Esther Summerson: My favourite Charles Dickens character - Telegraph Charles Dickens Esther Summerson: My favourite Charles Dickens character Esther Summerson - from Bleak House - is one of Charles Dickens's best female characters and is the eleventh in the Telegraph pick of the best Charles Dickens characters. Robert Ball's illustration of Bleak House with its heroine Esther Summerson. Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens 'excelled in the creation of characters,' said poet TS Eliot By Rachel Ward , Writer, Telegraph TV & Radio 11:33AM GMT 11 Feb 2012 My Favourite Charles Dickens character: Esther Summerson from Bleak House (1854) Charles Dickens’s 10th novel, Bleak House, features one of his most holy of heroines – a mother to all and “angel of the house”: the Oprah Winfrey of the Victorian age, if you will. Unlike the writer’s other angels, Little Dorrit’s Amy; or Sissy Jupe in Hard Times, Esther gets to tell her own story as she narrates a tale centring on a quarrel over an inheritance.

Charlotte Bronte may have described her as “weak and twaddling,” but she’s the only woman that Dickens allows a pen and he brilliantly projects Esther as his type of ideal woman, with her modesty, perceptiveness, and moral responsibility. As her name suggests (it means “star”), she lights up the gloomy and chaotic world of the novel and dispenses her love to the needy, because love is the very thing she needs in return. As an illegitimate daughter, Esther faces numerous bitter experiences in Victorian society and takes a great dislike to those she feels unworthy of her virtues – her handling of the incorrigibly irresponsible Harold Skimpole is perhaps one of her finest moments as she politely refuses his proposal, all the while letting him know exactly what she thinks of him. The full series of 'My favourite Charles Dickens character' is: SparkNotes: Bleak House: Analysis of Major Characters Analysis of Major Characters Themes, Motifs & Symbols Esther Summerson Esther Summerson, the narrator and protagonist of Bleak House, is relentlessly modest and frequently disparages her own intelligence, but she proves to be a confident narrator who never misses the opportunity to relate others’ compliments of her.

When we first meet Esther, she is a hesitant narrator who feels she won’t be able to properly relay the story because she isn’t “clever.” However, far from proceeding meekly, she launches into detailed storytelling, setting scenes and describing characters easily. She generally refrains from editorializing about her own behavior, but when she does something good—such as when she successfully cares for the Jellyby children before she even reaches Bleak House—she includes others’ praise of her in her narration. As her narrative gains breadth and depth, her confidence as a narrator grows. She deliberately withholds information or delays including it to give her story coherence and dramatic effect, often commenting on her storytelling by telling us that something isn’t important or that she’ll tell us more about it later on. And even though she is for the most part a reliable narrator (a narrator we can trust to accurately tell the story), she is less reliable when relaying information about her romantic life. For example, she hints at her feelings for Mr. Woodcourt, but she never addresses them until much later in the novel. Esther nurtures everyone around her, and her first instinct is to be motherly, perhaps because she has never had a caring mother figure of her own.

Mr. Jarndyce takes her in to be a companion to Ada, but Esther cares for Mr. Jarndyce and Richard just as much as she does for Ada. Many others, including young Caddy and Peepy Jellby, Charley, and Jo also receive Esther’s devotion. Ironically, Esther, for all her caring and tenderness, is the unwitting cause of great unhappiness. Because of Esther’s illegitimate birth, Lady Dedlock was forever estranged from her sister, Miss Barbary, and was forced to carry a painful secret. Because Miss Barbary chose to raise Esther secretly, she was forced to separate from Mr. Boythorn, who never recovered from his broken heart. Because other unhappinesses, such as Sir Leicester’s tragic fate, radiate from these secrets, we could argue that Esther is indirectly responsible for these as well. Although no one could possibly say that these difficulties are Esther’s fault, her indirect connection to them gives her relentless nurturing greater depth: in a way, she nurtures as penance for others’ sins. Mr. Jarndyce John Jarndyce is a good-hearted man who, for all his kindness, has a difficult time expressing his emotions.

Whenever he is agitated or suspects that unpleasant news is on the horizon, he complains that the wind is coming from the east rather than acknowledging the issue directly. As Esther, Ada, and Richard catch on to his use of the phrase, the east wind becomes a kind of shorthand for anything that is upsetting or unpleasant. Mr. Jarndyce is likewise unable to acknowledge gratitude, immediately telling Esther, Ada, and Richard after first meeting them that he’ll run away if they try to thank him. When Esther does thank him for taking her in, she does so timidly, and Mr. Jarndyce quickly changes the subject. All this is not to say that Mr. Jarndyce ignores or overlooks problems when they arise. When he does need to gripe, he uses the “Growlery” at Bleak House for just this purpose. One exception to his generally suppressed feelings is his stance on the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit. On this, he holds forth willingly, making no attempt to hide his hatred of it or his firm decision to have nothing to do with it. Mr.

Jarndyce is a trustworthy, devoted guardian to Esther, Ada, and Richard and has a large circle of friends, but in many ways he is lonely, repaid for his devotion by being left alone at Bleak House. Mr. Jarndyce wants only the best for Ada and Richard, but his initial support of the match weakens as Richard becomes obsessed with the Jarndyce and Jarndyce suit. The two marry secretly, however, and Ada moves out. Mr. Jarndyce proposes to Esther in a letter, revealing that he had always planned to make her the “mistress of Bleak House,” but he ultimately gives her up so that she can find greater romantic happiness with Mr. Woodcourt. At the end of the novel, the house he buys for Esther and Mr. Woodcourt, which he names Bleak House, is a richer, livelier home than the original Bleak House. Even though Mr. Jarndyce is no longer alone at the end of the novel—widowed Ada and her child move back in—the house has lost some of the warmth it once had, especially with the sadness Ada brings with her.

Lady Dedlock Lady Dedlock wears a cold, haughty mask because she has a secret to hide: a great passion that led to an illegitimate child and heartbreak. Until we discover this secret, Lady Dedlock seems to be little more than an unpleasant member of high society, bored with absolutely everything and unwilling to be bothered by anyone, including her husband, Sir Leicester. Lady Dedlock seems not to care about or have any interest in the world around her. When we discover her secret, however, we know all this to be false. Far from being disengaged from the world because of snobbery, Lady Dedlock keeps the world at arm’s length out of fear and pain: fear that her secret will be revealed and bring the whole Dedlock family tumbling down, and pain from events from her past. Regal, stone-cold Lady Dedlock, watched and talked about by the public as though she is greater than life, has a very human, very messy past that throbs beneath her unshakeable exterior. When Lady Dedlock finds that her past is catching up with her, she begins acting in a way that seems shockingly inappropriate for a woman of the Dedlock name.

For example, she disguises herself and asks Jo, a street urchin, to show her the burial ground of the dead lodger, who we eventually learn was her former lover. When Esther is sick, Lady Dedlock disguises herself again and tries to find out information about her by going to the brickmaker’s cottage. And when she fears her secret is about to come out, she leaves her jewels and money behind and flees, eventually dying on the street. Lady Dedlock, who seems at first to have no passion, ultimately shows herself to be so passionate that she will die to protect those she loves. Esther Summerson Esther Summerson Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List In literature, as in life, troubles and suffering tend to be emotionally powerful and to arouse our interest and compassion — to some extent even when the sufferer is a far-from-admirable person or character. We are not shown, in any detail, the inner suffering of Honoria Dedlock, but at least we know that her suffering exists. With Esther Summerson, even this source of interest in the character is mostly lacking.

