Characters in Charles Dickens' Novel Hard Times
Brief Survey of Main Characters in the Classic Victorian Novel
The characters in Charles Dickens’ novel, Hard Times, are important, fascinating, and occasionally humorous types of personalities that most people know. With his characters, Dickens is able to reveal the follies of humanity in a compelling novel.
Thomas Gradgrind
Thomas Gradgrind has one religion and that is “Facts.” Like all zealots, Gradgrind lives for his ideal and nothing else. If it isn’t a Fact, but rather an emotional or make-believe Fancy, it has no part in the world that he proposes. He is an educator and he raises his children according to the methods he proposes for his schools. He wants them to be an example of the perfection that can be found in a life lived by Facts and for Facts.
His children, Louisa and Tom, provide examples of the logical outcome of a life lived by Facts.
After a heart-rending conversation with Louisa and after seeing the ruin of Tom’s life, Gradgrind repents and feels true regret for the unhappiness he caused his children in his misguided attempts to raise them according to Facts.
Josiah Bounderby
Josiah Bounderby is a wealthy merchant, banker, and businessman. He is puffed up and full of himself. A big, loud man, Bounderby gives frequent recitations about the difficulties and poverty he faced growing up and brags that he is a self-made man. The stories he tells of his childhood are exposed as complete fabrications by the end of the novel.
He apparently has an agreement with Mr. Gradgrind to marry Gradgrind’s daughter Louisa when she is old enough. However, while the two do marry, the marriage cannot survive Bounderby’s pride and Louisa’s gradual emotional awakening.
Louisa ‘Loo’ Gradgrind/Bounderby
Louisa is the oldest child of Thomas Gradgrind. She is her father’s favorite and he pays especial attention to her upbringing. Throughout the early part of the book, prior to her marriage to Mr. Bounderby, Louisa lives a dual life. She is always able to present her father with the answers and attitude that he is attempting to instill in her. However, she has a propensity for staring into a fire and wondering. Louisa’s wondering reveals a yearning for dreams and Fancy. However, because the imaginative side of her nature is never nurtured, she is unsure as to what she is wondering about and what it might mean.
When Louisa’s father tells her of the Mr. Bounderby’s proposal, Louisa asks him what he suggests. She agrees with everything her father says and then marries Mr. Bounderby in order to satisfy her brother Tom.
Louisa’s heart is awakened by the lovemaking of Mr. Harthouse. However, he doesn’t succeed in causing her to become unfaithful to Bounderby. Somehow, Louisa’s heart survives the attack and she returns home where she faints and becomes ill.
After a heart-rending conversation with her father, Gradgrind allows her to remain at home and pleads with Bounderby to provide her time to recover. Bounderby refuses.
As a result, Louisa lives the remainder of her life in her father’s house, content and converted but without the rewards of true happiness.
Cecilia ‘Sissy’ Jupe
We first meet Sissy in a classroom of Gradgrind’s school where she is humiliated by Gradgrind, the other school personnel, and her fellow students. She is a new student and doesn’t know how to respond to questions with Facts. The daughter of a circus performer, Sissy represents what Dickens referred to as Fancy. Sissy values the heart and emotional side of life over the factual and critical side of life.
We soon learn that Sissy’s father felt he was unable to provide for her since his age and infirmity prevented him from performing in the circus. So he abandons her. Mr. Gradgrind, who is trying to determine why such an unpromising student attends his school, discovers her situation and for some unexplainable reason decides to bring her into his household. He hopes to use her as a model and a test for his theory of education.
However, Gradgrind finds that Sissy simply cannot learn Facts and always responds to questions with the emotional response of the heart. The end of the novel finds many of the characters changed and turning their backs on Facts to seek emotion or Fancy. Sissy provides these converted characters support and direction. She is a redemptive character whose love helps those trapped in the unemotional world of Facts to break free.
At the end of the novel, she is the only character who achieves true happiness.
Stephen Blackpool
Stephen Blackpool is a ‘hand’ at one of Bounderby’s factories. He is a hard worker and a honest man. However, his difficult life is further darkened by his marriage to a drunken woman who periodically disappears and then returns to sell the household furniture and crash in their apartment in a drunken stupor. Stephen had once made a choice between his wife and Rachel and chose his wife. Rachel remains single and faithful to Stephen. However, they do not consummate their love.
In desperation, Stephen goes to Bounderby and requests help in obtaining a divorce. He is denied.
Stephen continues to work despite his sorrow. When a labor union is formed, he refuses to join it. His actions are misunderstood and Bounderby fires him. In order to find work, Stephen leaves Coketown and changes his name.
When he finds out that he is being accused of stealing the money from the Bank. He begins the long walk back to clear his name. However, when he is near Coketown he falls into an abandoned mine shaft called Old Hell Shaft. He is rescued near the end of the book and the truth is revealed. He dies in Rachel’s arms.
Learn about the Minor Characters in Hard Times.
Charles Dickens
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