# Mrs. Merdle — Little Dorrit character guide

> Mrs. Merdle in Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mrs. Merdle

**First appearance:** 0035-xxxiii-mrs-merdle-s-complaint

## Snapshot

The wife of the age's financial god, she wears her husband's wealth like armor and her contempt like perfume, presiding over drawing-rooms where nobody dares be sincere.

## Who they are

Mrs. Merdle is a monument to fashion, her conversation a series of polished dismissals and her marriage a cold arrangement of convenience. She maneuvers her son Sparkler through society and eyes the Dorrits' new fortune with the same calculating calm she brings to everything. In her, Dickens shows how respectability can be a machine for producing nothing but appearance.

## In the story

### [Moving in Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xx-moving-in-society)

Receives Fanny and Amy in her grand drawing-room, gives Fanny a parting gift, and speaks condescendingly about social exclusion.

### [Mr. Merdle's Complaint](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxi-mr-merdle-s-complaint)

The magnificent hostess, whose bosom is a focal point of admiration. She is associated with the social elite and her first husband was a colonel.

### [Mrs. Merdle's Complaint](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxxiii-mrs-merdle-s-complaint)

Complains that her husband's business-like demeanor is unsuitable for society, urging him to adopt a more detached attitude.

### [Taking Advice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xiv-taking-advice)

Mrs. Merdle circulates news of Sparkler's appointment with studied indifference, and comments on Fanny's beauty with a critical edge.

### [No Just Cause or Impediment Why These Two Persons Should Not Be Joined Together](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xv-no-just-cause-or-impediment-why-these-two-persons-should-not-be-joined-together)

Engages in diplomatic conversation with Mr. Dorrit, expresses personal approval of the match, and hints at Mr. Merdle's likely consent.

### [XXV: The Chief Butler Resigns the Seals of Office](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxv-the-chief-butler-resigns-the-seals-of-office)

Attends the dinner party and deflects Bar's inquiries about Merdle's affairs.

### [Going!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/chapters/xxxiii-going)

In gauzy mourning, she feuds with Fanny Dorrit and emerges from her husband's scandal as a championed society figure.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/characters/mrs_merdle
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/little_dorrit_se/characters