Character Analysis
Mrs. Jupp
A retired and unrepentant member of the oldest profession in the world, Mrs. Jupp is a hilarious blend of Mistress Quickly and Mrs. Malaprop. As Ernest's landlady in Ashpit Place, she does not vitally affect the central action of the novel, but she is emphatically one of its most vital characters. Her earthy humor, singular honesty, and common sense greatly appeal to Overton, who recognizes her as one of nature's noblewomen, carrying on under God's footstool. She instinctively evaluates Ernest as "knowing no more than an unborn babe" and realizes that Pryer does not have a single "upright vein in his own body." By the end of the novel, Mrs. Jupp is regularly pawning her flatiron every Friday and redeeming it on Monday. As long as the Monday redemption is made, the watchful Overton and Ernest know that she is in no need of help beyond the modest pension they have settled on her.