Following up on some of our in class activities I
want to look at one of my favorite characters of the book and talk about his
strengths and weaknesses. This character just so happens to be Inspector
Bucket!
I think
that as a character he is very interesting. My first impression of him was that
I did not like him at all. As a man of the law he helps to represent a face of
the flawed system. He can be seen as an enemy of Jo and of Lady Dedlock.
Eventually it is easy to see that he is just really doing his job. By the end
of the book he ends up being very useful. Originally however, he is hired by
Mr. Tulkinghorn to investigate Lady Dedlock, and does a superb job with it.
Another thing that got under my skin with him is how he treated Jo. Even though
Jo was dirt poor he was still a sympathetic character, and knowing that
Inspector Bucket is one of the characters that mistreated Jo made me somewhat
upset with him. It is easy to see that
Inspector Bucket
takes his job very seriously, and in the end I cannot judge him for that.
In
the end what changed my mind about him was in the last few chapters when he
took over the case of Mr. Tulkinghorn. It is brilliant how he finds out that it
was Madame Hortense and not George. As a character he may be a little blunt and
a little too dedicated to his job, but according to Victorian society that is
not a bad thing. Dealing with the scoundles of London at the time I’m sure that
he was accustomed to rats and thieves which is why he treated everyone the way
he did. Today however, most people like a straight forward person. In the end
however, after he learns the truth about Lady Dedlock he begins to soften and
does a wonderful job helping Esther find her lost mother even though the search
turned out to be a fatal one. Inspector Bucket is very straightforward and
extremely dedicated to his job. He is even married to a fellow inspector which
is actually quite cute. Essentially he is a very constant character that brings
out a lot of emotion within the book.
I wonder how Bucket compares to other Victorian characters involved in law enforcement. I can't remember the character's name, but he makes me think of the inspector in Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. There's something about their powers of perception that's similar.
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