Characters T-ZDickens' Characters T-Z
T
Tackleton ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Known as Gruff and Tackleton, the name of his toymaking business. He is the Scrooge of the story, a hard-hearted, unfeeling man who has lived off of the exploitation of children all his life. He is the employer of Caleb Plummer and schemes to marry May Fielding. Like Scrooge, he softens at the end of the story. (top)
Tapley, Mark ( Martin Chuzzlewit )
Ostler at the Blue Dragon Inn and servant to young Martin Chuzzlewit. He accompanies Martin to America and later marries Mrs. Lupin, the Blue Dragon's landlady. The inn is renamed The Jolly Tapley. (top)Tappertit, Simon ( Barnaby Rudge )
Locksmith Gabriel Varden's apprentice who is in love with Gabriel's daughter, Dolly. He becomes a leader of the rioters during the Gordon Riots and during the fighting loses his slender legs, long his pride and joy. After the uprising he is fitted with wooden legs and becomes a bootblack. (top)Tartar ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Retired navy man and friend of Crisparkle. He befriends Neville in London and works with Grewgious and Crisparkle in protecting Neville from John Jasper. (top)
Tattycoram/Harriet Beadle ( Little Dorrit ) Adopted by the Meagles from the Foundling Hospital, Harriet is given the name Tattycoram and is maid to the Meagles daughter, Pet. She exhibits fits of temper and is counseled by Mr. Meagle to "count five and twenty, Tattycoram". She is influenced away from the Meagles by the evil Miss Wade. She later is reunited with the Meagles and assists in the undoing of the Rigaud/Blandois blackmail attempt. (top)
Tetterby family ( The Haunted Man ) Poor family touched by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows, which turns out to be a curse to them. Adolphus, a newsman, his wife Sophia, Adolphus Jr, a newspaper boy at the railway station, Johnny, who cares for the baby, Sally, called little Moloch. They are restored to their former loving natures by Milly Swidger. (top)
Ticket, Mrs ( Little Dorrit ) Cook and housekeeper for the Meagles. (top)
Tiffey, Mr ( David Copperfield ) "old clerk with the wig" that had once visited Mr Spenlow at his house in Norwood and had "drunk brown East India sherry there, of a quality so precious as to make a man wink." (top)
Tigg, Montigue (Tigg Montigue) ( Martin Chuzzlewit )
Con man and swindler who first appears in the story fronting for Chevy Slyme and trying to squeeze the assembled Chuzzlewit family for money. Later he appears in splendor as head of the fraudulent Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company and has changed his name to Tigg Montigue. He dupes Jonas Chuzzlewit into joining the company, uses Jonas to fleece Pecksniff, and is murdered by Jonas. (top)Tisher, Mrs. ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Miss Twinkleton's assistant at the school for girls at Nun's House. (top)
Todgers, Mrs ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Proprietor of M. Todgers Commercial Boarding House located near the monument. Mrs Todgers is described as a "rather bony and hard featured lady". Pecksniff and his daughters stay at Todgers when visiting London. (top)
Toodle, Polly (Richards) ( Dombey and Son ) Little Paul Dombey's nurse, known in the Dombey household as Richards. She is dismissed when she takes Paul to visit her family in a poorer section of London. She re-enters the story when Captain Cuttle asked her to look after Sol Gill's Shop, the Wooden Midshipman. She is the mother of Rob the Grinder who falls in with bad company and becomes a minor villain in the story. Dickens describes Polly as a "plump rosy-cheeked wholesome apple-faced young woman". (top)
Toots ( Dombey and Son ) Scatterbrained classmate of Paul Dombey Jr at Dr Blimber's Academy. Toots falls helplessly in love with Florence Dombey and pursues her, in his absentminded way, until Florence marries Walter Gay. In the end Toots marries Susan Nipper. Quote: "it's of no consequence". (top)
Tox, Lucretia ( Dombey and Son ) Paul Dombey Sr's sister, Mrs. Chick's, friend. She has designs to marry Paul Sr. after his first wife dies. Paul marries Mrs. Granger instead, breaking Miss Tox's heart, but she stays loyal to him through later hardships. Dickens describes her as "a long lean figure, wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call 'fast colours' originally, and to have, by little and little, washed out". (top)
