Strictly speaking, there is no title character in Dombey and Son; Dombey and Son is the name of a shipping company. The firm has always been called Dombey and Son, but the plot revolves around the frustration of its head, Paul Dombey, at having no son and heir.
At the start of the story, Dombey has only a daughter: Florence, who is six years old. Then his wife gives birth to a son – Little Paul. His wife dies soon afterwards, and Little Paul is a sickly child; he dies aged only six. This only increases Paul Dombey's frustration, and distances him even further from Florence. He meets and marries Edith Granger, described as "very handsome, very haughty".
Edith had been married at eighteen, and widowed only two years later. Once established in Dombey's London mansion, Edith provokes his wrath by devoting all her attention to Florence. He refuses to speak to her, sending messages via a go–between. Edith eventually elopes with the go–between, James Carker, thus "losing her fair name", although she "kept her honour". Carker was "merely ... an instrument for making her escape."
The quotations in this popup article are from The Dickens Encyclopedia, by Arthur L. Hayward (The Promotional Reprint Company Ltd., 1995; first published in 1924 by George Routledge & Sons Ltd.)
© Haydn Thompson 2020