# Mr. Prendergast — Decline and Fall character guide > Mr. Prendergast in Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Prendergast, Prendy, Old Prendy **First appearance:** 0004-part-i-iv-mr-prendergast ## Snapshot A timid, tearful schoolmaster whose doubts about his faith and his worth make him the gentlest and most pitiable figure in a school full of frauds. ## Who they are Prendergast teaches at Llanabba, a man so grateful for a dinner invitation that he weeps openly at the kindness, and so anxious about money that he mistakes hotel cloakroom keys for currency. His quiet crisis of vocation — he later takes orders as a chaplain while doubting the very doctrines he must teach — makes him a foil to Grimes's cheerful amorality and to Paul's drifting indifference. His vulnerability matters because Waugh lets us see, early and clearly, how the novel's casual cruelties will fall hardest on the people least equipped to absorb them. ## Relationships ### [Captain Grimes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/captain_grimes) _professional_ Grimes and Prendergast are colleagues at Llanabba, with Grimes mocking Prendergast's nervous piety and incompetence. ### [Paul Pennyfeather](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/paul_pennyfeather) _professional_ Prendergast is a fellow teacher at Llanabba, sharing Paul's discomfort with the school's chaos and his own religious doubts. ### [Captain Grimes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/captain_grimes) _professional_ Grimes and Prendergast are colleagues at Llanabba, with Grimes mocking Prendergast's nervous piety and incompetence. ### [Paul Pennyfeather](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/paul_pennyfeather) _professional_ Prendergast is a fellow teacher at Llanabba, sharing Paul's discomfort with the school's chaos and his own religious doubts. ### [Captain Grimes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/captain_grimes) _professional_ Grimes and Prendergast are colleagues at Llanabba, with Grimes mocking Prendergast's nervous piety and incompetence. ### [Paul Pennyfeather](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/paul_pennyfeather) _professional_ Prendergast is a fellow teacher at Llanabba, sharing Paul's discomfort with the school's chaos and his own religious doubts. ## In the story ### [II: Llanabba Castle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-ii-llanabba-castle) An older master who has been at Llanabba for ten years, he warns Paul that he will hate it there and comments that Grimes is not a gentleman. ### [III: Captain Grimes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-iii-captain-grimes) Says grace at dinner; noted for wearing a wig and being unable to keep order. ### [Mr. Prendergast](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-iv-mr-prendergast) Polishes pipes, confronts Paul about the bathroom, shares his crisis of faith and resignation from the clergy. ### [Discipline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-v-discipline) Leads prayers, complains about his wig and the boys' ridicule, and discusses his doubts with Paul. ### [Conduct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-vi-conduct) Delivers the post, advises Paul to accept the money, and is emotionally moved when invited to dinner at the Metropole. ### [VII: Philbrick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-vii-philbrick) Struggles to manage the sports day, which ultimately collapses as the boys disappear. ### [X: Post Mortem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-x-post-mortem) Becomes agitated after his argument with Mr. Cholmondley, then recovers and canes twenty-three boys. ### [XI: Philbrick—Continued](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-xi-philbrick-continued) Mr. Prendergast tells his version of Philbrick's story involving a duel with a Portuguese count, and later suffers from a hangover, losing his self-confidence. ### [XII: The Agony of Captain Grimes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-xii-the-agony-of-captain-grimes) Attends the dinner; makes a joke about soles and souls; discusses marriage and Flossie. ### [XIII: The Passing of a Public School Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-i-xiii-the-passing-of-a-public-school-man) Gives away the bride; worries about Grimes's changed demeanor. ### [II: Interlude in Belgravia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-ii-ii-interlude-in-belgravia) Paul tells Potts about Mr. Prendergast's doubts. ### [Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-iii-i-stone-walls-do-not-a-prison-make) Leads chapel services at the prison, blaspheming against sixteenth-century diction. ### [III: The Death of a Modern Churchman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-iii-iii-the-death-of-a-modern-churchman) Mr. Prendergast is murdered by the madman with a mallet and saw. ### [IV: Nor Iron Bars a Cage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-iii-iv-nor-iron-bars-a-cage) Mentioned as having been murdered; Grimes asks about him. ### [V: The Passing of a Public School Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-iii-v-the-passing-of-a-public-school-man) Mentioned as dead in Paul's reflection on mortality. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters/mr_prendergast - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/decline_and_fall_se/characters