List of Dickensian Characters - D

D

• Daisy, Solomon Clerk and bell-ringer at the parish church in Chigwell. Friend of John Willet at the Maypole Inn. Daisy tells the story of Reuben Haredale's murder in Barnaby Rudge.

Daisy Love. Friend of Rosa Dartle in DavidvCopper field

• Darnay, Charles Son of Marquis de St. Evremonde. He is tried for treason in London and is acquitted due to his resemblance to Sydney Carton. He marries Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr Manette. He returns to Paris to help a friend imprisoned there and is arrested by the revolutionaries. His life is saved when look-alike Carton takes his place on the guillotine in A Tale of Two Cities.
• Dartle, Rosa Companion to Mrs Steerforth, jealously in love with Steerforth, who has marked her face when a child by throwing a hammer in a fit of temper. Rosa hates Emily for running away with Steerforth. Narrator David Copperfield describes Rosa as "A slight short figure, dark, and not agreeable to look at, but with some appearance of good looks too... I concluded in my own mind that she was about thirty years of age, and that she wished to be married. She was a little dilapidated, like a house, with having been so long to let; yet had, as I have said, an appearance of good looks. Her thinness seemed to be the effect of some wasting fire within her, which found a vent in her gaunt eyes." in David Copperfield.
• Datchery, Dick Mysterious visitor to Cloisterham whose "white head was unusually large, and his shock of white hair was unusually thick and ample." Datchery keeps an eye on John Jasper after the disappearance of Edwin Drood. The true identity of Datchery is one of the most contested points of the uncompleted mystery. It is widely believed that Datchery is one of the characters in the book in disguise, most likely candidates include Neville, Bazzard, Tartar, Helena, or even Edwin Drood himself in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• Dawkins, Jack Also known as the Artful Dodger, he is the most successful and interesting of Fagin's thieves. He shows Oliver the ropes of the pickpocket game and is later captured and sentenced to transportation in Oliver Twist.
• Dedlock, Lady Honoria the haughty mistress of Chesney Wold in Bleak House. Her past drives much of the plot as it turns out that, before her marriage, she had an affair with another man and had his child. She discovers the child's identity (Esther Summerson) and, because she has made this discovery and revealed that she had a secret predating her marriage, she has attracted the noxious curiosity of Mr Tulkinghorn, who feels himself bound by his ties to his client, Sir Leicester, to pry out her secret and use it to control her. At the end, she dies, disgraced in her own mind and convinced that her aristocratic husband can never forgive her moral failings, even though he has already done so.
• Dedlock, Sir Leicester a crusty baronet in Bleak House, very much older than his wife. Dedlock is an unthinking conservative who regards the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit in which his wife is entangled as a mark of distinction worthy of a man of his family lineage.
• Dedlock, Volumnia Poor relation of Sir Leicester Dedlock. 'Rouged and necklaced' hanger-on at Chesney Wold in Bleak House.
• Defarge, Ernest Husband of Madame Defarge and keeper of a wine shop in Paris. He is a leader among the revolutionaries in A Tale of Two Cities.
• Defarge, Madame Wife of wine shop keeper, Ernest Defarge, and a leader among the revolutionaries. She harbors an intense hatred of Charles Darnay for atrocities committed against her family by the Evremonde family. Madame Defarge is killed in a struggle with Miss Pross in Paris in A Tale of Two Cities.
• Dennis, Ned is the Executioner at Tyburn, becomes involved in the Gordon Riots and is executed in Barnaby Rudge.
• Dick, Mr An eccentric lodger at Betsy Trotwood's and friend of David Copperfield. whose real name is Richard Babley in David Copperfield.
• "Young" Dick is a friend of Oliver in Oliver Twist. He grew up with him in the parish farm run by Mrs Mann.
• Deputy (Winks) Boy hired by Durdles to throw stones at him when he is wandering drunk at night. "Sometimes the stones hit him, and sometimes they miss him, but Durdles seems indifferent to either fortune. The hideous small boy, on the contrary, whenever he hits Durdles, blows a whistle of triumph through a jagged gap, convenient for the purpose, in the front of his mouth, where half his teeth are wanting; and whenever he misses him, yelps out 'Mulled agin!' and tries to atone for the failure by taking a more correct and vicious aim." Deputy resides at the Traveler's Twopenny in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• Dilber, Mrs Scrooge's charwoman who sells his bed linen and curtains to Old Joe when Scrooge is shown shadows of the future by the Ghost of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol.
