Basil · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Basil by Wilkie Collins.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Basil
major
Also known as Mr. Basil
Basil is the novel's narrator, a younger son whose rigid sense of honor collides with his father's unforgiving pride and his brother Ralph's reckless example. His secret marriage to Margaret Sherwin, bound by a strange year-long probation, feeds a jealousy that curdles love into something darker and more dangerous. His struggle between family duty and private passion drives the early and middle chapters, making his slow moral unraveling the book's central engine.
Margaret Sherwin
major
Also known as Margaret, Miss Margaret, Miss Margaret Sherwin, dear Margaret
Margaret is the shopkeeper's daughter Basil weds against his father's wishes, agreeing to a bizarre year of probation before the marriage can be acknowledged. She listens hungrily to details of his family's wealth, dress, and habits, yet deflects every question about Mannion and keeps her own inner life sealed. Her elusiveness and the unsettling conditions surrounding her make her both the object of Basil's desire and the source of the novel's gathering dread.
Robert Mannion
major
Also known as Mr. Mannion, Mannion, this Mr. Mannion
Mannion serves Mr. Sherwin in business and, oddly, in Margaret's education, yet he reveals nothing of his history or intentions. His stillness, his watchful attention to the ailing Mrs. Sherwin, and his refusal to be drawn out make him a labyrinth Basil cannot stop trying to solve. His quiet presence haunts the Sherwin household and quietly reshapes the marriage at its center, making him the story's most unnerving figure.
Mr. Sherwin
supporting
Also known as Sherwin, a Mr. Sherwin I once knew, the Mr. Sherwin
Mr. Sherwin is a tradesman whose ignorance of France and the wider world is matched only by his confidence in his own shrewdness. He arranges the secret marriage and the humiliating year of probation, treating the whole affair as a canny business transaction rather than a matter of his daughter's happiness. His social climbing and his reliance on the inscrutable Mannion set the strange terms that trap Basil and Margaret together.
Mrs. Sherwin
supporting
Also known as Mrs. Sherwin, Poor Mrs. Sherwin, Mrs. S., Mrs. Sherwin
Mrs. Sherwin sits in the dim light behind Basil and Margaret, a figure of dumb pain whose own suffering remains a mystery even to her husband and daughter. She shrinks from Mannion's gaze and can never quite explain her dread of him, stammering and looking away whenever Basil presses her. Her mute warning presence lends the North Villa evenings their haunting quality, hinting at secrets the family will not speak.
Clara
supporting
Also known as Poor Clara, Miss Clara
Clara is the family's steady heart, usually undemonstrative yet visibly shattered when Basil's secret marriage becomes known. Her grief, seen through Ralph's account of her pacing with Basil's letter in hand, shames even the careless Ralph into action on his brother's behalf. Her loyalty gives Basil a fragile thread back to the home he has lost, and her concern quietly measures the cost of his choices.
Ralph
supporting
Also known as Mrs. Ralph
Ralph is the family's original scamp, a gambler and idler who has lately been saved from ruin by the woman he calls his morganatic wife. He arrives in London to find Basil has eclipsed his old reputation for disgrace, and he sets about defending his brother with the same reckless energy he once spent on dissipation. His easy cynicism and genuine loyalty make him the story's most surprising source of steadiness in the early crisis.
Mr. Bernard
supporting
Also known as John Bernard, John, Mr. John Bernard, Bernard, Jack Bernard, Jack
Mr. Bernard moves between the drawing room and the hospital ward, advising Basil's family while warning that a certain patient is a dangerous monomaniac who will end in a prison or a madhouse. His theories of infection and mental agitation quietly link bodily illness to the moral contagion spreading through the plot. He matters because his sober predictions frame the dread that gathers around Basil's entanglement long before the consequences arrive.
Mr. Turner
minor
Also known as Turner
An acquaintance of Basil's family, involved in social circles.
Susan
minor
Also known as poor Susan
A servant in the Sherwin household, privy to family secrets.
Mary Penhale
minor
Also known as Mary, Penhale
A woman connected to the Mannion family's past.
William Penhale
minor
Also known as William, dear William
A relative of Mary Penhale, mentioned in connection with past events.
The Doctor
minor
Also known as the doctor, the Doctor
A physician attending to various characters during illnesses.
Old Martha
minor
Also known as Martha
An elderly servant in Basil's household.
The Abbe
minor
Also known as The Abbe, the Abbe
A French clergyman encountered by Basil during his travels.
Minnie
minor
Also known as Willie
A child mentioned in passing, possibly a relative of the Sherwins.
