Dickens's rhetorical device in narrating Little Dorrit

I'm by no means an expert on terms of rhetoric, but I think the term "antiphraxis" applies to much of Dickens's work; the term refers to the rhetorical technique of saying one thing to mean its exact opposite. The best-known example comes from Marc Antony's funeral oration in Julius Caesar: "But Brutus is an honorable man,/So are they all honorable men." Dickens's narrators, and especially so in Little Dorrit (1855) adopt a similar point of view toward the characters described, the best example being Dickens's depiction of Mr. Dorrit, Amy/Little D's father and the Father of the Marshalsea (the debtors' prison to which he has been confined for life. Repeatedly, Dickens notes how Dorrit is respected by all in the prison and that he is a wonderful and loving father to his youngest child, LD. But obviously as we read we see immediately that Mr. D is a pompous and irresponsible ass, that the many people whom he thinks love and respect him in the prison believe he's no more than a joke and humbug - and at worst an extortionist to whom they must pay (monetary) tribute, although I suspect that the money that the "forget" and leave behind whenever they visit D is left out of pity (he's far too weak and feckless to be a true prison leader). His behavior toward his daughter is despicable. He makes no effort to arrange for payment of debt and treats the prison as a kind of free public housing, and he has his daughter, whose entire life has been confined by the prison walls, work on the outside to bring in money and to devote her every free minute to tending to his most minute needs. The despicable behavior reaches its nadir when he encourages - without ever stating anything directly - LD to allow the son of the turnkey to "court" her, even though she has made it clear that she has no interest in him in particular and perhaps no interest in marrying anyone. But Mr D sees and opportunity in this liaison and is willfully oblivious of his daughter's feelings. But of course he's a wonderful and honest man, respected by all!