Except for her earliest years, when she was being raised by her rather unfeeling aunt (Miss Barbary), and during a short period of dismay and self-doubt after the scarring of her face by smallpox, Esther has lived a life far from rich in the drama of troubles and suffering. She dwells, throughout most of the story, in security and comfort and looks forward to a happy marriage with her guardian. Then she acquires even better prospects when her husband turns out to be Allan Woodcourt, who seems to be both dashing and solid. But the difficulty Esther experiences when she is trying to keep the identity of her mother a secret is not intense or long lasting. In literature, as in life, troubles and suffering tend to be emotionally powerful and to arouse our interest and compassion — to some extent even when the sufferer is a far-from-admirable person or character. We are not shown, in any detail, the inner suffering of Honoria Dedlock, but at least we know that her suffering exists. With Esther Summerson, even this source of interest in the character is mostly lacking.

Except for her earliest years, when she was being raised by her rather unfeeling aunt (Miss Barbary), and during a short period of dismay and self-doubt after the scarring of her face by smallpox, Esther has lived a life far from rich in the drama of troubles and suffering. She dwells, throughout most of the story, in security and comfort and looks forward to a happy marriage with her guardian. Then she acquires even better prospects when her husband turns out to be Allan Woodcourt, who seems to be both dashing and solid. But the difficulty Esther experiences when she is trying to keep the identity of her mother a secret is not intense or long lasting. Esther is also too uncomplicated to be one of the great heroines of literature. Complication makes for lifelikeness. It also challenges us intellectually — we are drawn into a deeper engagement as more and more of a character's complexity is presented to us, for the simple reason that we have to make some effort to understand it, to see the personality as a whole. And in reading, deeper engagement is another term for interest.

In her uncomplicated, unfailing goodness, Esther is more of an ideal than a "convincing" character, one that might have been based on a real-life individual. Matters are made worse by the fact that much of the story is narrated by Esther; we have the nagging feeling that much of what she observes and reports is more complicated — hence, more interesting — than her uncomplicated perspective allows us to see. Most of the heroines (or female principals or protagonists) of Dickens' books are somewhat unsatisfying in this way. What may be virtuousness in life becomes faultiness in fiction: The ideal becomes the unreal. But is there more to the matter? Is it possible that, at least to some extent, we dissociate Esther from all reference to real life and consciously or "instinctively" experience her as the ideal, as the Eternal Feminine, archetypal femininity, a Cinderella or Good Daughter or Beloved Bride figure? If so, then despite her limitations with regard to real-life women, she would affect us and not be a wholly wasted literary portrait.

Esther Summerson in Bleak House NEXT Character Analysis A young woman raised by a strict and horrible aunt, Esther narrates her own half of the novel, chronicling how she becomes Ada's governess and the housekeeper of Bleak House, befriends and helps many people in the process, and eventually uncovers the mystery of her birth. House Angel Dickens almost has a patent out on Esther's character type. To put it briefly, she is perfect. No, scratch that – she is the perfect young woman, in all the ways that mattered to our stodgy, prim Victorian ancestors. There's almost a standard list of requirements we can run down to make sure: Looks: Pretty, but not overwhelmingly so? Check. Not too vain to get over some facial scarring? Check. So far so good. Personality: Humble, modest, quiet, hard-working, and grateful? Yes, indeedy. A good caretaker, and homemaker who generally tends to act only for the benefit of others? Every time. Excellent, excellent. Sex: Represses her own desires? Yes, always. Hard for others to see her as a sexual being? Very much so.

OK, then – we've got ourselves a very nice version of the "Angel in the House." That phrase comes from a sappy poem written in 1854 by Coventry Patmore about his wife Emily, summing up the awesome way she rolls, wife-style. The poem wasn't a big hit, but the phrase definitely stuck as a neat shorthand for what makes a "good" woman. She's got to stay in the house doing domestic things (so no pesky jobs, voting, or property ownership for you, ladies!). And she's got to be a ministering angel, constantly taking care of everyone around her (family, friends, random neighborhood poor people), without spending much time taking care of herself (no days off now! and stop looking at yourself in the mirror! well, unless it's just to make yourself attractive for your husband). You know, no big deal. In real, life of course, it was probably pretty hard to find anyone who actually fit this mold. But apparently every man could dream. And a man like Dickens could dream and write it down.

The Modest Narrator Still, this Angel in the House is different in one important way from Dickens's other angels, like Amy in Little Dorrit, Biddy in Great Expectations, Sissy Jupe in Hard Times , or Lizzie Hexam in Our Mutual Friend. She actually gets to speak in her own voice and tell her own story. So what happens when a shy, modest, and self-abnegating character tries to be a narrator – someone who has to speak to others, talk about herself, and describe things with relative honesty? For one thing, because we are getting a lot of the narrating character's thoughts, Esther constantly has to analyze the people she sees, the events she experiences, and her own emotions. All this analysis leads to growth that can actually be demonstrated rather than described. So for instance, at first Esther has only very mild concern about Harold Skimpole, but as she gets older and more self-assured, she goes and actually tells him off. We, in turn, know that she has changed as a person because we see her going to give him what for rather than simply hearing about it from a third-person narrator.

Another way to see growth is in the way Esther becomes more and more willing to be critical about what she sees. So while she describes Mrs. Jellyby in the nicest way possible and tries to find the good in that crazy woman with her philanthropic nonsense, later in the novel she is totally straight with us about Mr. Turveydrop and his selfish, ludicrous existence. She even gets kind of nasty in her (always internal) put-downs. See if you can spot a few toward the end of the novel. All that modesty and self-denial has a narrative drawback, which is easy to see whenever Esther has to describe the way other people think about her. Since she is so perfect, most people are totally bowled over by her, think of her extremely highly, and generally want to be super nice and complimentary to her. But a person who doesn't advertise her own awesomeness would never broadcast this kind of thing. So Dickens solves this problem by having Esther repeat the nice things other people say but then immediately downplay them herself. It's kind of an imperfect solution – every time she does this, she sounds like she's just fishing for compliments.

Bleak House Characters | GradeSaver Lady Dedlock's French maid, who is dismissed and who thereafter resents her former employer. Mr. Vholes An unscrupulous lawyer employed fruitlessly by Richard Carstone on the Jarndyce & Jarndyce suit. Mr. Skimpole An amusing but amoral sponger. He sometimes partakes of Mr. Jarndyce's hospitality. Mr. Jarndyce usually tolerates him, but Esther soon grows to abhor him. He introduces Mr. Vholes to Richard. Lady Dedlock The fashionable and stoic wife of Sir Leicester Dedlock. She is the mother of Esther, but did not raise her because she was told that Esther died soon after birth. She lives at Chesney Wold and a house in London. She was born Honoria Barbary. Sir Leicester Dedlock A baronet of a family 700 years old. His country seat is Chesney Wold. He personifies the old aristocracy of England, and is reactionary in his social views. He is enamored of his wife, and married her even though she was slightly below him in social position.

