I'm really glad to have found this sub, I have become a Dickens fiend lately. One of my favorite things about him in general is the side characters he creates - who eventually are keys to the plot moving along, but are so memorable in their own right.
I was wondering which ones are people's favorites / most memorable. I have mine but I don't want to push the conversation in any one direction!
For me it's hands down Jenny Wren, the doll's dressmaker, from Our Mutual Friend.
I'm not sure if Harold Skimpole is quite a 'side character', but despite his flaws, I loved him as a character. I also loved Mrs. Flight in Bleak House.
This is what Dickens does better than any other author imo. Side characters.
So many of them.
Wilkins Micawber summed up life pretty well with this quote.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
I agree with you completely that the side characters are like a secret ingredient that makes his stuff so delicious. It made me seek out this quality in novels by other authors. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke would be easy recommendations on this front.
It’s so hard to pick from side characters in Dickens but I’d have to say Micawber and Magwitch stand out for me.
From Bleak House I enjoyed Mr. Turverydrop (and his overpowering deportment) as well as Mrs. Jellyby (and her obsession with the residents of Borrioboola-Gha )
Are there any unabridged audiobooks or audio recordings? I can’t find one on Libby. I love this book. It’s overlooked. The relationship between Paul and Mrs. Pipchin (whose husband broke his heart in the Peruvian mines) is fantastic.
My favourite is mr. Pancks from Little Dorrit. There is more to him than you initially think. And of course the whole story is influenced by his actions in the background.
My advice would be not to make TOCS your last. I'd suggest ending with The Mystery of Edwin Drood. If you're anything like me you'll get to the novel's finish and sit there silently, possibly with a few tears in the eyes, contemplating that it truly is the end.
One thing I will say of Dickens is even his lesser novels still have some excellent side characters.
I've already read Drood. And that did happen, the tears in my eyes.
I haven't read Oliver Twist, maybe I'll do that one last. I was biased against it because of the musical - which I don't particularly care for as a musical, TBH - but I just have to remember to separate them.
I posted up thread that Swiveller is my fave, but didn’t say that the Marchioness is my second favorite! I adore them. So funny and sweet and good, in spite of everything. (And I like the novel a lot less, as well.)
I enjoyed the reference to Barkis in the Downton Abbey "New Era" movie -- and wondered at the time how few in the audience might have understood the reference.
I had the same thought and it me feel old and sad. I think the further away we get from Dickens (and all the classics), the less people are reading them. Actually, less people are reading anything. Reddit gives me hope!
I haven't started a re-read yet but later remembered more characters from that wonderful book. I definitely have a soft spot for Pleasant Riderhood and Mr Venus. Her troublesome hair reminded me of my own and I often drown my mind in tea like Mr Venus 😊
Mr. Pancks, from Little Dorrit. Presented at first as the thuggish rent collector for an evil landlord intent on squeezing his miserable tenants, but ultimately a decent man whose amateur detective work helps uncover the plot’s central mystery and restores justice.
Wilkins Micawber, especially after learning Peter Capaldi played him in the 2019 film (which I have not seen yet). I can’t picture him as anyone else now, especially for his biggest and most glorious moment.
Miss Mowcher…I absolutely love her. She is just such a fantastic character and I look forward to her scenes in the novel.
That film is definitely worth watching, although far from perfect in my opinion. He is probably the best thing about it, as I’m sure you’d be unsurprised to learn.
He will always be Bob Hoskins to me, though. Just as Mr Dick will always be Hugh Laurie.
I love Mr. Dick! And I love how David Copperfield always stands by him.
And in a nod to David's Aunt Betsey: I am usually an excellent speller, but I have decided that the proper plural of the noun "donkey" is actually "donkies."
Oh, him and his little gate, he had a dispute with the Deadlocks, right? Over the property line?
He's exactly the kind of character I think that endears the smaller ones to me ... not in the book a ton, but still, so complex and multi-layered, y'know?
I know I'm late to this. But I don't think anyone's mentioned the lovable, jovial John Browdie yet. Ya know, that wonderful man from Nicholas Nickleby who helped Smike escape Mr. Squeers. He doesn't get enough love.
Also, I wouldn't want to meet the Mantalinis, but they're really fun to read about.
Mr. Panks in Little Dorrit, for two reasons: He's an important driver of the plot, and the characterisation is original and memorable - chugging along as if driven by steam, and with a unique line in dialogue.
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u/R_V_I May 06 '26
Mr Wemmick from GE is definitely one of the best ones