• Diver, Colonel Editor of the New York Rowdy Journal. Diver meets Mark and Martin on board the Screw and directs them to Pawkins boarding house in Martin Chuzzlewit.
• Dodson and Fogg Sharp dealing lawyers who dupe Mrs Bardell into bringing a breach of promise to marry suit against Samuel Pickwick in Pickwick Papers .
• Dolls, Mr is the drunken father of Jenny Wren whom she refers to as her 'bad child' in Our Mutual Friend.
• Dombey, Fanny First wife of Paul Dombey and mother of Florence and Paul Jr at whose birth she dies in Dombey and Son.
• Dombey, Florence Neglected daughter of Paul Dombey and sister of little Paul whom she nurses in his illness. She marries Walter Gay and is eventually reconciled with her father in Dombey and Son.
• Dombey, Paul Powerful head of the House of Dombey. He wants a son, and when a daughter (Florence) is born he despises her. His second child, a son (also Paul), is weak and sickly and dies a child. Paul's first wife dies with the birth of Paul Jr and he remarries. His second wife, Edith Granger, does not love him and eventually runs away with Carker, a manager at the firm. With Carker gone, Paul is incapable of managing the business and it fails. Paul ends his days reconciled with his daughter and doting on his grandchildren, little Paul, but especially little Florence in Dombey and Son..
• Dombey, Paul Jr The long hoped-for heir to the house of Dombey and Son. His mother dies at his birth leaving him a frail and sickly child. His father sends him to Brighton in the care of Mrs Pipchin hoping the sea air will bolster his failing health. He then attends Dr Blimber's school and his health continues to decline. Paul returns home to London and dies in the care of his sister, Florence, leaving the firm of Dombey and Son without an heir. Dickens modeled Paul (and also Tiny Tim) on his sister Fanny's crippled son Henry Burnett Jr in Dombey and Son..
• Dorrit, Amy Daughter of William Dorrit, born in the Marshalsea debtor's prison. She works for Mrs Clennam and befriends Arthur. Her father inherits a fortune and they leave the prison and travel abroad. After her father's death she discovers that the fortune has been lost in a banking scam. She nurses Arthur in the Marshalsea when his fortune is lost in the same banking scam. The novel ends with the marriage of Arthur and Amy at St. Georges Church, next to the prison, the same church where she was christened in Little Dorrit.
• Dorrit, Edward (Tip) Ne'er-do-well brother of Amy Dorrit in Little Dorrit.
• Dorrit, Fanny Sister of Amy. A dancer with social aspirations, Fanny marries Edmund Sparkler, Stepson of Mr Merdle. Fanny and Sparkler lose everything in the Merdle banking scam in Little Dorrit.
• Dorrit, Frederick Brother of William, Uncle of Fanny, Edward, and Amy. He plays clarionet in a small-time theatre. He is due an inheritance but the knowledge is kept from him by the intrigues of Mrs Clennam in Little Dorrit.
• Dorrit, William Father of Amy (title character), Fanny, and Edward, and long-time inmate of the Marshalsea debtor's prison. He inherits an estate and leaves the prison, traveling in style with his daughters. After his death Amy learns that his fortune has been lost in the Merdle banking scam in Little Dorrit.
• Doyce, Daniel Inventor of an unspecified mechanical wonder which he is unable to get a patent for in the Circumlocution Office. He partners with Arthur Clennam who loses the firm's money in the Merdle scandal. Doyce later sells the invention abroad and returns to liberate Arthur from the Marshalsea in Little Dorrit.
• Drood, Edwin An orphan, Edwin has been promised to Rosa Bud since early childhood. Later Edwin and Rosa rebel against the arrangement. Rosa is also wooed by Edwin's uncle John Jasper. Edwin turns up missing and his watch is found in the river. Jasper hints suspicion of Neville Landless in the disappearance when the novel ends abruptly with the death of Dickens in 1870 in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• Drummle, Bentley Pip's fellow student at Matthew Pocket's. He marries Estella for her money and abuses her. He is killed when kicked by a horse that he has mistreated in Great Expectations.
• Duff A Bow Street Runner who, along with Blathers, investigates the attempted robbery of the Maylie home in Oliver Twist.
• Durdles Drunken stonemason who engraves tombstones for Cloisterham Cathedral. John Jasper is interested in Durdles ability to tap on the tombs and discover their contents. Durdles hires Deputy to throw stones at him when he catches him wandering about drunk at night. "No man is better known in Cloisterham. He is the chartered libertine of the place. Fame trumpets him a wonderful workman - which, for aught that anybody knows, he may be (as he never works); and a wonderful sot - which everybody knows he is." in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.