinch . She is governess to a wealthy brass and copper founder's family in Camberwell. When Tom goes to visit her he finds she is unhappy in her work and is accused by the family of being unable to command the respect of her employer's spoiled daughter. She leaves to live with Tom in Islington and later marries Tom's friend John Westlock . (top) Pip (Pirrip, Phillip) ( Great Expectations ) Principal character of the book. Brought up "by hand" by his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery , twenty years his senior, who mistreats him along with her husband, Joe Gargery . Pip meets Magwitch on the marshes after his escape from the prison ship and brings him food. Magwitch is recaptured and sent away to Australia where he prospers. Pip is introduced to Miss Havisham , an eccentric old woman, and her charge, Estella , who Pip falls in love with. Estella has been taught by Miss Havisham to break men's hearts as restitution for Miss Havisham's having been left at the altar years before.

Pip begins to receive money through an unknown source. He becomes a gentleman, goes to London, and drifts away from early friends. Pip eventually learns that his benefactor is not Miss Havisham , as he believes, but the convict, Magwitch . (top) Pipchin, Mrs ( Dombey and Son ) Cantankerous operator of a boarding house in Brighton when Paul jr and Florence are sent there for Paul's health. Later becomes Mr Dombey's housekeeper. Considers herself ill-used because her husband was killed, 40 years earlier, in the Peruvian Mines. Dickens modeled Pipchin on Mrs Roylance, Dickens' landlady in London when his father was imprisoned for debt. This celebrated Mrs Pipchin was a marvellous ill-favoured, ill-conditioned old lady, of a stooping figure, with a mottled face, like bad marble, a hook nose, and a hard grey eye, that looked as if it might have been hammered at on an anvil without sustaining any injury.

Forty years at least had elapsed since the Peruvian mines had been the death of Mr Pipchin; but his relict still wore black bombazeen, of such a lustreless, deep, dead, sombre shade, that gas itself couldn't light her up after dark, and her presence was a quencher to any number of candles. She was generally spoken of as 'a great manager' of children; and the secret of her management was, to give them everything that they didn't like, and nothing that they did - which was found to sweeten their dispositions very much. She was such a bitter old lady, that one was tempted to believe there had been some mistake in the application of the Peruvian machinery, and that all her waters of gladness and milk of human kindness, had been pumped out dry, instead of the mines. 'Well, Sir,' said Mrs Pipchin to Paul, 'how do you think you shall like me?' 'I don't think I shall like you at all,' replied Paul. (top) Piper, Mrs. ( Bleak House ) Neighbor of Krook . (top) Georgiana Pirrip ( Great Expectations ) Pip's mother, dead before the story begins and buried in the village churchyard.

(top) Philip Pirrip ( Great Expectations ) Pip's father, dead before the story begins and buried in the village churchyard. (top) Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger Pirrip ( Great Expectations ) Pip's brothers, dead before the story begins and buried in the village churchyard. (top) Plornish ( Little Dorrit ) Thomas Plornish, a plasterer previously imprisoned at the Marshalsea with the Dorrits, lives with his wife and two children at Bleeding Heart Yard. (top) Plummer, Bertha ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Blind daughter of poor toymaker, Caleb Plummer . To help ease Bertha's way Caleb has made her believe that the unfeeling Tackleton is their kind friend and the unknowing Bertha falls in love with him. (top) Plummer, Caleb ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Poor toymaker who works for the hard-hearted Tackleton . Acting as the eyes of his blind daughter, Bertha , he tenderly embellishes their humble home and ragged clothes and makes her believe that the unfeeling Tackleton is their friend.

