# The Old Curiosity Shop — Character guide

> Key figures in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

- [Christopher Nubbles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/kit_nubbles.md): Kit Nubbles is the shabby, softhearted servant who loves Nell and her grandfather without ever expecting anything back, and whose plain decency stands out sharply against the schemers around him. His great flaw is simply
- [Richard Swiveller](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/richard_swiveller.md): Dick Swiveller is a genial loafer who owes rent, cadges drinks, and does just enough clerk's work at Bevis Marks to keep a roof over his head. He is lazy and self-indulgent, yet his curiosity about the small servant lock
- [Nell Trent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/nell_trent.md): Nell Trent is the child at the center of the old curiosity shop, loved by Kit, doted on by her grandfather, and stalked by Quilp. Her defining tension is that she must be the adult — protecting the old man's pride and he
- [Sampson Brass](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/sampson_brass.md): Sampson Brass is a self-styled gentleman of the legal profession, forever bowing, sighing, and invoking his twelve-pound certificate while angling for the main chance. His comic obsequiousness hides a willingness to manu
- [Sally Brass](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/sally_brass.md): Sally Brass runs her brother's office with a pen, a tin of snuff, and a total absence of tenderness, treating the hidden servant girl as something less than human. She is sharp, stingy, and utterly without sentiment, yet
- [Daniel Quilp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/daniel_quilp.md): Daniel Quilp is the grotesque little moneylender who haunts the old curiosity shop, watching Nell from an archway across the street and tormenting everyone within reach for the pleasure of it. His defining quality is not
- [Mrs. Quilp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/mrs_quilp.md): Married to the dwarf Quilp, she occupies a household ruled by mockery and menace, where her only defense is meekness. Her fear is not passive but watchful: she reads his moods, absorbs his jokes, and survives by shrinkin
- [The Schoolmaster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/the_schoolmaster.md): He runs a small school in a quiet village, having lost the one young friend he had attached to himself, and now teaches children who forget him as they grow. His kindness to Nell and her grandfather is offered without ca
- [Mr. Chuckster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/chuckster.md): A pompous clerk at Sampson Brass's office, often mocking Kit.
- [Tommy Codlin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/tommy_codlin.md): A grumpy showman who travels with Short and the Punch and Judy show.
- [Abel Garland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/abel_garland.md): He lives at Abel Cottage with his son and a pony that will be driven by no one but Kit, and his household becomes a small island of decency in a story full of schemers. His white hair and trusting face make him, as Brass
- [Barbara](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/barbara.md): The Garlands' maidservant who becomes Kit's sweetheart.
- [Mrs. Jarley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/mrs_jarley.md): Proprietor of a traveling waxworks exhibition who employs Nell.
- [The Small Servant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/the_small_servant.md): She works below stairs for Sampson and Sally Brass, so neglected that she does not know her own age and has tasted beer only once. When Dick Swiveller discovers her, he feeds her, teaches her cards, and christens her the
- [Short](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/short.md): A cheerful showman who operates the Punch and Judy show with Codlin.
- [The Marchioness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/marchioness.md): Christened the Marchioness over a game of cards and a tankard of purl, she becomes Dick Swiveller's confidante in the Brasses' kitchen and his source of gossip about Miss Sally and Mr. Quilp. Her tongue loosens with the 
- [Jacob](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/jacob.md): Kit's younger brother, a playful child living with their mother.
- [Miss Monflathers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/miss_monflathers.md): A stern, snobbish headmistress of a boarding school who scolds Nell.
- [Frederick Trent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/frederick_trent.md): Fred Trent moves through the story as a young man of debts, charm, and no scruples, willing to use his sister's fortune and his acquaintance with Dick Swiveller to serve his own ends. He is not a grand villain but a plau
- [Sophy Wackles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/sophy_wackles.md): A young woman courted by Swiveller before his involvement with the Marchioness.
- [Mrs. Jiniwin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/mrs_jiniwin.md): Mrs. Quilp's mother, who dislikes her son-in-law and lives with them.
- [Isaac List](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/isaac_list.md): A seedy moneylender and associate of Quilp.
- [Tom Scott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/tom_scott.md): Quilp's deformed, mute servant who assists his master's schemes.
- [Mrs. Nubbles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/mrs_nubbles.md): Kit's widowed mother, a poor but loving parent.
- [Miss Edwards](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/miss_edwards.md): A pupil at Miss Monflathers' school who shows kindness to Nell.
- [Jerry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/jerry.md): A showman who exhibits a performing dog and travels with Codlin and Short.
- [Mrs. George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/mrs_george.md): A landlady who provides lodging to Nell and her grandfather.
- [Vuffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/vuffin.md): A showman who exhibits a giant and a dwarf at a fair.
- [Mr. Trent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/mr_trent.md): Mr. Trent keeps the Old Curiosity Shop and keeps Nell, his granddaughter, in a childhood of chores and quiet worry, his love for her tangled hopelessly with his compulsion to play. Dickens gives him the feverish nights a
- [Jem Groves](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/jem_groves.md): A publican and associate of Quilp's circle.
- [The Notary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters/the_notary.md): A legal professional who assists the Garlands.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/characters