Mr. Bounderby's characterization

Mr. Bounderby is a character of Hard Times, one of Dickens' works. It is one of several Victorian novels which describes and criticizes the social and economic conditions of England. In particular it portrays Victorian Utilitarianism.

In the extract the character is presented towards three categories: his physical appearance, his role in the society and his temperament.

Right from a first exclamation "He was a rich man" the reader can attribute to him a stereotype: he is a villain. I can say it because in according to the features of the Victorian novel, every rich men is necessarily a villain. Just from this consideration I analyzed his characterization.

First of all, the writer describes physically him presenting him as a villain. As a matter of fact the writer says that he has a ugly appearance between some considerations of his "stare", his "temples", his "puffed head and forehead", his "strained skin", his "eyes" and his "eyebrows". In conclusion the writer says that he has an aspect that pervades people and that he was fat: "a man with a pervading appearance", "inflated like a balloon".

The writer also speaks about his position in the society. From the description he results a self made man who boats of his wealth and refuses his old poverty (text references: "a man who could never vaunt himself a self-made man", "his old poverty"). The text also contains some information about his work: he is a "banker", "merchant" and "manufacturer".

But his really characterization is conveyed from his temperament. First of all the writer repeats twice that he is an insensible (text reference: "devoid of sentiments"). After that another information about his character is conveyed from the sound of his laugh. It is connoted as a "metallic laugh" so it conveys the idea of a person who is a villain, as matter of fact a metallic sound recalls to a sound harsh, painful and annoying. The writer, between a parody also gives information about his lack of humility. He says "a man who was a bully of humility". The juxtaposition of the word "bully" and the word "humility" creates a paradox. As a matter of fact the first term recalls to a bad person who exploits the others and the second recalls to somebody who has respect for the other.

Right from this exclamation the reader can understand the really mean of the Utilitarianism.