(top) Plummer, Edward ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Son of Caleb and sister to Bertha . Edward was the former lover of May Fielding , went away to sea, and was supposed dead. With the help of Mary Peerybingle , he is reunited with May on the day she is supposed to marry Tackleton . (top) Belinda Pocket ( Great Expectations ) Wife of Matthew Pocket . Mrs. Pocket was the only daughter of a certain quite accidental deceased Knight...So successful a watch and ward had been established over the young lady by this judicious parent, that she had grown up highly ornamental, but perfectly helpless and useless. (top) Pocket Children ( Great Expectations ) Alick, Jane, Charlotte, Fanny and Joe. Neglected children of Matthew and Belinda Pocket . (top) Pocket, Herbert ( Great Expectations ) Pip goes to London to begin his education and meets Herbert, whom he discovers is the "pale young gentleman" with whom he fought with at Miss Havisham's as a child. Pip and Herbert become best friends and share chambers at Barnard's Inn and at the Temple. Herbert helps teach Pip "city manners." Pip helps Herbert become a partner in the firm of Clarriker and Co.

which enables Pocket to marry Clara Barley . A pale young gentleman with red eyelids and light hair. Although he did not look very healthy,ï¿½having pimples on his face, and a breaking out at his mouth,ï¿½these dreadful preparations quite appalled me. I judged him to be about my own age, but he was much taller, and he had a way of spinning himself about that was full of appearance. For the rest, he was a young gentleman in a gray suit (when not denuded for battle), with his elbows, knees, wrists, and heels considerably in advance of the rest of him as to development. "What a hopeful disposition you have!" said I, gratefully admiring his cheery ways. "I ought to have," said Herbert, "for I have not much else." (top) Pocket, Matthew ( Great Expectations ) Father of Herbert and cousin of Miss Havisham . He is the only one of Miss Havisham's relatives who speaks honestly of her and has been banished from her presence. Matthew is Pip's tutor in London. He has no control over his large family and has a habit of pulling himself up by his hair in frustration.

Pip tells Miss Havisham of Matthew's good character and she leaves him 4000 pounds in her will. Matthew's wife, Belinda , is obsessed with social position, having been the daughter of a knight, and pays no attention to housekeeping or her young children who are left to "tumble up" by themselves. Many believe Dickens modeled the Pocket household after his own large family. Mr. Pocket was a gentleman with a rather perplexed expression of face, and with his very grey hair disordered on his head, as if he didn't quite see his way to putting anything straight. (top) Pocket, Sarah ( Great Expectations ) One of Miss Havisham's toady relations hoping to gain an inheritance. A little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat's without the whiskers. (top) Podsnap, John ( Our Mutual Friend ) Model for "Podsnappery" or Victorian middle-class pomp and complacency, along with his wife, and daughter Georgiana. Dickens modeled John Podsnap on his friend and first biographer John Forster .

(top) Pogram, Elijah ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Member of Congress Martin meets on the steamboat when leaving Eden. Pogram has inherited the congressional talent for speechifying much, and saying little. (top) Polly ( Bleak House ) Waitress at a neighbouring dining-house, of the class known among its frequenters by the denomination slap-bang. frequented by Bart (Chick) Smallweed . A bouncing young female of forty. (top) Potatoes, Mealy ( David Copperfield ) Co-worker of David Copperfield at Murdstone and Grimby's warehouse. This youth had not been christened by that name, but that it had been bestowed upon him in the warehouse, on account of his complexion, which was pale or mealy. Mealy's father was a waterman, who had the additional distinction of being a fireman, and was engaged as such at one of the large theatres; where some young relation of Mealy's - I think his little sister - did Imps in the Pantomimes. (top) Pott, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Editor of the Eatenswill Gazette and sworn enemy of Mr Slurk , editor of the Eatenswill Independent.

(top) Potterson, Abbey ( Our Mutual Friend ) Proprietor of the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters pub in Limehouse Hole. (top) Pouch, Joe ( Bleak House ) Deceased friend of the Bagnets. Mrs Bagnet thinks that Mr George should have married Joe Pouch's widow. (top) Prig, Betsy ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Day nurse and friend of Mrs Gamp . Mrs Prig was of the Gamp build, but not so fat; and her voice was deeper and more like a man's. She had also a beard. Betsy and Mrs Gamp later have a falling out, Betsy questioning the existence of Gamp's imaginary friend Mrs Harris . (top) Priscilla ( Bleak House ) The Jellyby's maid who drinks. She's always drinking. It's a great shame and a great story of you if you say you didn't smell her today. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner; you know it was! (top) Puffer, Princess ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Proprietor of an opium den in London's East End frequented by John Jasper . She follows him to Cloisterham and spies on him there.