Richard Carstone A ward in Chancery, and under the legal guardianship of John Jarndyce. A handsome, apt young man, who lacks direction and succumbs easily to the suggestions of others. He loves his distant cousin, Ada Clare. Charley Neckett The daughter of the bailiff Coavinses (Neckett). She becomes a maid to Esther after her father's death. Her name is actually Charlotte. George Rouncewell (Mr. George) A former soldier, he runs a shooting gallery in London. He is the son of Mrs. Rouncewell. A principled military man, with more personal honor than business acumen. Mrs. Rouncewell The old housekeeper at Chesney Wold. Mr. Tangle A lawyer in the Jarndyce & Jarndyce matter. He appears in the Court of Chancery. Dr. Allan Woodcourt A charitable and level-headed, yet poor, young doctor. He loves Esther Summerson, and is a friend of John Jarndyce. Krook The owner of a rag and bottle shop in London, near the Court of Chancery. He is Nemo's and Miss Flite's landlord.

Rosa A young village girl, elevated to the position of lady's maid to Lady Dedlock. She replaces Mademoiselle Hortense. Tom Jarndyce A character deceased before the novel begins. John Jarndyce's great uncle (Krook calls them cousins, a Victorian term for relations of that degree), who killed himself in despair over the Jarndyce & Jarndyce case. Tom-All-Alone's was his property, or the property of the Jarndyce suit, and has gone to rack and ruin. Jenny The brickmaker's wife, from the town of St. Alban's. She has a drunken husband, and her baby dies. She befriends Jo. Neckett (Coavinses) Charley Neckett's father, the bailiff who came to Bleak House to collect Mr. Skimpole's debt. Mr. Kenge A lawyer in the firm of Kenge and Carboy's. He is assigned to Esther's case when she is made a ward of John Jarndyce. Mr. Snagsby The law stationery shopkeeper who employs Nemo. He also befriends Jo. Mrs. Snagsby Mr.

Snagsby's suspicious and jealous wife. Jo A street orphan of no education, family, or support. He attempts to eke out a living as a crossing sweeper. Various characters in the novel befriend him, but none manage to save him from an early death. He is Sir Leicester Dedlock's social and economic opposite. Mr. Rouncewell Son of Mrs. Rouncewell. An ironmaster. Father of Watt Rouncewell. Watt Rouncewell Mrs. Rouncewell's grandson. In love with the maid Rosa. Grandfather Smallweed A greedy man in a wheelchair, who buys Krook's shop after his death. The personification of capitalist opportunism in the novel. Grandmother Smallweed Smallweed's wife -- an infantile woman. Batholomew Smallweed The Smallweeds' granddaughter. Usually goes about with her grandfather to "shake him up". Phil Squod Mr. George's servant, and loyal friend. He is disfigured but usually very cheerful. Hon. Bob Stables A friend of the Dedlocks. An aristocratic, idle youth. Prince Turveydrop A young man who works as a dancing master in his father's studio. He is overworked and underappreciated.

He marries Caddy Jellyby. Mr. Turveydrop The foppish, ridiculous, and neglectful father of Prince. He runs the dancing school. Mrs. Woodcourt Allan Woodcourt's elderly mother. Mr. Guppy A clerk in Kenge and Carboy's. He is enamored of Esther Summerson, though he loses his affection for a while after her smallpox scarring. He has a higher opinion of himself than most of the characters in the novel do. Though hampered by a lower-class accent, he attempts to use flowery legal and social language and poetic constructions in his speech. He is instrumental in solving the mystery of Esther's parentage. Mrs. Guppy Guppy's strange, lower-middle-class mother. Mr. Gridley Called the "Man from Shropshire". The unending nature of the Jarndyce suit drives him at last to suicide. Mr. Boythorn A neighbor of Sir Leicester Dedlock. A friend of John Jarndyce. Mrs. Jellyby A hopeless do-gooder. Mother of a large, neglected family. Mr.

Jellyby SparkNotes: Bleak House: Plot Overview Plot Overview Context Character List Esther Summerson describes her childhood and says she is leaving for the home of a new guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, along with Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. On the way to the home, called Bleak House, they stop overnight at the Jellybys’ chaotic home. When they finally reach Bleak House, they meet Mr. Jarndyce and settle in. They meet Mr. Skimpole, a man who acts like a child. The narrator describes a ghost that lurks around Chesney Wold, the home of Lady and Sir Leicester Dedlock. Esther meets the overbearing charity worker Mrs. Pardiggle, who introduces her to a poor brickmaker’s wife named Jenny, whose baby is ill. Esther says she is sure that Ada and Richard are falling in love. She meets Mr. Boythorn, as well as Mr. Guppy, who proposes marriage. Esther refuses him. At Chesney Wold, Tulkinghorn shows the Dedlocks some Jarndyce documents, and Lady Dedlock recognizes the handwriting. Tulkinghorn says he’ll find out who did it. He asks Mr.

Snagsby, the law-stationer, who says a man named Nemo wrote the documents. Tulkinghorn visits Nemo, who lives above a shop run by a man named Krook, and finds him dead. At the coroner’s investigation, a street urchin named Jo is questioned and says that Nemo was nice to him. Later, Tulkinghorn tells Lady Dedlock what he’s learned. Richard struggles to find a suitable career, eventually deciding to pursue medicine. But he is more interested in the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit, which he believes will make him rich. Neither Esther nor the narrator ever fully explains the lawsuit, because nobody remembers what originally prompted the parties to begin the suit. In London, Esther meets a young girl named Charlotte who is caring for her two young siblings. A lodger who lives in the same building, Mr. Gridley, helps care for the children as well. A mysterious lady approaches Jo and asks him to show her where Nemo is buried. Mr. Jarndyce tells Esther some details about her background. He reveals that the woman who raised Esther was her aunt. The next day, a doctor named Mr.

Woodcourt visits before leaving on a trip to China and India. An unidentified person leaves a bouquet of flowers for Esther. Richard begins working in the law. Esther, Ada, and others visit Mr. Boythorn, who lives near Chesney Wold. There, Esther meets Lady Dedlock for the first time and feels a strange connection to her. Lady Dedlock has a French maid, Mademoiselle Hortense, who is jealous that Lady Dedlock has a new young protégée named Rosa. A man named Mr. Jobling, a friend of Mr. Guppy’s, moves into Nemo’s old room above Krook’s shop. Two men, George and Grandfather Smallweed, talk about some money that George owes Smallweed. They reach an agreement, and George leaves. Tulkinghorn introduces Bucket and Snagsby, and Snagsby introduces Bucket to Jo. Bucket figures out that the woman Jo led to the burial ground was disguised in Mademoiselle Hortense’s clothes. Mademoiselle Hortense soon quits her post at Chesney Wold. Caddy Jellyby tells Esther she is engaged to Prince Turveydrop. Charley Neckett becomes Esther’s maid. Mr.

Jarndyce warns Ada and Richard to end their romantic relationship since Richard is joining the army. Gridley dies. Smallweed visits George and says that Captain Hawdon, a man he thought was dead, is actually alive, and that a lawyer was asking about some handwriting of his. He asks George if he has any handwriting to offer. George visits Tulkinghorn, who explains that George will be rewarded if he gives up some of Hawdon’s handwriting. George refuses. Guppy visits Lady Dedlock in London and tells her he thinks there is a connection between her and Esther. He says that Esther’s former guardian was someone named Miss Barbary and that Esther’s real name was Esther Hawdon. He says that Nemo was actually named Hawdon, and that he left some letters, which Guppy will get. When Guppy leaves, Lady Dedlock cries: Esther is her daughter, who her sister claimed had died at birth. Charley and Esther visit Jenny and find Jo lying on the floor. He is sick, and Esther takes him back to Bleak House, putting him up in the stable. In the morning, he has disappeared. Charley gets very ill. Then Esther gets extremely ill.

