Florence, Dombey’s daughter, is the narrative’s heroine. As the eldest child of Dombey and his first wife, Fanny, Florence’s attachment to her mother, then to her brother, Paul, demonstrates Florence’s generous and affectionate nature. Rather than hating or berating her father for his distant demeanor, Florence seeks ways to earn his love and attention. She dotes on her brother and is truly devastated when he dies. Though she has a companion in the form of her maid, Susan, Florence feels deeply lonely after Paul’s death.

Florence is loyal and kind, illustrated by the friendship she develops with Walter and with Solomon on the day she’s lost in the City. She is endlessly self-sacrificing, putting the needs of others before her own. She is sweet to Toots, even though she does not return his affection, and she eagerly embraces Edith when they are introduced. Florence embodies several of the ideals of Victorian womanhood, including chastity, modesty, a sweet temper, and a gracious and hospitable manner. She is described as lovely inside and out. Though she innocently thought of Walter as a brother for many years, when he returns from abroad, she falls in love without hesitation and eagerly agrees to marry him. By the end of the novel, Florence has been rewarded for her steadfast love and faith by the warm and affectionate family unit she always dreamed of having. In the novel’s conclusion, she wins her father’s love at last, highlighting the novel’s thematic emphasis on The Redemptive Power of Affection.

Young Paul Dombey, the titular Son, is the second child born to Dombey and his first wife. Paul’s mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and he is nursed by Polly Toodle, who is obliged to leave her own children and whom Dombey refers to as Mrs. Richards. Paul is a sensitive, inquisitive, and fragile child who suffers many common childhood illnesses. His constitution is never as strong as his imagination. Paul’s frank honesty provides a clear reflection on some of the more self-serving characters, like Mrs. Pipchin, with whom he develops an amicable relationship that is unusual for her. Paul’s early question to his father, “What is money?” (91) provides a check to Dombey’s belief that money is evidence of his worth and an extension of his personal power.

Instead, Paul values relationships, proving devoted to Florence and friendly to Toots, whom he meets at Dr. Blimber’s school. Paul, like Florence, has a kind nature and never complains of his illness. Rather, he spends his time contemplating the world around him, a habit that leads others to refer to him as old-fashioned. Paul’s interest in what the waves are saying foreshadows his early death, which lends a note of tragedy to the book. He continues to be fondly remembered by Florence, who names her son after him and sings to her child the same song she sang to Paul when she sat by his bedside.

Edith, Dombey’s second wife, acts as a foil to other of the female characters and is, briefly, a source of affection and comfort to Florence. Edith is not quite 30 when she meets Dombey at Leamington, where she is staying with her mother. Edith was married at age 18 to Colonel Granger, who was much older than she was. They had a boy who drowned when he was young. Edith is elegant and beautiful, but, as the narrator says, “She knew that she was beautiful; it was impossible that it could be otherwise: but she seemed with her own pride to defy her very self” (281). She is described as having a “twilight smile” (373), suggesting at a tragic vein in her nature.

Edith’s pride and aloof nature serve as the point of connection for her relationship with Dombey, who recognizes in her a similar disdain for others. However, Dickens reveals that Edith’s pride and coldness stems from a sense that those closest to her only view her as an object to be used for their own benefit. For example, Edith feels that her mother’s interest in her is only because she is attractive and accomplished, and she resents that her mother only values her as a way to advance her own interests. As a result, Edith despises herself for agreeing to marry a man she does not love in return for financial security. 

While she cannot bring herself to show affection for Dombey, Edith adores Florence and finds in her a sense of companionship and familial love. However, Dombey’s self-centered displeasure at the affection between Edith and Florence denies her even that pleasure. While Edith hates Carker, recognizing early on that he is both perceptive and manipulative, she uses him to escape her marriage and live in isolation. She Edith seeks the protection of her cousin, Lord Feenix, who shelters her and enables her to briefly reconcile with, and beg the forgiveness of, Florence. Edith doesn’t realize she is related to Alice, whose beauty and life are a tragic and distorted echo of Edith’s. Edith provides an example of the novel’s warning of the tragic consequences when pride supplants affection.

Walter, the nephew of Solomon Gills, an instrument maker who runs a shop in the City of London and becomes Florence’s love interest. Walter’s father apparently ran into some difficulty, and Solomon went into debt to help him, then became Walter’s guardian. Walter is earnest, honest, kind, and cheerful with a streak of imagination evidenced in his love of hearing tales of sea voyages and shipwrecks. Walter is loyal and devoted to his uncle and feels anxious about leaving him without help.

Walter’s position as clerk in the firm of Dombey and Son is initially a welcome development for him, and he feels proud and glad when he rescues Florence when she is lost. Thereafter she becomes an image in his mind that inspires and comforts him, an infatuation that turns to love when Walter returns as a young man to find Florence has grown up. Walter’s resilience and intelligence help him survive a shipwreck and gain work on the ship that rescues him, and this leads to a secure financial position. Walter is a foil for Dombey in that he is affectionate, generous, and full of humor, and he proves a devoted husband to Florence, providing her with the love and emotional stability she’s always been denied.

Captain Cuttle is an important supporting character and foil for Dombey as he provides, with humorous inflection, the portrait of a man who lacks pride, ego, vanity, or any sense of avarice. Instead, the narrator describes him as a man of “transparent simplicity” (219) and says: “No child could have surpassed Captain Cuttle in inexperience of everything but wind and weather; in simplicity, credulity, and generous trustfulness” (649). The Captain’s naval service is not described in detail, but he frequently uses nautical phrases and sayings, particularly in dispensing advice.

The Captain is a loyal friend to Solomon and feels a paternal pride in Walter, which extends to an avuncular affection for Florence, for whom he provides refuge. The Captain, for all that he is described in humorous terms, provides emotional ballast for the book, as his loyalty is the prop that keeps the Wooden Midshipman open and waiting for the return of Walter and Solomon. The Captain has a hook in place of his right hand and attire consisting of a blue coat and a hard-glazed hat, all of which point to his resiliency, practicality, and sturdiness.

James Carker is the antagonist of the novel and epitomizes self-serving ambition and greed. He is described as “a gentleman of thirty-eight or forty years old, of a florid complexion, and with two unbroken rows of glistening teeth, whose regularity and whiteness were quite distressing” (166). He is always “closely buttoned up and tightly dressed” (166). The narrator presents him as “Mr. Carker the manager, sly of manner, sharp of tooth, soft of foot, watchful of eye, oily of tongue, cruel of heart, nice of habit” (286) and “feline from sole to crown” (286). His teeth become a symbol of his falsely benign manner. Rob Toodle, the Grinder, finds Carker fascinating as if he were “some powerful enchanter, and [his teeth] had been his strongest spell” (558).

Carker the manager is the second in command at Dombey and Son and has advanced to his position of trust by relentless flattery of and subservience to Dombey. Carker has used his position to advance his own interests, and his own wealth, as much as possible. Carker has two siblings, John and Harriet, from whom he is estranged. John also works for the firm Dombey and Son and embarrassed the family by stealing from the company. While the senior Dombey allowed him to retain his position, Carker the manager takes every opportunity to shame and belittle his brother, making John feel he’s inferior and referring to him as Junior even though he is the older brother. Carker’s greed becomes his downfall when he insinuates himself into Dombey’s marriage and takes advantage of Edith in her distress. His accidental death when he realizes Dombey is pursuing him provide a moral judgment on ambition, deceit, and cruelty.