Trabb ( Great Expectations ) Tailor who makes Pip a new suit of clothes before he goes to London, also in charge of the mourners at Pip's sister's funeral. (top)
Trabb's Boy ( Great Expectations ) Assistant to Trabb, the tailor, who terrorizes Pip. He later leads Herbert to the limekiln to rescue Pip from Orlick. (top)
Traddles, Tommy ( David Copperfield )
Fellow pupil with David Copperfield and Steerforth at Salem House. David's best friend and best man at David's wedding to Dora Spenlow. He later becomes a lawyer and marries Sophy Crewler. (top)Trent, Fred ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Nell's brother, a gambler, is interested in his grandfather's money through his friend Dick Swiveller. (top)
Trent, Nelly ( The Old Curiosity Shop )
Known as Little Nell, she is the principal character in the story. She lives with her grandfather, when he falls into the clutches of Daniel Quilp she helps him escape London. The hardships endured during their wanderings are too much for the delicate Nell and she dies in a quiet village where she and her grandfather had gained employment. (top)Trotter, Job ( Pickwick Papers ) Manservant of the rascal Alfred Jingle. (top)
Trotwood, Betsy ( David Copperfield )
David Copperfield's great aunt. David runs away from London when he is installed at Murdstone and Grinby's warehouse and goes to Dover to live with Betsy. She helps David get a start in life and, when she loses her fortune, goes to London to live with David. David describes her as "A tall, hard-featured lady, but by no means ill-looking. There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage, amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon a gentle creature like my mother; but her features were rather handsome than otherwise, though unbending and austere". Dickens' friend and biographer John Forster called Betsy "a gnarled and knotted piece of female timber, sound to the core". (top)Tulkinghorn ( Bleak House )
Family lawyer to the Dedlocks. When he finds out Lady Dedlock's secret past, and tries to gain from it, he is murdered by Lady Dedlock's former maid, Hortense. (top)Tungay ( David Copperfield ) Creakle's assistant at Salem House where David Copperfield attends school. Tungay has a wooden leg, having lost his leg in Creakle's service in former employment in the hops business. (top)
Tupman, Tracy ( Pickwick Papers ) A member of the Pickwick club and traveling companion to Mr. Pickwick in the story's adventures. A middle-aged bachelor with a weakness for the ladies. (top)
Turveydrop, Mr ( Bleak House )
Owner of a dance academy on Newman Street and a "model of deportment". His son, Prince, gives dancing lessons and supports his father. (top)Turveydrop, Prince ( Bleak House ) Son of Mr Turveydrop, owner of a dance academy. Prince, named for the Prince Regent, gives dancing lessons and supports his father. Prince marries Caddy Jellyby. (top)
Twinkleton, Miss ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Principal of a school for girls at Nun's House in Cloisterham where Rosa Bud and Helena Landless attend. She is assisted by Mrs. Tisher. Miss Twinkleton later becomes Rosa's chaperone in London. (top)
Twist, Oliver ( Oliver Twist )
Oliver is born in a workhouse where he is mistreated by Bumble, the beadle (Quote: 'Please, sir, I want some more'). He is apprenticed to Sowerberry, the undertaker, and runs away to London where he falls in with Fagin and his band of pickpockets. Oliver is charged with theft, actually committed by the Artful Dodger, and later cleared. The object of the theft, Mr. Brownlow, takes Oliver into his home. He is recaptured by Nancy and returned to Fagin's band. Nancy later tries to help Oliver and is murdered. Through the efforts of Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow the story of Oliver's real parentage is revealed. (top)U
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Varden, Dolly ( Barnaby Rudge )
Daughter of Gabriel and Martha, friend of Emma Haredale, loved by Joe Willet who she eventually marries. (top)Varden, Gabriel ( Barnaby Rudge )
Honest locksmith and owner of the Golden Key where Simon Tappertit is apprenticed. Father of Dolly and long-suffering husband of Martha. He is a friend of Barnaby's mother and, after the Gordon riots, helps clear Barnaby's name. (top)Varden, Martha ( Barnaby Rudge )
