Hugh! The (not very) admirable Hugh!
Whenever Hugh Whitbread is mentioned in Mrs. Dalloway , he is introduced as “Hugh! the admirable Hugh!” On the surface, this is a perfectly apt description. Hugh embodies the perfect English gentleman: he is always well-dressed, extremely courteous, supremely noble. But these seemingly admirable qualities only go so far. If you go a millimeter below the surface of Hugh’s character, you’ll find that there’s nothing left. Indeed, nearly every character in the book detests Hugh. Richard notes that Hugh is “fatter than ever; an intolerable ass” (179) and that he “could not stand more than an hour of his society” (173). Sally thinks that Hugh “thought of nothing but his own appearance,” and that he “ought to have been a Duke,” because he was so pretentious (109). Milly Brush calls him “one of the greediest men she had ever known” at Lady Bruton’s lunch party, because he was attempting to eat everything on the table (161). Even Lady Bruton thinks him “very slow” and “getting fat” (164)....