Guppy and his friend Jobling want to get Hawdon’s letters from Krook. But when they go down to Krook’s shop, they find that he has spontaneously combusted. Later, Grandfather Smallweed arrives to take care of Krook’s property. Guppy eventually tells Lady Dedlock the letters were destroyed. Smallweed demands payment from George and the Bagnets, on whose behalf he borrowed the money. Desperate, he tells Tulkinghorn he’ll turn over the Hawdon’s handwriting if he’ll leave the Bagnets alone. Esther recovers slowly. Miss Flite visits her, telling her that a mysterious woman visited Jenny’s cottage, asking about Esther and taking away a handkerchief Esther had left. She also tells Esther that Mr. Woodcourt has returned. Esther goes to Mr. Boythorn’s house to recover fully. She looks in a mirror for the first time and sees that her face is terribly scarred from the smallpox. While there, Lady Dedlock confronts her and tells her she’s Esther’s mother. She orders Esther to never speak to her again, since this must remain a secret.

Richard pursues the Jarndyce lawsuit more earnestly, aided by a lawyer named Vholes. He no longer speaks to Mr. Jarndyce, who doesn’t want anything to do with the suit. Esther visits Guppy and instructs him to stop investigating her. Tulkinghorn visits Chesney Wold and hints that he knows Lady Dedlock’s secret. She confronts him and says she will leave Chesney Wold immediately because she knows her secret will destroy Rosa’s marriage prospects. Tulkinghorn convinces her to stay, since fleeing will make her secret known too fast. When Tulkinghorn is back home, he is visited by Mademoiselle Hortense, who demands he help her find a job. He threatens to arrest her if she keeps harassing him. Esther tells Mr. Jarndyce about Lady Dedlock. He reveals that Boythorn was once in love with Miss Barbary, who left him when she decided to raise Esther in secret. Mr. Jarndyce gives Esther a letter that asks her to marry him. Esther accepts. Esther tries to convince Richard to abandon the Jarndyce suit.

While she is visiting him, he tells her he has left the army and devoted himself entirely to the lawsuit. Esther sees Mr. Woodcourt on the street. She asks Mr. Woodcourt to befriend Richard in London, and he agrees. In London, Woodcourt runs into Jo on the street and gives him some food. He discovers that Jo once stayed with Esther. Jo tells him that a man forced him to leave and that he’s now scared of running into him. Woodcourt helps Jo find a hiding place at George’s Shooting Gallery. Jo soon dies. Lady Dedlock dismisses Rosa with no explanation in order to protect her. Tulkinghorn is enraged and says he’ll reveal the secret. That night, Tulkinghorn is shot through the heart. The next day, Bucket arrests George for the murder. Ada reveals to Esther that she and Richard have been secretly married. Bucket investigates Tulkinghorn’s murder. He receives a few letters that say only “Lady Dedlock.” He confronts Sir Leicester and tells him what he knows about Lady Dedlock’s past. Instead of arresting Lady Dedlock, however, he arrests Mademoiselle Hortense, who killed Tulkinghorn and tried to frame Lady Dedlock. Meanwhile, Mrs.

Rouncewell, the housekeeper at Chesney Wold, finds out that George is her long-lost son. She begs Lady Dedlock to do anything she can to help him. Guppy arrives and tells Lady Dedlock that the letters were actually not destroyed. Lady Dedlock writes a note to Sir Leicester, saying she didn’t murder Tulkinghorn, and then she flees. Sir Leicester collapses from a stroke. Mrs. Rouncewell gives him Lady Dedlock’s letter, and he orders Bucket to find her, saying he forgives her for everything. Bucket asks Esther to join him, and they set out in search of Lady Dedlock in the middle of the night. While Sir Leicester waits at home, unable to speak clearly, Esther and Bucket search. Eventually Bucket figures out where to find her. They finally find Lady Dedlock at the gate of the burial ground where Hawdon is buried. She is dead. Richard is sick and still obsessed with Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Ada is pregnant and hopes the baby will distract Richard from his obsession with the lawsuit. After visiting Richard one night, Woodcourt walks Esther home and confesses he still loves her as he once did. She tells him she is engaged to Mr.

Jarndyce. Smallweed finds a Jarndyce will among Krook’s property and gives it to Vholes. George moves to Chesney Wold, where he helps tend to Sir Leicester. Esther begins to plan the wedding. Mr. Jarndyce goes to Yorkshire on business and then sends for her. When she arrives, she finds out that Mr. Jarndyce has bought a house for Woodcourt out of gratitude. He shows her the house, which is decorated in Esther’s style, and tells her that he’s named the house Bleak House. Then he reveals that he knows she loves Woodcourt and that they should be married. He says he will always be her guardian. Woodcourt appears, and he and Esther reunite. The Jarndyce and Jarndyce case is finally dismissed. No one gets any money since the inheritance had been used up to pay the legal fees. Richard dies. Esther says she and Woodcourt have two daughters and that Ada had a son. She is very happy. David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - Dickens Characters R-S Dickens' Characters R-S R Mrs Rachael ( Bleak House ) Esther Summerson's nurse. Later marries Rev Chadband .

Very good woman, but austere. (top) Rachael ( Hard Times ) Friend of Stephen Blackpool , who loves her but cannot gain release from his drunken wife. She defends Stephen when he is accused of theft from the bank. A quiet oval face, dark and rather delicate, irradiated by a pair of very gentle eyes, and further set off by the perfect order of her shining black hair. It was not a face in its first bloom; she was a woman five and thirty years of age. (top) Raddle, Mary Ann ( Pickwick Papers ) Bob Sawyer's landlady in Lant Street. 'A little fierce women' who berates her husband for not standing up for her. (top) Radfoot, George ( Our Mutual Friend ) Third mate aboard the ship bringing John Harmon back to England. He and Harmon resemble each other and Harmon devises a plan to temporarily exchange clothes and identities with Radfoot so that he can secretly observe his intended bride, Bella Wilfer . Radfoot instead drugs and robs Harmon and is then murdered himself, his body taken for that of John Harmon (top) Redlaw ( The Haunted Man ) Professor of chemistry who is visited by a phantom on Christmas Eve and given the gift of forgetting painful memories.

The gift turns out to be a curse as it is passed on to those Redlaw touches. The adverse effects of the gift are finally reversed by Milly Swidger . (top) 'An old Jewish man, in an ancient coat, long of skirt and wide of pocket' who fronts Fledgeby's money-lending business. He befriends Lizzie Hexam and Jenny Wren . (top) Richard ( The Chimes ) Blacksmith and fiance of Meg , they are married on New Year's Day. (top) Riderhood, Rogue ( Our Mutual Friend ) Waterman and former partner of Gaffer Hexam who tries to pin blame on Gaffer for the Harmon murder to gain a reward. Riderhood later becomes a lock-keeper and tries to blackmail Bradley Headstone after Bradley tries to murder Eugene Wrayburn . In a quarrel both Riderhood and Headstone drown in the Thames. Rogue is also the father of Pleasant Riderhood . (top) Rigaud/Blandois/Lagnier ( Little Dorrit ) Villain of the novel. Rigaud attempts to blackmail Mrs. Clennam and has her house fall on him for his efforts.

