Mr. Bucket Character Analysis

Mr. Bucket is a private investigator who takes on the case of Mr. Tulkinghorn’s murder for which Sir Leicester Dedlock offers a substantial reward. Mr. Bucket has worked with Mr. Tulkinghorn previously, when Mr. Tulkinghorn hired him to find Jo, who was wanted to prove that Lady Dedlock went with Jo to visit Captain Hawdon’s grave. Mr. Bucket, however, solicits work for himself and will work for anyone who pays him. He is dedicated to the process of solving crime and uses his considerable powers of observation and deduction to work out the truth of matters. Mr. Bucket is very good with people and can easily put them at ease so that they will confide in him and give him information. He is comfortable mingling with people from various classes and does not discriminate between the cases he takes but simply works to provide for himself and his wife, Mrs. Bucket. Mr. Bucket uses many methods such as disguise, trickery, and misdirection to get the result he wants and solve crime. He eventually arrests Lady Dedlock’s maid, Mademoiselle Hortense, for Mr. Tulkinghorn’s murder after he gathers enough proof and discovers the murder weapon. Mr. Bucket is one of the first literary detectives and his use of observation and private investigative methods is a prototype for many famous detectives such as Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Poirot.