# William Worm — A Pair of Blue Eyes character guide

> William Worm in A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Worm, William

**First appearance:** 0005-ii

## Snapshot

The Swancourts' servant who hears frying fish in his head, grumbles about esquires, and lends the vicarage its comic, fatalistic undertone.

## Who they are

Worm is the vicar's long-suffering man-of-all-work, trailing behind the household with a deafness he describes as a perpetual sizzle of fish in a pan. He grumbles about social pretension and his own decline, yet stays loyal, his odd affliction giving the novel its driest humor. He matters as the grounded, faintly ominous chorus of the early chapters, reminding readers that beneath the romance of Endelstow runs ordinary human frailty and complaint.

## In the story

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/ii)

Servant who shows Stephen in through the back door; speaks in a rustic dialect.

### [Chapter IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/iv)

Provides comic relief with his complaints about noise in his head and his recollections of working with Mr. Swancourt.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/vi)

William Worm is mentioned as performing his toilet and adjusting the harness, murmuring about his poor head.

### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxvi)

A labourer who recalls Miss Elfride playing with Lady Luxellian's children.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/characters/william_worm
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/characters