When Monsieur Rigaud laughed, a change took place in his face, that was more remarkable than prepossessing. His moustache went up under his nose, and his nose came down over his moustache, in a very sinister and cruel manner. (top) Roker, Tom ( Pickwick Papers ) Turnkey at the Fleet Prison who introduces Pickwick to the wonderful accommodation there: 'You wouldn't think to find such a room as this in the Farringdon Hotel, would you?' (top) Rokesmith, John ( Our Mutual Friend ) Alias used by John Harmon when he is employed as secretary to the Boffins . (top) Rosa ( Bleak House ) Personal maid to Lady Dedlock after Hortense is dismissed. She marries Watt Rouncewell . A dark-eyed, dark-haired, shy, village beauty ...so fresh in her rosy and yet delicate bloom that the drops of rain which have beaten on her hair look like the dew upon a flower fresh gathered. (top) Rouncewell, George ( Bleak House ) Son of the Dedlock's housekeeper Mrs Rouncewell . George ran away to join the army and cut himself off from his mother.

After leaving the army George buys a shooting gallery in London with money borrowed from Smallweed . Smallweed pressures George to give over examples of Capt Hawdon's handwriting in order to help Tulkinghorn learn Lady Dedlock's secret. George is charged with the murder of Tulkinghorn by Bucket . Later George is exonerated of the crime and is reunited with his mother. He is a swarthy brown man of fifty, well made, and good looking, with crisp dark hair, bright eyes, and a broad chest. His sinewy and powerful hands, as sunburnt as his face, have evidently been used to a pretty rough life. What is curious about him is that he sits forward on his chair as if he were, from long habit, allowing space for some dress or accoutrements that he has altogether laid aside. His step too is measured and heavy and would go well with a weighty clash and jingle of spurs. He is close-shaved now, but his mouth is set as if his upper lip had been for years familiar with a great moustache; and his manner of occasionally laying the open palm of his broad brown hand upon it is to the same effect. Altogether one might guess Mr.

George to have been a trooper once upon a time. (top) Rouncewell, Mr. ( Bleak House ) An iron master and son of Mrs. Rouncewell , brother of Mr George , father of Watt . He is a little over fifty perhaps, of a good figure, like his mother, and has a clear voice, a broad forehead from which his dark hair has retired, and a shrewd though open face. He is a responsible-looking gentleman dressed in black, portly enough, but strong and active. Has a perfectly natural and easy air and is not in the least embarrassed by the great presence into which he comes. (top) Rouncewell, Mrs. ( Bleak House ) Longtime housekeeper of Chesney Wold, home of Sir Leicester Dedlock . Mother of George and another son who is an important ironmaster in northern England. She is rather deaf, which nothing will induce her to believe. She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised.

(top) Rudge, Barnaby ( Barnaby Rudge ) Simple but good hearted boy who unwittingly gets involved in the Gordon Riots when he falls into bad company. He is later arrested and sentenced to death but gains reprieve through the help of Gabriel Varden . (top) Rudge, Barnaby Sr. ( Barnaby Rudge ) Father of Barnaby and husband of Mary . He was the Steward at the Warren and murdered his employer, Reuben Haredale . He went into hiding after the murder and resurfaces years later trying to extort money from his wife. He is finally captured by Geoffrey Haredale and executed at Newgate. (top) Rudge, Mary ( Barnaby Rudge ) Barnaby's mother, goes to great lengths to keep Barnaby away from his father who has murdered Reuben Haredale . (top) Rugg, Mr ( Little Dorrit ) Landlord of Pancks who assists in finding William Dorrit's fortune. (top) S Marquis de St Evremonde ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Uncle of Charles Darnay . He shows unconcern when his carriage runs over and kills the child of the Parisian peasant Gaspard .

Gaspard follows the Marquis to his country home and kills him in his bed. He was a man of about sixty, handsomely dressed, haughty in manner, and with a face like a fine mask. A face of a transparent paleness; every feature in it clearly defined; one set expression on it. The nose, beautifully formed otherwise, was very slightly pinched at the top of each nostril. In those two compressions, or dints, the only little change that the face ever showed, resided. They persisted in changing colour sometimes, and they would be occasionally dilated and contracted by something like a faint pulsation; then, they gave a look of treachery, and cruelty, to the whole countenance. Examined with attention, its capacity of helping such a look was to be found in the line of the mouth, and the lines of the orbits of the eyes, being much too horizontal and thin; still, in the effect of the face made, it was a handsome face, and a remarkable one. (top) Sally, Old ( Oliver Twist ) Old hag present at Oliver's birth. She steals the locket and ring from Oliver's mother as she lays dying.

She pawns the locket and as she is dying gives the pawn ticket to Mrs Corney . (top) Bob Sawyer ( Pickwick Papers ) Medical student, and drinking buddy of Benjamin Allen . (top) Scadder, Zephaniah ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Unscrupulous agent of the Eden Land Corporation who sells swamp land to Martin . He was a gaunt man in a huge straw hat, and a coat of green stuff. The weather being hot, he had no cravat, and wore his shirt collar wide open; so that every time he spoke something was seen to twitch and jerk up in his throat, like the little hammers in a harpsichord when the notes are struck. Perhaps it was the Truth feebly endeavouring to leap to his lips. If so, it never reached them. (top) Scadgers, Lady ( Hard Times ) Mrs. Sparsit's great aunt. An immensely fat old woman, with an inordinate appetite for butcher's meat, and a mysterious leg which had now refused to get out of bed for fourteen years.

(top) Scott, Tom ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Quilp's boy, always at odds with his master, but expresses regret at Quilp's death. Tom has a penchant for standing on his head and walking on his hands. He later becomes a professional tumbler. (top) Scrooge, Ebenezer ( A Christmas Carol ) Probably Dickens' best known character, the miserly Scrooge, with his familiar cry of "Bah, Humbug!", is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley , who sends three more spirits in hopes of reforming Scrooge's heartless and penny-pinching ways. Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.

The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas. (top) Sharp, Mr ( David Copperfield ) First master at Salem House where David attends school. He was a limp, delicate-looking gentleman, I thought, with a good deal of nose, and a way of carrying his head on one side, as if it were a little too heavy for him. His hair was very smooth and wavy; but I was informed by the very first boy who came back that it was a wig (a second-hand one HE said), and that Mr. Sharp went out every Saturday afternoon to get it curled. (top) Shepherd, Miss ( David Copperfield ) A passing infatuation of David Copperfield's while at Doctor Strong's school. A boarder at the Misses Nettingalls establishment.

She is a little girl, in a spencer, with a round face and curly flaxen hair. (top) Sikes, Bill ( Oliver Twist ) A vicious thief working on the fringes of Fagin's band of pickpockets. He uses Oliver in an attempt to burglarize the Maylie home. When Nancy tries to help Oliver she is found out by Fagin . Fagin relates the information to Sikes who murders Nancy . While fleeing police after the murder he accidentally hangs himself. He is accompanied by Bull's-Eye, his white shaggy dog with a face scratched and torn in twenty different places. A stoutly-built fellow of about five-and-thirty, in a black velveteen coat, very soiled drab breeches, lace-up half boots, and grey cotton stockings which inclosed a bulky pair of legs, with large swelling calves;--the kind of legs, which in such costume, always look in an unfinished and incomplete state without a set of fetters to garnish them. He had a brown hat on his head, and a dirty belcher handkerchief round his neck: with the long frayed ends of which he smeared the beer from his face as he spoke.

