Mr. Paul Dombey Sr. (Dombey)

Dombey is a humorless, cold businessman with no interest in or feeling for the friends and family close to him. He is 48 years old at the beginning of the novel, bald and red faced and though he is relatively handsome, he is “too stern and pompous in appearance” to be truly attractive (11). Dombey owns a successful shipping company, Dombey and Son, that was passed down to him by his father, whom he ran it with for many years. It is never clear in the novel exactly what the company does, just that it is well respected and seems to make a lot of money. Dombey only values people who respect and serve him the way he demands or whose company he believes reflects well on him. He attracts very obsequious but disloyal friends who flatter him and build up his ego. He has no...