Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is a character from the 1960/1962 novel/film To Kill A Mockingbird. She is an elderly lady, and is a virulent racist, despite the fact that she is not completely seen as one of the story's antagonists.
In the story
Mrs. Dubose is strongly disliked by Atticus Finch's children (Jem and Scout) because she is racist, and calls Atticus a derogatory word to them. Jem eventually gets so furious that he ravages her camellias. Jem must read to Mrs. Dubose every day for a month, which is a punishment assigned by Atticus.
After Jem's reading for over a month, Mrs. Dubose dies from an addiction to morphine. It turned out that Jem had fulfilled Mrs. Dubose's dying wish: to "go" free of painkillers. To thank him, she leaves a candy box with a camellia in it. Atticus tells him that she was the bravest person that he ever knew.
Personal
Mrs. Dubose is a racist elderly lady, with children from Maycomb running across her house to avoid her. Scout even describes Mrs. Dubose as "plain Hell".
Although Jem believes that Mrs. Dubose is a thoroughly bad woman, Atticus admires her for the courage with which she battles her morphine addiction.