He disclosed, when he had done so, a broad heavy countenance with a beard of three days' growth, and two scowling eyes; one of which displayed various parti-coloured symptoms of having been recently damaged by a blow. (top) Single Gentleman, The ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Mysterious lodger of the Brasses who is trying to find Nell and her grandfather . He is revealed to be the brother of the grandfather and finds the pair shortly before his brother's death. In the original serialization of the novel in Master Humphrey's Clock the Single Gentleman turns out to be the original narrator of the story, Master Humphrey. (top) Skettles, Sir Barnet ( Dombey and Son ) Father of Master Skettles and husband of Lady Skettles . Expressed his personal consequence chiefly through an antique gold snuffbox, and a ponderous silk pocket-kerchief, which he had an imposing manner of drawing out of his pocket like a banner and using with both hands at once. Sir Barnet's object in life was constantly to extend the range of his acquaintance.

(top) Skewton, Mrs (Cleopatra) ( Dombey and Son ) Mother of Edith Granger who is 70-years-old but tries to appear much younger through the use of cosmetics and various devices. Dickens describes Mrs Skewton, in being dismantled for bed by her maid, taking off of paint, clothes, wig, etc as being tumbled into ruins like a house of painted cards. Edith resents her mother who has packaged Edith to lure rich gentlemen from a child. The discrepancy between Mrs Skewton's fresh enthusiasm of words, and forlornly faded manner, was hardly less observable than that between her age, which was about seventy, and her dress, which would have been youthful for twenty-seven. Her attitude in the wheeled chair (which she never varied) was one in which she had been taken in a barouche, some fifty years before, by a then fashionable artist who had appended to his published sketch the name of Cleopatra: in consequence of a discovery made by the critics of the time, that it bore an exact resemblance to that Princess as she reclined on board her galley.

Mrs Skewton was a beauty then, and bucks threw wine-glasses over their heads by dozens in her honour. The beauty and the barouche had both passed away, but she still preserved the attitude, and for this reason expressly, maintained the wheeled chair and the butting page: there being nothing whatever, except the attitude, to prevent her from walking. (top) Skiffins, Miss ( Great Expectations ) Wemmick's particular friend. Wemmick later surprises Pip on an outing by suddenly ("here's a church, lets go in") marrying Miss Skiffins. [Miss Skiffins] was of a wooden appearance, and was, like her escort, in the post-office branch of the service. She might have been some two or three years younger than Wemmick, and I judged her to stand possessed of portable property. The cut of her dress from the waist upward, both before and behind, made her figure very like a boy's kite; and I might have pronounced her gown a little too decidedly orange, and her gloves a little too intensely green. But she seemed to be a good sort of fellow, and showed a high regard for the Aged.

I was not long in discovering that she was a frequent visitor at the Castle. (top) Skimpole, Harold ( Bleak House ) Friend of John Jarndyce who claims he is a mere child and understands nothing of money. Through this smooth act he manages to have everyone else pay his way through life. Dickens modeled Skimpole on Leigh Hunt, causing a stir among Hunt and his friends. He is a musical man, an amateur, but might have been a professional. He is an artist too, an amateur, but might have been a professional. He is a man of attainments and of captivating manners. He has been unfortunate in his affairs, and unfortunate in his pursuits, and unfortunate in his family; but he don't care--he's a child! (top) Skimpole, Laura ( Bleak House ) Harold Skimpole's sentiment daughter. (top) Skimpole, Mrs. ( Bleak House ) Wife of Harold Skimpole who had once been a beauty but was now a delicate high-nosed invalid suffering under a complication of disorders. (top) Slackbridge ( Hard Times ) Trade-union agitator seeking to unionize the workers of Coketown.

He was not so honest, he was not so manly, he was not so good-humoured; he substituted cunning for their simplicity, and passion for their safe solid sense. An ill-made, high-shouldered man, with lowering brows, and his features crushed into an habitually sour expression, he contrasted most unfavourably, even in his mongrel dress, with the great body of his hearers in their plain working clothes. (top) Slammer, Dr ( Pickwick Papers ) Surgeon of the 97th, almost duels Nathaniel Winkle whom he mistakes for Alfred Jingle . (top) Sleary, Mr. ( Hard Times ) Proprietor of Sleary's Circus. Speaks with a lisp ("People mutht be amuthed"). He helps Tom Gradgrind escape abroad after the bank robbery. A stout man as already mentioned, with one fixed eye, and one loose eye, a voice (if it can be called so) like the efforts of a broken old pair of bellows, a flabby surface, and a muddled head which was never sober and never drunk...who was troubled with asthma, and whose breath came far too thick and heavy for the letter s.

(top) Sleary, Josephine ( Hard Times ) Daughter of Mr. Sleary , she marries E. W. B. Childers . A pretty fair-haired girl of eighteen, who had been tied on a horse at two years old, and had made a will at twelve, which she always carried about with her, expressive of her dying desire to be drawn to the grave by the two piebald ponies. (top) Sliderskew, Peg ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Old and hideously ugly housekeeper of Arthur Gride . Peg is jealous when Gride plans to marry the much younger Madeline Bray . Peg steals documents relating to Madeline's inheritance which are recovered and help undo Gride. For the theft Peg is transported. (top) Sloppy ( Our Mutual Friend ) Orphan who lives with Betty Higden . Sloppy is taken in by the Boffins and helps expose the rascal Silas Wegg . He later becomes a carpenter. (top) Slout, Mr ( Oliver Twist ) Master of the workhouse where Oliver Twist is born. When he dies Mr Bumble takes his position.

(top) Slowboy, Tilly ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Angular and clumsy nurse to the Peerybingle's infant son. (top) Slumkey, Samuel ( Pickwick Papers ) Blue candidate in the election at Eatanswill. He defeats the Buff candidate, Horatio Fitzkin . (top) Slurk, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Editor of the Eatenswill Independent and sworn enemy of Mr Pott , editor of the Eatenswill Gazette. (top) Slyme, Chevy ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Nephew of old Martin Chuzzlewit who works with Montigue Tigg to try to squeeze money from the family. Later a London police officer. (top) Smallweed, Bartholomew (Bart) (Chick Weed) ( Bleak House ) Grandson of Joshua , twin brother of Judy , and friend of William Guppy . Whether Young Smallweed (metaphorically called Small and eke Chick Weed, as it were jocularly to express a fledgling) was ever a boy is much doubted in Lincoln's Inn. He is now something under fifteen and an old limb of the law.