Overbearing wife of Gabriel, mother of Dolly. A woman of "uncertain temper" and a fanatical protestant, her fanaticism is tempered after the riots when she witnesses the heroics of her husband (top)Veck, Toby (Trotty) ( The Chimes )
Poor ticket porter whose dream on New Year's Eve forms the basis of the story. (top)Veneering, Hamilton and Anastasia ( Our Mutual Friend ) High society couple at whose frequent dinner parties the story of John Harmon is discovered. Hamilton buys his way into Parliament and is later bankrupt and the couple flees to France. (top)
Venus, Mr ( Our Mutual Friend ) Taxidermist and general practitioner in bones. He enters into a scheme with Silas Wegg to blackmail Noddy Boffin, thinks better of it, and later tells Boffin of the plan. He is lovesick over Pleasant Riderhood who objects to his business. She later relents and marries him. (top)
The Vengeance ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Female revolutionist and friend of Madame Defarge. She is described as 'a short, rather plump wife of a starved grocer'. At the final execution she is left pondering the absence of Madame Defarge. (top)
Verisopht, Lord Frederick ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Foppish companion of Sir Mulberry Hawk who is planning to fleece him. When Verisopht tries to interfere in Hawk's plan of revenge on Nicholas Nickleby they duel, and Verisopht is killed. (top)
Vholes ( Bleak House ) Richard Carstone's solicitor in Symond's Inn, recommended by Skimpole, who lures Richard deeper into the Chancery case that will ultimately lead to Richard's despair and death. (top)
W
Wackles, Sophie ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) First love of Dick Swiveler. Swiveler reluctantly leaves her and enters into a scheme, hatched by Nell's brother Fred Trent, to marry Nell and inherit the grandfather's money. Sophey marries Cheggs, a market gardener. (top)
Wade, Miss ( Little Dorrit ) Dark figure who lures Tattycoram away from the kind-hearted Meagles whom she hates because of Pet Meagles' marriage to Henry Gowan, who had jilted her. (top)
Walker, Mick ( David Copperfield ) Co-worker of David Copperfield at Murdstone and Grimby's warehouse. (top)
Warden, Michael ( The Battle of Life ) Spendthrift lover of Marion Jeddler. Marion supposedly runs away with Warden which, in the end, turns out to be untrue. Later the reformed Warden marries Marion. (top)
Wardle ( Pickwick Papers ) Yeoman farmer and owner of Manor Farm at Dingley Dell. Pickwick and his friends visit Manor Farm frequently. Wardle's daughter marries Pickwickian Augustus Snodgrass. Jingle tries to elope with Miss Rachel, Wardle's sister, but is caught and bought off by Wardle. (top)
Wardle, Isabella ( Pickwick Papers ) Mr. Wardle's daughter who marries Trundle. (top)
Wardle, Emily ( Pickwick Papers ) Mr. Wardle's daughter who marries Augustus Snodgrass. (top)
Wardle, Old Mrs ( Pickwick Papers ) Mr. Wardle's partially deaf mother. (top)
Wardle, Rachael ( Pickwick Papers ) Mr. Wardle's spinster sister (aged 50 at least). She courts Tupman but is lured into elopement by Jingle, who is after her money. Rachael and Jingle are caught before a marriage can take place and Jingle is bought off by Mr. Wardle. (top)
Waterbrook, Mr and Mrs ( David Copperfield ) Mr Waterbrook is Mr Wickfield's agent with whom Agnes stays while in London. They reside at Ely Place, Holborn. (top)
Wegg, Silas ( Our Mutual Friend ) Rascally street vendor hired by Mr. Boffin to read to him. After installing himself in the Boffin household he goes about trying to get a piece of the Boffin fortune. (top)
Weller, Samuel ( Pickwick Papers )
Mr. Pickwick's servant is one of the most popular characters in Dickens' works. He councils his master with Cockney wisdom and is thoroughly devoted to Pickwick. Samuel's father, Tony Weller, is equally entertaining. (top)Weller, Tony ( Pickwick Papers ) Father of Sam Weller, a coachman and repository of Cockney wisdom. His wife, Susan, is proprietor of the Marquis and Granby Inn in Dorking. Susan falls in with the hypocritical Reverend Stiggins, of the Brick Lane Temperance Association, who the frequently imbibing Tony later exposes. (top)
Wemmick, John ( Great Expectations ) Jagger's confidential clerk, friend of Pip who lives in a delightfully strange house with the Aged Parent.
