Character guide

The Narrator (Emerson)

major

Also known as I, myself

He moves through the essays as both seeker and provocateur, quoting Beaumont and Fletcher's dying Sophocles one moment and skewering sugar-fed complacency the next. His central tension is between reverence for heroic self-reliance and suspicion of the very institutions, customs, and borrowed opinions that make men comfortable. That friction powers the early essays: he wants to show how a person becomes 'all soul,' free even in captivity, and he keeps daring the reader to attempt the same.

Napoleon Bonaparte

minor

French military and political leader frequently cited as an example of power and character.

Jesus

minor

Also known as Lord Christ, Christ

Central figure of Christianity, referenced as a moral and spiritual exemplar.

Plato

minor

Ancient Greek philosopher, often referenced for his ideas on truth and forms.

William Shakespeare

minor

Renowned English playwright and poet, cited as the epitome of the poetic genius.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

minor

German writer and statesman, presented as a model of the universal man.

Sophocles

minor

Also known as Sophocles Martius

Ancient Greek tragedian, referenced for his dramatic works.

George Washington

minor

Also known as General Washington

First President of the United States, cited as an example of heroic character.

Aeschylus

minor

Ancient Greek tragedian, mentioned in connection with his play 'The Eumenides'.

Emanuel Swedenborg

minor

Swedish theologian and mystic, discussed for his spiritual and philosophical ideas.

Homer

minor

Legendary ancient Greek poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Socrates

minor

Classical Greek philosopher, a central figure in the dialogues of Plato.

Epaminondas

minor

Also known as the Epaminondas

Theban general and statesman, noted for his military genius and virtue.

John Milton

minor

English poet and intellectual, author of 'Paradise Lost'.

Michel de Montaigne

minor

French Renaissance writer, known for popularizing the essay form.

Plutarch

minor

Greek biographer and essayist, known for 'Parallel Lives'.

Jacob Boehme

minor

Also known as Jacob Behmen, Behmen

German mystic and theologian, influential in Protestant mysticism.

Julius Caesar

minor

Also known as Caesar

Roman general and statesman, cited as an example of ambition and power.

Dante Alighieri

minor

Italian poet, author of 'The Divine Comedy'.

Isaac Newton

minor

English mathematician and physicist, a key figure in the scientific revolution.

Aristotle

minor

Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, a student of Plato.

Immanuel Kant

minor

German philosopher central to modern philosophy.

Saint Paul

minor

Also known as Paul

Apostle whose writings form a key part of the New Testament.

Pythagoras

minor

Ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and founder of Pythagoreanism.

Francis Bacon

minor

Also known as Bacon

English philosopher and statesman, a pioneer of the scientific method.

Pericles

minor

Influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age.

George Berkeley

minor

Also known as Bishop Berkeley

Irish philosopher known for his theory of immaterialism.

Moses

minor

Hebrew prophet and lawgiver, a central figure in the Torah.

Zoroaster

minor

Ancient Iranian prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism.

Martin Luther

minor

Also known as Luther

German professor and key figure in the Protestant Reformation.

Baruch Spinoza

minor

Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, a key rationalist.