He is facetiously understood to entertain a passion for a lady at a cigar-shop in the neighbourhood of Chancery Lane and for her sake to have broken off a contract with another lady, to whom he had been engaged some years. He is a town-made article, of small stature and weazen features, but may be perceived from a considerable distance by means of his very tall hat. To become a Guppy is the object of his ambition. He dresses at that gentleman (by whom he is patronized), talks at him, walks at him, founds himself entirely on him. He is honoured with Mr. Guppy's particular confidence and occasionally advises him, from the deep wells of his experience, on difficult points in private life. (top) Smallweed, Joshua (Grandfather) ( Bleak House ) Grandfather (Joshua) Smallweed is a usurer to whom George Rouncewell owes money. Smallweed uses this leverage to obtain from George a sample of Captain Hawdon's handwriting in an attempt to help Tulkinghorn learn Lady Dedlock's secret.

He is in a helpless condition as to his lower, and nearly so as to his upper, limbs, but his mind is unimpaired...The excellent old gentleman being at these times a mere clothes-bag with a black skull-cap on the top of it, does not present a very animated appearance until he has undergone the two operations at the hands of his granddaughter of being shaken up like a great bottle and poked and punched like a great bolster. (top) Smallweed, Judith ( Bleak House ) Granddaugher of Joshua and twin sister of Bart . She accompanies her grandfather wherever he goes in order to "shake him up." A lean female with a face like a pinched mask...Judy never owned a doll, never heard of Cinderella, never played at any game. She once or twice fell into children's company when she was about ten years old, but the children couldn't get on with Judy, and Judy couldn't get on with them. She seemed like an animal of another species, and there was instinctive repugnance on both sides. It is very doubtful whether Judy knows how to laugh. She has so rarely seen the thing done that the probabilities are strong the other way.

Of anything like a youthful laugh, she certainly can have no conception. If she were to try one, she would find her teeth in her way, modelling that action of her face, as she has unconsciously modelled all its other expressions, on her pattern of sordid age. Such is Judy. (top) Smallweed, Grandmother ( Bleak House ) Wife of Joshua , who throws cushions at her when she ventures to utter a sound. Weak in her intellect and...in a childish state. (top) Smauker ( Pickwick Papers ) Footman of Angelo Cyrus Bantam who invites Sam Weller to to 'a friendly swarry, consisting of a boiled leg of mutton with the usual trimmings.' (top) Smike ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Abandoned as a child at Dotheboys Hall in the care of the evil Squeers , Smike is mistreated for years before being rescued by Nicholas . He travels to Portsmouth with Nicholas and performs in Crummles stage troupe and is welcomed as part of the family when he and Nicholas return to London. He is briefly retaken in London by Squeers and escapes with the help of John Browdie .

Smike later dies from the treatment he received as a child. After his death it is discovered that he was Ralph Nickleby's son, making him the cousin of Nicholas and Kate . (top) Smouch ( Pickwick Papers ) Assistant to Deputy Sheriff Namby . 'A shabby-looking man in a brown greatcoat shorn of divers buttons.' (top) Snagsby, Mr. ( Bleak House ) Law stationer near Chancery Lane who hires Nemo (Capt Hawdon) to do some copy work. Former partner of Peffer , deceased. "Not to put too fine a point upon it," a favourite apology for plain speaking with Mr. Snagsby. Snagsby's office is in Cook's Court, Cursitor Street...He is a mild, bald, timid man with a shining head and a scrubby clump of black hair sticking out at the back. He tends to meekness and obesity. (top) Snagsby, Mrs. ( Bleak House ) Mr. Snagsby's jealous and inquisitive wife. She is the neice of Snagsby's deceased partner, Peffer . She is a zealous supporter of Rev Chadband .

She manages the money, reproaches the tax-gatherers, appoints the times and places of devotion on Sundays, licenses Mr. Snagsby's entertainments, and acknowledges no responsibility as to what she thinks fit to provide for dinner. (top) Snawley ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Father who puts his two step-sons in Squeers' school, Dotheboys Hall. Snawley later poses as Smike's father in Ralph Nickleby's scheme to get the runaway boy back. Snawley's wife later forces him to expose Ralph's plan. (top) Snodgrass, Augustus ( Pickwick Papers ) A member of the Pickwick club and party to the adventures of Pickwick's travels. Snodgrass fancies himself a poet, but has written no poetry. He falls in love with Emily Wardle and marries her at the end of the story. (top) Sophia ( Great Expectations ) Housemaid to the Pockets . (top) Sowerberry, Mr ( Oliver Twist ) Undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed. Oliver is mistreated and runs away to London.

A tall, gaunt, large-jointed man, attired in a suit of threadbare black, with darned cotton stockings of the same colour, and shoes to answer (top) Sowerberry, Mrs ( Oliver Twist ) Wife of Mr Sowerberry . A short, thin, squeezed-up woman, with a vixenish countenance (top) Sownds, Mr ( Dombey and Son ) Beadle at the church where Mr Dombey marries Edith Granger and later where Walter Gay marries Florence Dombey . (top) Sparkler, Edmund ( Little Dorrit ) Son of Mrs Merdle by a former marriage. A man of limited talents, he offers marriage to 'all manner of undesirable young ladies' finally marries Fanny Dorrit . Edmund and Fanny lose all in the Merdle banking scam. (top) Sparsit, Mrs. ( Hard Times ) Housekeeper of Bounderby with aristocratic connections by way of her great aunt Lady Scadgers . She is a busybody, causing dissension between Bounderby and his wife Louisa Gradgrind . In her elderly days, with the Coriolanian style of nose and the dense black eyebrows.

(top) Spenlow, Dora ( David Copperfield ) Daughter of David Copperfield's employer, Francis Spenlow . She and David are married and David tries to teach her to keep house, but she has no head for it. She becomes ill with an unspecified illness and dies young. She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I don't know what she was - anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her. Dickens based Dora on Maria Beadnell , his first love. (top) Spenlow, Francis ( David Copperfield ) Proctor at Doctor's Commons where David Copperfield is apprenticed and father of Dora . He was a little light-haired gentleman, with undeniable boots, and the stiffest of white cravats and shirt-collars. He was buttoned up, mighty trim and tight, and must have taken a great deal of pains with his whiskers, which were accurately curled.

(top) Spenlow, Misses (Clarissa and Lavinia) ( David Copperfield ) Dora's spinster aunts with whom she goes to live after her father dies. They were estranged from their brother because of a slight they received at the hands of Francis Spenlow's deceased wife. Mr. Spenlow had evidently been the youngest of the family; that there was a disparity of six or eight years between the two sisters; and that the younger appeared to be the manager of the conference, inasmuch as she had my letter in her hand - so familiar as it looked to me, and yet so odd! - and was referring to it through an eye-glass. They were dressed alike, but this sister wore her dress with a more youthful air than the other; and perhaps had a trifle more frill, or tucker, or brooch, or bracelet, or some little thing of that kind, which made her look more lively. They were both upright in their carriage, formal, precise, composed, and quiet. The sister who had not my letter, had her arms crossed on her breast, and resting on each other, like an Idol.

(top) Spiker, Mr and Mrs ( David Copperfield ) Dinner guest of the Waterbrooks . A very awful lady in a black velvet dress, and a great black velvet hat, whom I remember as looking like a near relation of Hamlet's - say his aunt. Mrs. Henry Spiker was this lady's name; and her husband was there too: so cold a man, that his head, instead of being grey, seemed to be sprinkled with hoar-frost. (top) Spottletoe, Mr and Mrs ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Relatives of old Martin Chuzzlewit's (Mrs is old Martin's niece) with designs on inheriting his money. (top) Spyers, Jem ( Oliver Twist ) Police officer who arrests Conkey Chickweed in a story told by Blathers . (top) Squeers, Fanny ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Daughter of Wackford Squeers. Described as not tall like her mother, but short like her father; from the former she inherited a voice of harsh quality; from the latter a remarkable expression of the right eye, something akin to having none at all.

