Question

Short note on characters of Bishop. In The Bishop's Candlestick

Answer 1

The Bishop was, as Persome his sister says in the play, “The best man in all France”. He was a true Bishop indeed. He followed Jesus Christ’s teachings of love, charity, benevolence, and forgiveness in true spirit. He helped his parishioners. His encounter with the convict was the litmus test of his virtues, which he passed with flying colors. His patience, love, care, and magnanimity transformed the beast-like convict into a good human being.


Persome, though the Bishop’s sister, is poles apart from her brother. She has been portrayed as an ordinary human being who is insensitive to the spiritual values of mercy, charity, benevolence, forbearance, and sympathy. Actually her ordinariness sets of the Bishop’s magnanimity and grandeur.

From the opening scene, we see her behaving harshly with Marie. She scolds her for being slow in her work. She does not want her brother to be so generous, charitable, and helpful to the people of his parish and other people also. She feels people take undue advantage of his charitable and generous nature. She gets angry at the bishop when she comes to know his act of selling the silver salt-cellars to help Mere Gringoire, an old distressed woman. Similarly, she does not want her brother to give Marie his comforter when he offers it to Marie to keep warm in the bitter cold outside. Likewise, her reactions when the convict breaks into the bishop’s cottage are quite ordinary.

However, as a sister, she is quite caring and loving. She really cares about her brother’s comfort and well-being. She knows he is the ‘best man in all France’.


The convict was not a convict since his birth. He was an ordinary man with a loving wife who lived respectably before he became a hard-hearted criminal. The truth is the callousness of society turned him into a beast. The apathetic people of the society compelled him to steal food for his starving and sick wife. The cruel society had no sympathy and pity for him! Instead of sympathizing with him, the police arrested him and tried him in a court. Even the cruel judge did not hesitate to pass such a harsh sentence against him.  He was treated like a beast for such a minor and pardonable offense. He was beaten, fed on filth, and tortured. His wife died in his absence that turned him into a criminal. However, the inborn goodness always remained suppressed in his heart. The kindness of the bishop again brought his best to the surface, and he was transformed.

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Answer 2

Bishop was a person who is highly influenced by Christian ideals of justice ,empathy and compassion .he was highly helpful to the needy.He likes his sister.He sacrifices anything  for the sake of helping others . '' He Is The Best Person  In All France '' . His patience,love, and care transformed convict into a good human being.He is a true christian