Character Analysis
Julius Beaufort is a wealthy finance dude whose origins are mysterious— he "passes" as an Englishman— but has somehow managed to marry a woman from a prominent family named Regina Dallas.
In the beginning of the novel, he is on top of the world. He and his wife host lavish balls and sponsor polo matches for men and archery competitions for women. Everyone knows he keeps a mistress and he appears to be chasing after Madame Olenska. But society looks the other way because he's such a generous man-about-town.
Later in the novel, however, his finances collapse after he gets creative with his investors' funds. Shunned by society, he and his wife leave town. When his wife dies, he marries Fanny Ring and has a daughter, Fanny Beaufort. They end up in Buenos Aires, where he prospers as an insurance agent. All’s well that ends well?
Try as we might, we just can't think of Julius Beaufort as a villain. A villain needs to be up against good guys. If Mr. Beaufort wears the black hat that would mean that New York society is wearing the white hat… and we all know that New York society is seriously messed-up. The novel is so critical of how puritanical, small-minded, and status-conscious this society is that Mr. Beaufort doesn't sound all the bad by comparison.
Like other, more "European" characters such as the Duke of St. Austrey and Madame Olenska, Mr. Beaufort is more "democratic": he socializes across class lines. He might be a skirt-chaser and a criminal, but at least he isn't snooty.