Friday, January 8, 2016

Fave Dickens Characters

Pickwick Papers: Classic are Mr. Jingle's description of the cricket match in the Indies and Lawyer Buzfuz's parody of legalese.

Oliver Twist: Mr. Bumble makes Oliver's life miserable but it is hard not to see him as a comic figure.

Nicholas Nickleby. Comic too is the old lech Mr. Mantalini for harassing Kate Nickleby in the sweat shop. He would've been scared if Kate suddenly went insane and took his advances seriously.

I know now Steerforth is a cad, but when I read David Copperfield at 12 or 13, I thought he was cool. Obviously I didn't quite get how he ruined Lil Em'ly. The rotter!

Xmas Carol: I dunno, there's a certain gusto in Scrooge's mean opinions that makes us laugh. That's why people like impersonating him. Bah, humbug. I always threaten My Dear One that one year for Christmas I'm gonna set up the ultimate decoration, a little crutch and a stool. She slugs me.

Great Expectations: Magwitch because of his rough exterior and noble interior. Any hard-pressed husband who gets slugged for making sincere suggestions about Xmas decorations will root for Joe Gargery.

A Tale of Two Cities: The Seamstress whose hand was held by Syd at the end. Get misty every time I think of her.

No comments:

Post a Comment