"A dry man, rather short in stature, with a square wooden face, whose expression seemed to have been imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel. There were some marks in it that might have been dimples, if the material had been softer and the instrument finer, but which, as it was, were only dints. The chisel had made three or four of these attempts at embellishment over his nose, but had given them up without an effort to smooth them off. I judged him to be a bachelor from the frayed condition of his linen ... He had glittering eyes-small, keen, and black- and thin wide mottled lips. He had had them, to the best of my belief, from forty to fifty years." (top)
Westlock, John ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Former pupil of Pecksniff and friend of Tom Pinch although they disagree about Pecksniff's character. He is instrumental in exposing Jonas Chuzzlewit and later marries Tom's sister Ruth. (top)
Whimple, Mrs ( Great Expectations ) Landlady of the house at Mill Pond Bank where Old Bill Barley and his daughter, Clara, live. Magwitch is kept secretly in the house waiting for the escape out of Britain. (top)
Wickfield, Agnes ( David Copperfield ) Childhood friend of David Copperfield and daughter of Betsy Trotwood's lawyer. Becomes David's wife after the death of Dora. (top)
Mr. Wickfield ( David Copperfield ) Father of Agnes and lawyer to Betsy Trotwood. His overindulgence of wine causes him to be vulnerable to the schemes of Uriah Heep, who becomes his partner and attempts to ruin him. (top)
Wickham, Mrs ( Dombey and Son ) Paul Dombey Jrs' nurse after Polly Toodle is discharged. (top)
Wilfer, Bella ( Our Mutual Friend )
Girl specified in old Harmon's will that his son John should marry in order to gain his inheritance. When John disappears and is presumed drowned she is left " a widow without ever being married". She leaves her home and goes to live with the Boffins where she is wooed by John Rokesmith, alias of John Harmon. She refuses him at first but later falls in love with him and they marry. She finds out later that he is really John Harmon and that they have gained his inheritance. (top)Wilfer, Lavinia ( Our Mutual Friend ) Sister of Bella. Obstinate and quarrelsome, she takes posession of Bella's beau, George Sampson, when Bella goes to live with the Boffins. (top)
Wilfer, Reginald (R.W.) ( Our Mutual Friend ) Father of Bella, whom she adores. R.W. attends the wedding of of Bella to Rokesmith, unbeknownst to his overbearing wife. (top)
Willet, Joe ( Barnaby Rudge )
Son of John who resents his father's treatment of him, he joins the army and loses an arm in the American Revolution, later marries Dolly Varden. The couple become proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole Inn. (top)Willet, John ( Barnaby Rudge ) Proprietor of the Maypole Inn and father of Joe. Father and son quarrel when John treats the adult Joe as a child and Joe leaves, joining the army. John witnesses the destruction of the Maypole by the rioters. He is later reconciled with his son who, along with wife Dolly, become proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole. (top)
Winkle, Nathaniel ( Pickwick Papers ) Member of the Pickwick club and traveling companion to Pickwick and his friends. Winkle is supposedly the sportsman of the group but all of his attempts at sporting activities prove him a humbug. He marries Arabella Allen, which upsets his father. Later Winkle's father comes to London and sees his daughter-in-law for himself, and is reconciled to the marriage. (top)
Witherfield, Miss ( Pickwick Papers ) The lady in yellow curl papers whom Samuel Pickwick accidentally meets in her room at Ipswich. She is courted by Pickwick's fellow traveler to Ipswich, Peter Magnus. (top)
Wititterly, Julia and Henry ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Kate Nickleby becomes a companion to Julia after leaving Madame Mantalini's. Julia becomes jealous of Kate when Sir Mulberry Hawk begins to pay visits to their Belgravia home. Nicholas removes Kate from the home after he fights with Hawk. (top)
Woodcourt, Allan ( Bleak House ) A young surgeon who falls in love with Esther Summerson before going away as ship's doctor to India. On his return to England he learns that Esther is engaged to John Jarndyce. When Jarndyce learns that Esther is in love with Woodcourt he releases her to marry him. (top)
Wopsle ( Great Expectations ) Parish clerk and friend of the Gargerys. He aspires to enter the church but instead becomes an actor with the stage name of Waldengarver. Pip sees him perform Hamlet in London. (top)
Wrayburn, Eugene ( Our Mutual Friend ) Lawyer and friend of Mortimer Lightwood. He becomes interested in the Harmon case and meets Lizzie Hexam and falls in love with her. She loves him also but tries to distance herself from him because they come from different classes of society. Lizzie leaves London to get away from Bradley Headstone, the school teacher who also loves her, and Wrayburn. Eugene finds her and is followed by Headstone who attempts to murder him. Lizzie nurses Wrayburn back to health and they are married. (top)
Wren, Jenny aka Fanny Cleaver ( Our Mutual Friend )
Crippled doll's dressmaker with whom Lizzie Hexam lives after the death of her father. She helps Lizzie escape London when pursued by Headstone and Wrayburn. (top)X
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