(top) Miss Pross ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Lucie Manette's loyal maid. In Paris Miss Pross is surprised to find her brother, Soloman, is the spy John Barsad . In the end of the novel she struggles with Madame Defarge , who is killed in the scuffle. Mr. Lorry knew Miss Pross to be very jealous, but he also knew her by this time to be, beneath the service of her eccentricity, one of those unselfish creatures--found only among women--who will, for pure love and admiration, bind themselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it, to beauty that they never had, to accomplishments that they were never fortunate enough to gain, to bright hopes that never shone upon their own sombre lives.

He knew enough of the world to know that there is nothing in it better than the faithful service of the heart; so rendered and so free from any mercenary taint, he had such an exalted respect for it, that in the retributive arrangements made by his own mind--we all make such arrangements, more or less-- he stationed Miss Pross much nearer to the lower Angels than many ladies immeasurably better got up both by Nature and Art, who had balances at Tellson's. (top) David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - Punch and Dickens Punch and Dickens Reprinted with permission of the author Introduction Dickens is noted for his wonderful descriptions, but his writings about the Punch and Judy puppets in Old Curiosity Shop are surprisingly brief. However, when one considers that his 19th century readers were as familiar with Punch and Judy as we are with Bart Simpson and Bugs Bunny, (both of whom have Mr. Punch to thank for some of their characteristics) then it is quite understandable. In fact, Dickens often describes his scenes and characters by likening them to Punch.

He does this in Sketches by Boz, Uncommercial Traveller, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, Dombey and Son and most notably in Old Curiosity Shop. He also notes seeing puppet shows in Pictures from Italy and regrets seeing none in New York in American Notes. History of Punch and Judy Although the average reader of Dickens in Victorian times would have known little of the history of Punch and Judy, a lot of information is available to us in the 21st Century in books and on the Internet. I think we can say that we can trace the development of Punch to the early Greek theater although theater historians point out that there is no direct documentation. Greek playwrights such as Aristophenes often wrote about servants who were cleverer than their masters. Roman comedies are derived from the Greek and characters in plays by Plautus are ancestors of those in the Commedia Dell Arte - and later to Punch and Judy. If you have seen Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum, based on Plautus's plays, you are familiar with the clever servants, the befuddled master, the pompous authority figures, etc.

Many of the characters of the Commedia Dellâ€™ Arte are also on Punchâ€™s stage. - and in many of our performing arts entertainments of today. The Commediaâ€™s Pulcinella was a hunchbacked, hook nosed scoundrel. Samuel Pepys, that incurable diarist, records seeing a Punch and Judy show in Covent Garden on May 9th, 1662. The puppeteer, Signor Bologna, had come from Naples with a marionette version of Pulcinella to perform in London as the city was celebrating the marriage of King Charles II. As Pulcinella traveled across Europe, the puppet was called Polichinelle in France and Punchinello when he arrived in England. Eventually the puppet became known as Punch. Signor Bolognaâ€کs show was held in a tent with the puppeteer charging admission. Over the years Mr. Punch was taken up by more and more puppeteers and somewhere around 1800 he became a hand puppet. He then appeared on a small transportable stage, and usually entertained in the streets, with a hat passed around to collect money from the spectators.