When Nicholas Nickleby becomes her father's assistant she falls madly in love with him, telling her friend Matilda Price that they are practically engaged. Nicholas wants nothing to do with her. (top) Squeers, Wackford ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Proprietor of Dotheboys Hall, he takes in boys not wanted by their families and mistreats them. Nicholas Nickleby becomes his assistant master and sees the way he treats his charges, gives him a sound thrashing, and leaves. Squeers seeks revenge and conspires with Ralph Nickleby . He is eventually undone, imprisoned, and transported. (top) Squeers, Wackford Jr ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Son of schoolmaster Wackford Squeers . Little Wackford is kept fat as an advertisement of the supposed plenty provided at the school. He is spoiled by being given any gifts intended for pupils of the school by their families. (top) Squeers, Mrs ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Wife of Wackford Squeers . "A large raw-boned figure, was about half a head taller than Mr Squeers.

While Mr Squeers attempts to keep his cruelty in check, in order to keep up appearances, Mrs Squeers is openly cruel. (top) Squod, Phil ( Bleak House ) George Rouncewell's ugly little assistant at the shooting gallery. Formerly a traveling tinker. Reports his age as "something with an eight in it..." And ugly enough to be made a show on! Mr George reports the Phil has never hurt anybody but himself. (top) Stables, Bob ( Bleak House ) Poor relation of Sir Leicester Dedlock who can make warm mashes with the skill of a veterinary surgeon and is a better shot than most gamekeepers. (top) Stagg ( Barnaby Rudge ) Blind member of the 'Prentice Knights with Simon Tappertit . He joins Barnaby Rudge Sr. in trying to extort money from Mary Rudge . Killed when he tries to run from officers arresting Hugh , Barnaby , and Rudge Sr . (top) Startop ( Great Expectations ) Pip's fellow student at Matthew Pocket's . He helps Herbert rescue Pip from Orlick and helps Herbert row the boat during the attempt to get Magwitch out of the country.

Startop had been spoilt by a weak mother and kept at home when he ought to have been at school, but he was devotedly attached to her, and admired her beyond measure. He had a woman's delicacy of feature, and was...exactly like his mother. (top) Steerforth, James ( David Copperfield ) Friend of David Copperfield at the Salem House school where his engaging charm makes him everyone's favorite. David later runs into him again in London and he accompanies David on a trip to Yarmouth where he charms Emily into eloping with him. They go abroad and Steerforth soon tires of Emily and deserts her. He is later drowned in a shipwreck where Ham Peggotty , from whom Steerforth stole Emily away, dies trying to save him. This boy, who was reputed to be a great scholar, and was very good-looking, and at least half-a-dozen years my senior. (top) Steerforth, Mrs ( David Copperfield ) Doting mother of James Steerforth .

An elderly lady, though not very far advanced in years, with a proud carriage and a handsome face (top) Stiggins, Reverend ( Pickwick Papers ) Hypocritical Deputy Shepherd (from the Dorking branch) of the Brick Lane Branch of the United Grand Junction Ebenezer Temperance Association. Exposed by Tony Weller whose wife Susan is one of Stiggins' flock. (top) Strong, Annie ( David Copperfield ) Pretty, young (a girl of twenty) wife of Doctor Strong . Annie is suspected of having an affair with her cousin, Jack Maldon . [Doctor Strong] had not yet been married twelve months to the beautiful young lady...whom he had married for love; for she had not a sixpence, and had a world of poor relations (so our fellows said) ready to swarm the Doctor out of house and home. (top) Strong, Doctor ( David Copperfield ) Headmaster at the school David Copperfield attends in Canterbury. He is chiefly concerned with assembling his Greek dictionary.

Looked almost as rusty...as the tall iron rails and gates outside the house; and almost as stiff and heavy as the great stone urns that flanked them, and were set up, on the top of the red-brick wall, at regular distances all round the court, like sublimated skittles, for Time to play at. He was in his library (I mean Doctor Strong was), with his clothes not particularly well brushed, and his hair not particularly well combed; his knee-smalls unbraced; his long black gaiters unbuttoned; and his shoes yawning like two caverns on the hearth-rug. Turning upon me a lustreless eye, that reminded me of a long-forgotten blind old horse who once used to crop the grass, and tumble over the graves, in Blunderstone churchyard, he said he was glad to see me: and then he gave me his hand; which I didnï¿½t know what to do with, as it did nothing for itself. (top) Stryver ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Barrister who defends Charles Darnay in his trial for treason with assistance from his friend Sydney Carton .

Stryver intends to ask Lucie Manette to marry him until counseled by Jarvis Lorry . A man of little more than thirty, but looking twenty years older than he was, stout, loud, red, bluff, and free from any drawback of delicacy, had a pushing way of shouldering himself (morally and physically) into companies and conversations, that argued well for his shouldering his way up in life. (top) Summerson, Esther ( Bleak House ) Principal character in the story. She is brought up an orphan by her aunt, Miss Barbery . On her aunt's death she is adopted by John Jarndyce and becomes companions to his wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone . Later in the story it is revealed that Esther is the illegitimate daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock . John Jarndyce falls in love with her and asked her to marry him. She consents out of respect for Jarndyce but during the engagement she falls in love with Allan Woodcourt . When Jarndyce learns of her feelings for Allan he releases her from the engagement and she marries Woodcourt .

John Jarndyce:"You are clever enough to be the good little woman of our lives here, my dear," he returned playfully; "the little old woman of the child's (I don't mean Skimpole's) rhyme: 'Little old woman, and whither so high?' 'To sweep the cobwebs out of the sky.' You will sweep them so neatly out of OUR sky in the course of your housekeeping, Esther, that one of these days we shall have to abandon the growlery and nail up the door." Esther: This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them. (top) Susan ( Oliver Twist ) Mrs Mann's maid at the baby farm where Oliver is raised to age 9. (top) Sweedlepipe, Paul (Poll) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Landlord of Mrs Gamp , barber and bird-fancier. Poll Sweedlepipe's house was one great bird's nest.

Gamecocks resided in the kitchen; pheasants wasted the brightness of their golden plumage on the garret; bantams roosted in the cellar; owls had possession of the bedroom; and specimens of all the smaller fry of birds chirrupped and twittered in the shop. (top) Swidger, Milly ( The Haunted Man ) Wife of William and the only member of the family not touched by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows. Her inherent goodness, based on remembrance of her lost child, reverses the effects of this curse in her family, the Tetterby family, and Edmund Longford . (top) Swidger, Philip ( The Haunted Man ) Eighty-seven year-old patriarch of the Swidger family. He loses his present happiness, based on his memories, when touched by Redlaw's gift. He is restored to happiness by Milly Swidger . (top) Swidger, William ( The Haunted Man ) Caretaker of the university where Redlaw teaches chemistry. His family is adversely effected by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows. The adverse effects of this 'gift' are finally reversed by William's wife, Milly . (top)

Question: In which Charles dickens novel does the character 'Esther Summerson' appear?
Answer: 'BLEAK HOUSE'