The novel’s chief argument, emphasized through Dombey’s character arc and the example of several supporting characters, is that pride and ambition, when self-serving and self-aggrandizing, can be deeply destructive to relationships. Dombey’s pride holds him back from authentic connection with others throughout the novel, as his sense of self-importance prevents him from giving or receiving affection. When Dombey realizes his second marriage will not be a cordial one, the narrator notes that his pride works “against conciliation, love, and confidence! against all gentle sympathy from without, all trust, all tenderness, all soft emotion” (534). Instead of protecting him, as armor, his pride acts as a weakness, threatening his “self-love [and making him] as vulnerable as the bare breast to steel” (534). The narrative argues that Dombey’s pride and relentless desire for an epic legacy keeps him from experiencing the things that really matter, such as familial love and connection.

Dombey’s pride causes him to seek the upper hand in each of his interactions, which ultimately leaves him alone and miserable. Dickens describes his attitude toward his marriage to his first wife as that of a ruler to a subject, as he requires Edith to be subservient to his demands and never object to his self-absorbed ways. His pride in having an heir and his sole interest in incorporating a son into his business makes Dombey unable to see any value in Florence as a person who deserves his love and care. When his sense of self-importance is injured, he is moved to acts of carelessness, cruelty, and eventually, violence. He orders that Walter be sent to Barbados because he fears Walter has taken too close an interest in Florence, he demands obedience from Edith rather than seeking her affection, and he strikes Florence when she tries to comfort him after Edith’s flight. Dombey retreats into his house, alone and alienated, watching his business go bankrupt and his legacy fall into ruin—a tragic fate that results from pride unchecked by love or decency. 

Carker the manager’s ruthless cunning and estranged familial relationships reinforce the novel’s moral arguments. Carker shares Dombey’s pride and self-serving ambition, evidenced in his attempts to manipulate and influence Dombey for his own gain. By playing to Dombey’s own pride and continually positioning himself as lower in status, and content to be so, Carker makes himself Dombey’s confidante and uses this power for his own financial and personal gain. He rejects his own brother, John, when John’s mistakes threaten Carker’s professional standing. He severs his relationship with this sister, Harriet, who hurts Carker’s pride by showing John compassion and forgiveness for his error. Just as Dombey’s pride leads him to drive his business into bankruptcy and lose everything, Carker’s inflexibility drives him to lose his position, his social status, and eventually his life.

Edith presents a parallel portrait of the destructive effects of pride, and the ways it has corrupted her sense of worth. As she tells Florence, her pride leads her to hate herself:

I have dreamed […] of a pride that is all powerless for good, all powerful for evil; of a pride that has been galled and goaded, through many shameful years, and has never recoiled except upon itself; a pride that has debased its owner with the consciousness of deep humiliation, and never helped its owner boldly to resent or avoid it […] a pride that, rightly guided, might have led perhaps to better things, but which, misdirected, and perverted, like all else belonging to the same possessor, has been self-contempt, mere hardihood, and ruin (581).

The language of condemnation Edith uses (“debased,” “misdirected,” “perverted”) emphasizes the suffering she believes her pride has cost her and underscores the moral lesson of the novel. Edith proves she is capable of affection in her treatment of Florence, but the pride which led her to consent to a marriage with a husband she does not love or respect proves the wedge that comes between them. In the end, rather than bend, Edith abandons her marriage, and Florence, proving again the destructive power of pride that replaces affective bonds and does not permit the bearer to change course.

Both Edith and Alice cite the ways their pride was cultivated in them by their mothers, providing a gendered lens on the theme. Mrs. Skewton makes inordinate efforts to appear young and attractive to cultivate interest in Edith so she might marry well and provide for them both. Edith later notes that this ambition of her mother ruined Edith’s childhood and her ability to be her natural, authentic self. Similarly, Alice says explicitly that her mother’s ambition that she secure a connection to a powerful man ruined her, as she entered into a sexual relationship without the legal protections of marriage. Despite her challenging circumstances, Alice rejects any help from others, particularly Carker, who is responsible for her initial ruin. She returns the money that Harriet gives her once she discovers Harriet’s connection to Carker. 

The secondary character of Mrs. Chick provides a comical portrait of self-importance, pride, and social ambition. She ends her friendship with Miss Tox when she perceives that Miss Tox developed feelings for Mr. Dombey. Mrs. Chick’s sense of entitlement and pride as a Dombey reflects her brother’s own feelings but become a source of satire as Mrs. Chick perceives her brother does not value her influence or opinion as she believes he ought. All of these character arcs echo the novel’s larger argument that pride and unchecked ambition are a wrong that, in a moral universe, leads to self-destruction. The novel contrasts the ruin that follows pride with the happiness earned by characters who embrace kindness, generosity, and affection.