Other Commedia Dell Arte characters traveled with Punch. Another clown of the Commedia, Scaramouche becomes one of Punchâ€™s victims with the same name. Il Doctore becomes the doctor, the braggart soldier becomes the beadle â€“ and later the policeman. It was Harlequin who carried the cudgel in the Commedia, but Punch took it from him. Another clown named Joey, after Dickensâ€™s favorite, Joseph Grimaldi, was added to the cast in the early 19th Century. And one day, the date lost to history, Mr. Punch took a wife. Her name was Joan, but she was soon called Judy. The first half of the 19th Century was Punch's golden age. A phrase, "Pleased as Punch" was first heard...Dickens used it in Hard Times, and when a group of radical writers founded a magazine in 1841 for their satirical humor, they called it Punch. Both the phrase and the magazine are still with us. In 1828, Payne Collier transcribed a Punch and Judy show. George Cruikshank, who also illustrated Oliver Twist, drew the characters.

This book gives us a wonderful look at Punch in his golden age. So what was a Punch and Judy show like? Every puppeteer had individual variations but in general Mr. Punch appears and stays onstage the entire time. He may talk to the bottler, or Merry Andrew...a person working with the Puppeteer, who stands to the side of the booth. The Merry Andrew may have a live dog. The dogâ€™s name is always Toby. Punch may talk about eating swashages. He says, â€œDo you know why I call them swashages? Because I canâ€™t say sausages,â€‌ as he pronounces sausages perfectly. Punch then introduces his wife, Judy and their baby. He brags about his appearance and asks her "Arenâ€™t I handsome?" She responds sarcastically but he doesnâ€™t catch the sarcasm. When the baby wonâ€™t stop crying he throws the baby out the window. Judy is outraged and gets a cudgel to teach Punch a lesson. He takes it away from her and after a ferocious battle Judy is killed and is also thrown out the window.

Punch says, "Thatâ€™s the way to do it." A beadle or policeman comes in to investigate and he too is soon dispatched. Punch says, "Thatâ€™s the way to do it." Following the beadle are a doctor, a foreigner, a dragon or crocodile, the hangman, and many other characters - depending on the puppeteer. All are dispatched with â€œThatâ€™s the way to do it!â€‌ In the end the devil himself appears and is killed as well. By now, the audience gleefully joins Punch when he says, "Thatâ€™s the way to do it!" Dickens and Puppets Although Dickens writes much about the Punch and Judy men in Old Curiosity Shop, he never describes their Punch and Judy show. He concentrates instead on the backstage lives of the Punch and Judy men, Codlin and Short: They were two men who were seated in easy attitudes upon the grass, and so busily engaged as to be at first unconscious of intruders.

It was not difficult to divine that they were of a class of itinerant showmen--exhibitors of the freaks of Punch--for, perched cross-legged upon a tombstone behind them, was a figure of that hero himself, his nose and chin as hooked and his face as beaming as usual. Perhaps his imperturbable character was never more strikingly developed, for he preserved his usual equable smile notwithstanding that his body was dangling in a most uncomfortable position, all loose and limp and shapeless, while his long peaked cap, unequally balanced against his exceedingly slight legs, threatened every instant to bring him toppling down. In part scattered upon the ground at the feet of the two men, and in part jumbled together in a long flat box, were the other persons of the Drama. The hero's wife and one child, the hobby-horse, the doctor, the foreign gentleman who not being familiar with the language is unable in the representation to express his ideas otherwise than by the utterance of the word 'Shallabalah' three distinct times, the radical neighbour who will by no means admit that a tin bell is an organ, the executioner, and the devil, were all here.

Their owners had evidently come to that spot to make some needful repairs in the stage arrangements, for one of them was engaged in binding together a small gallows with thread, while the other was intent upon fixing a new black wig, with the aid of a small hammer and some tacks, upon the head of the radical neighbour, who had been beaten bald. Quick footnote: There was a famous family of Punch puppeteers in Liverpool named Codman...Although Codlin and Short are minor characters, they do play an important part in the plot, and they direct the readerâ€™s awareness to Dickensâ€™s deliberate imagining of what kind of character would be created if one brought a truly evil Mr. Punch to life. The answer is Daniel Quilp. Dickens describes Quilp as a misshapen, hook-nosed dwarf, with a "ghastly smile, which, appearing to be the mere result of habit and to have no connexion with any mirthful or complacent feeling..." Although Quilp does not beat his wife, he certainly mistreats her (and her mother).

