# Richard Rowan — Exiles character guide

> Richard Rowan in Exiles by James Joyce.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Dick, Mr. Rowan, Master Richard, Richard Light, Richard The Tiber, Richard Approaching, Richard Welcome, Richard Good, Richard O, Richard Buon giorno

**First appearance:** 0000-dramatis-personae

## Snapshot

A writer back from years abroad, he tests whether love can survive absolute freedom, watching his wife and his oldest friend circle each other in his own house.

## Who they are

Richard Rowan returns to Dublin as a celebrated essayist, but his real experiment is domestic: he refuses to claim Bertha as property and speaks of affections that should flow freely to many. That doctrine collides with Robert Hand's open pursuit of her, and Richard's calm feels less like generosity than a dare he cannot lose. His late-night walks on the strand and his silence set the moral weather for everything that follows.

## Relationships

### [Robert Hand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/robert_hand)

_psychological_

A complex, obsessive intellectual and emotional rivalry where Richard manipulates and tests Robert's loyalty and desire for Bertha.

### [Bertha Rowan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/bertha_rowan)

_family_

Married couple with a strained, emotionally charged bond marked by Richard's intellectual detachment and Bertha's yearning for intimacy.

### [Beatrice Justice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/beatrice_justice)

_psychological_

Beatrice is intellectually and emotionally obsessed with Richard, serving as his confidante and object of his manipulative psychological experiments.

### [Archie Rowan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/archie_rowan)

_family_

Father and son with a loving but distant relationship, as Richard is often preoccupied with his own intellectual and emotional turmoil.

### [Mrs. Rowan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/mrs_rowan)

_family_

Mother and son with a cold, estranged relationship marked by Richard's rebellion and her disapproval.

### [Brigid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/brigid)

_professional_

Servant and master; Brigid serves Richard with minimal personal interaction.

## In the story

### [Dramatis Personae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/chapters/dramatis-personae)

Introduced as a writer, the central male figure.

### [Exiles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/chapters/exiles)

Returns to Dublin after long exile, grappling with his past and his relationships with Bertha, Beatrice, and Robert.

### [First Act](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/chapters/first-act)

Struggles with his mother's rejection and his own guilt, speaks of exile and his father's death, avoids meeting Robert.

### [Second Act](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/chapters/second-act)

Engages in a battle of souls with Robert, confessing his ignoble longing to be betrayed and asserting his refusal to free Robert from his own choices.

### [Third Act](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/chapters/third-act)

Returns from the garden, reads Robert's article with bitterness, argues with Bertha about love and betrayal, and retreats to his study.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters/richard_rowan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/exiles_se/characters