# Benjamin Allen — The Pickwick Papers character guide

> Benjamin Allen in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Benjamin Allen, Ben, Mr. Allen, Allen, Benjamin, Benjamin Allen

**First appearance:** 0003-ii

## Snapshot

A mildewy, cigar-scented medical student who appoints himself his sister Arabella's guardian and plots to marry her off to his friend Bob Sawyer.

## Who they are

Ben Allen is a coarse, stout young man with spectacles, a white neckerchief, and a taste for brandy and Cubas, whose friendship with Bob Sawyer is sealed by shared meals and shared mischief. His self-appointed authority over Arabella's love life, and his readiness to threaten any rival with a bullet, make him both a comic bully and a genuine obstacle to her happiness. His blundering interventions keep the romantic subplot churning through the novel's middle stretch.

## Relationships

### [Bob Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/bob_sawyer)

_friendship_

Benjamin Allen is Bob Sawyer's close friend and fellow medical student, often sharing lodgings and escapades.

### [Samuel Pickwick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/samuel_pickwick)

_friendship_

Benjamin Allen is a medical student and friend of Pickwick, though often frustrated by his sister's romantic choices.

### [Samuel Pickwick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/samuel_pickwick)

_friendship_

Benjamin Allen is a medical student and friend of Pickwick, though often frustrated by his sister's romantic choices.

### [Samuel Pickwick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/samuel_pickwick)

_friendship_

Benjamin Allen is a medical student and friend of Pickwick, though often frustrated by his sister's romantic choices.

### [Bob Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/bob_sawyer)

_friendship_

Benjamin Allen is Bob Sawyer's close friend and fellow medical student, often sharing lodgings and escapades.

### [Bob Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/bob_sawyer)

_friendship_

Benjamin Allen is Bob Sawyer's close friend and fellow medical student, often sharing lodgings and escapades.

## In the story

### [How the Pickwickians made and cultivated the acquaintance of a couple of nice young men belonging to one of the liberal professions; how they disported themselves on the ice; and how their visit came to a conclusion.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/xxx)

Medical student and brother of Arabella, arrives with Bob Sawyer, eager to dissect and bleed.

### [A Bachelor's Party at Mr. Bob Sawyer's](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/xxxii)

Attends the party and later confides to Mr. Winkle his resolve to guard his sister's affections.

### [How Mr. Winkle, when he stepped out of the frying-pan, walked gently and comfortably into the fire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/xxxviii)

Staying with Bob Sawyer, becomes maudlin after brandy and confides his misery about his sister Arabella.

### [Relates how Mr. Pickwick, with the assistance of Samuel Weller, essayed to soften the heart of Mr. Benjamin Allen, and to mollify the wrath of Mr. Robert Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/xlviii)

Angry about his sister Arabella's marriage, but eventually calms down and agrees to accompany Pickwick.

### [Chapter L](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/l)

Accompanies Mr. Pickwick and Bob Sawyer; falls asleep during the meeting and later makes a clumsy, impassioned speech defending his sister's marriage.

### [In which Mr. Pickwick encounters an old acquaintance—to which fortunate circumstance the reader is mainly indebted for matter of thrilling interest herein set down, concerning two great public men of might and power.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/li)

Ben Allen is also affected by the weather and joins Bob Sawyer in observing and later intervening in the editors' quarrel.

### [LIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/chapters/liv)

Present at the dinner; embraces his sister Arabella affectionately, reeking of tobacco.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters/benjamin_allen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_pickwick_papers_se/characters