Quilp "performed so many horrifying and uncommon acts that the women were nearly frightened out of their wits, and began to doubt if he were really a human creature." Remember what I said about Punch asking Judy if he were handsome? At one point Quilp says: "'Mrs. Quilp!...Am I nice to look at? Should I be the handsomest creature in the world if I had but whiskers? Am I quite a lady's man as it is -- am I, Mrs. Quilp?' Mrs. Quilp dutifully replied, 'Yes, Quilp'; and fascinated by his gaze, remained looking timidly at him, while he treated her with a succession of such hostile grimaces, as none but himself and nightmares had the power of assuming. During the whole of that performance, which was somewhat of the longest, he preserved a dead silence, except when, by an unexpected skip or leap, he made his wife start backward with an irrepressible shriek. Then he chuckled." But if Quilp does not wield a cudgel towards Mrs Quilp, he is no stranger to the weapon. Fighting two boys "...

the dwarf flourished his cudgel, and dancing around the combatants and treading upon them and skipping over them, in a kind of frenzy, laid about him, now on one and now on the other, in a most desperate manner, always aiming at their heads and dealing such blows as none but the veriest little savage would have inflicted." Doesnâ€™t that sound just like Punch? The Recreation Departmentâ€™s Punch and Judy When I started to work for the Philadelphia Recreation Department, my colleague, Elaine Evans, suggested we create a Punch and Judy show, which we would take around to the different playgrounds. We made a set of Punch and Judy puppets, plus a baby, Scaramouche, doctor, beadle, policeman, hangman, horse, dragon and devil. We chose to break away from tradition in only one way. We chose to paint the characters' faces with bright primary and secondary colors. Since we would be going into neighborhoods of many different ethnic backgrounds, we did not want our puppets to be of any identifiable race. We followed the shows with workshops for the recreation leaders teaching puppet construction and manipulation.

The puppetry program was very successful and for a number of years many kids from different playgrounds got free admission to the Zoo because they would do a puppet show near the Impala fountain. Punch men are traditionally called "Professors," and often assume an Italian name. Since I had become a Punch and Judy man, you can now call me "Professor" â€“ "Professor Umberto Moskovitillini" will do very nicely, thank you. One time, after one of my shows, we had a woman come over and complain that we were destroying valuable antique puppets. I told her the "antiques" were five months old. But more serious objections were raised once about the violence. We told the complaining woman that we grew up with Punch and Judy and we thought we turned out ok. But we were aware, especially in the 1970s, that violence in childrenâ€™s entertainment was being studied as a possible problem. If it is a problem, it is not a new one.

Disapproval of Punch and Judy In 1749, Henry Fieldingâ€™s Tom Jones meets an itinerant Punch and Judy man who says he has removed Punch and Judy and their violence from his puppet show and made it a "moral and refined" show. "I would by no means degrade the ingenuity of your profession," answered Jones, "but I should have been glad to have seen my old acquaintance master Punch, for all that; and so far from improving, I think, by leaving out him and his merry wife Joan, you have spoiled your puppet-show." In the late 1840s Dickens received a letter asking for his help to "ban" the devil's work: Punch and Judy! The author of the letter must have been extremely disappointed with Dickens's response: "In my opinion the Street Punch is one of those extravagant reliefs from the realities of life which would lose its hold upon the people if it were made moral and instructive. I regard it as quite harmless and as an outrageous joke which no one in existence would think of regarding as an incentive to any kind of action or as a model for any kind of conduct.

It is possible, I think, that one secret source of pleasure very generally derived from this performance is the satisfaction the spectator feels in the circumstances that likenesses of men and women can be so knocked about without any pain or suffering." Copyright © 1997- David A. Perdue, All Rights Reserved. URL:

Question: What is the first name of the Dickens character Quilp?
Answer: Daniel