By Nibs, guest blogger
First of all, I'd like to thank Gina for allowing me to ramble about on her blog. I love this site and visit it every day (often multiple times a day!) so this is really an exciting thing for me!
Over this past year or so I read nearly all of Dickens' books (excluding only Barnaby Rudge and The Old Curiosity Shop) and I think one of my favorite aspects of Dickens' work is his characterization. This could easily be his best strength -- and he apparently exercised it, creating about 2,000 characters! This got me thinking: could I narrow down my Top 5 Favorites? This turned out to be something of a task -- a few on my list were givens, but I felt bad leaving many out! Finally though, I think I have my master list of favorite Dickens characters, so without further ado...
NIBS' TOP 5 DICKENS CHARACTERS
(Yes. It is a very great honor to be part of this list.)
#5: Tom Pinch from Martin Chuzzlewit
Mr. Pinch just barely beats out a host of other characters including Thomas Traddles, David Copperfield, Lizzie Hexam, Betsey Trotwood, and Esther Summerson. But I had to include him in the top 5 because he is just so sweet, especially in the scheme of a book where it seems nearly every character is corrupted by selfishness and greed. Tom Pinch actually behaves more like Dickens' heroines usually do -- being quite selfless -- but he has a lot of spirit too. I like the fact that he's kind of wimpy and shy, at first glance. You feel so sorry for him when he gets beaten around, but you rally alongside him when he begins to stand up for himself. I do think that Dickens cheated him the proper ending, though!
#4: Uriah Heep from David Copperfield
Uriah Heep was one of my favorite characters in David Copperfield; I thought he was really funny and I was always dying to see what evil-genius thing he would think up next. Yes, I know, I’m weird. V_V But it just seems to me that Dickens infused so much more personality into this character than many of his others, and even though you have to hate him (because really, he is evil, you can’t deny it), I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him sometimes too. I mean, he’s basically the anti-David –- he can’t help that he’s geeky and awkward and low-class and hated for it, so you see why he feels justified in his actions.
Plus, if it weren’t for Uriah who would really be driving a lot of these plots?
#3: Mr. William Guppy from Bleak House
(And I liked him before Burn Gorman got him a slew of fangirls!) Upon reflection it seems like I have a significant number of cads in my top five. I can’t really make any excuses for Guppy other than the fact that he is just HILARIOUS; for a great part of the book the only reason I kept reading was to see what he’d say. He seems like he has a good enough heart but he is such an idiot that his pretentiousness stands in the way of good judgment. If you are unfamiliar with Guppy, you must read his “proposal” scene and the visit with Lady Dedlock where he brings illegible "notes" -- those scenes basically exemplify his character.
#2: Bradley Headstone from Our Mutual Friend
Headstone, I feel, is one of Dickens’ most interesting and complex characters -– I like him because he doesn’t fall into the “type” that a lot of Boz’ creations do. In my opinion, Headstone is almost like an anti-hero -- he could have been a Sydney Carton, maybe (and I do prefer him to Eugene Wrayburn, who is just as selfish), but his own ambitions to "better himself" ironically ruin him. His dialogue is some of Dickens' most powerful, I felt, really contributing to the messages in the book. Surprisingly, though, he tends to be overlooked in a lot of Dickens discussion, and it's kind of a shame since there's so much you could analyze about his character.
#1: Agnes Wickfield from David Copperfield
It always stuns me that I actually have to explain why Agnes is great, because so many (even some critics) seem to despise her because she’s not as easygoing or mindless as Dora -- because apparently, all realistic people are supposed to be as useless as Dora. I'm really not here to bash Dora, but Agnes is much more like a modern woman, and actually seems less like the typical “Oh dear save me I’m so fragile” female of this time period. I feel that Agnes has more influence and impact on the novel than any of the male characters and had a decided power to her, similar to Aunt Betsey and Peggotty, as is evidenced in her decision to start a business and the control she is given. Without Agnes’ intelligence (which is her best trait), most of the male characters would just fall apart, and unlike many Victorian heroines she never just surrenders herself to someone else. Yet despite her sense, Agnes is bound by the constraints of her time and her own upbringing and guilt so that she almost can’t experience her own happiness. I just think Agnes is a good role model and even though David regards her as his guiding light she is flawed, she is not perfect. That’s why she’s my #1 favorite character.
Of course there are TONS of characters I love who also deserved to be in this list but, being the top 5, there can only be five! If you could narrow down your five favorite Dickens characters, who would they be? You can choose them for any reason, as silly or profound as you want, just as long as you always look forward to seeing them in their respective Dickens novels. Even though he supposedly created thousands of people, every one of Dickens' characters is so real you can almost befriend them through the pages!
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