Character guide

Mr. Robin Gilbey

major

Also known as Gilbey, Mr. Gilbey, Bobby, Rob, Bob, Master Bobby, Bobby Gilbey

Gilbey presides over a respectable household where appearances are everything and a visitor on the doorstep is a scandal. When a young woman with a police-court connection to his son arrives, his instinct is to have her thrown out—unless she can tell him something about Bobby. His bristling dignity and his soft spot for the boy pull against each other, making him the anxious, comic center of the family's first collision with the world outside Denmark Hill.

Mrs. Knox

major

Also known as Knox, Margaret, Mrs. Knox Margaret, Margaret Startled, Meg

Mrs. Knox holds her family together with prayer, work, and an unshakable sense of what people will think. When her daughter vanishes for a fortnight, she is the one who spots Margaret in the street and sends her husband running to catch the man—action first, anguish later. Her fierce, practical piety sets the moral temperature of the Knox home, and her refusal to let trouble stop the day's work makes her both admirable and a little frightening.

Mrs. Gilbey

supporting

Also known as Gilbey, Juggins, Mrs. Gilbey Juggins, Mrs. Gilbey Unruffled

Mrs. Gilbey fields the family's crises with a mix of alarm and appetite, reading calling cards aloud and interrogating the butler about whether a visitor is 'a lady.' She is the one who decides to hear Dora out, over her husband's bluster, because she wants news of Bobby more than she wants propriety. Her blend of snobbery and maternal curiosity makes her the household's real engine of plot, even when she seems merely fluttery.

Fanny

major

Also known as Fanny Mr. Trotter, Fanny Sorry, Fanny Radiant, Fanny Shaking, Fanny Papa

Fanny sits among the critics as the anonymous author of the evening's entertainment, drinking in their guesses and their praise while hiding a past that would scandalize her father. She has done time with Lady Constance Lytton and is prouder of that than of anything, and she's written a play that turns respectable people inside out. Her eagerness for approval and her willingness to expose her own class make her the play's true provocateur, and the hinge on which its comedy of manners swings.

Mr. Trotter

supporting

Also known as Trotter, Trotter Disappointed, Trotter Shocked, The Count Mr. Trotter

Trotter moves among the other critics with a slightly superior air, dismissing Pinero as too popular for the Fabian Society and then turning his attention to the play's suspiciously authentic police-court scene. He is the one who names Fanny's secret out loud, to her father's consternation, without ever losing his critical composure. His unimpressed eye and his instinct for what's real beneath the theatrical surface make him the play's most unsettling guest.

Bobby Juggins

supporting

Also known as Bobby, Juggins, Bob, Bobby Rising, Bobby Hastily

Bobby is entangled with Margaret Knox and trying, with the help of his family's imperturbable butler, to extricate himself without looking like a cad. He worries about her feelings, about his own unworthiness, and about what will 'go down in Denmark Hill,' while Juggins calmly points out that there is no correct way to jilt someone. His muddled decency and his class anxieties make him the play's most hapless romantic, and the reason its social comedy keeps circling back to sincerity.

Margaret Knox

major

Also known as Margaret, Meg, Margaret Jumping, Margaret Goodbye, Margaret Holloway Gaol

A strong, springy girl of eighteen who vanishes for a fortnight, then reappears shaking hands with a strange man—and her respectable father's world tilts.

Darling Dora

supporting

Also known as Dora, Dora Sweetly, Dora Charitably, Dora Overcome, Dora Delaney

A charming young woman whose sweetness may be performance, moving through the play's social circle with an agenda only she can see.

Holy Joe

minor

Also known as Joe, Jo

A religious figure who provides moral commentary.

Vaughan

minor

Also known as Savoyard, Mr. Vaughan, Vaughan Utter, Vaughan Still

A critic and member of the Savoyard group.

Flawner Bannal

minor

Also known as Mr. Bannal, Bannal, Savoyard, Mr. Flawner Bannal

A theatrical critic and member of the Savoyard circle.

Mr. Cecil Savoyard

minor

Also known as Cecil Savoyard, Savoyard, Mr. Savoyard

A pompous critic who judges Fanny's play.

Monsieur Duvallet

minor

Also known as Duvallet, Duvallet Pardon

A French visitor who adds comic relief.

Juggins

minor

Also known as Juggins Miss Delaney, Rudolph Juggins, Rudolph

A butler who serves the Gilbey family.

Bobby Brighton

minor

Also known as Bobby

A young man from Brighton, briefly mentioned.

Mr. Knox

minor

Also known as Knox, Mr. and Mrs. Knox

The quiet husband of Mrs. Knox, often overshadowed by his wife.

Miss Knox

minor

Also known as Juggins Miss Knox, Knox

A younger relative of the Knox family, often in the background.

Count O'Dowda

supporting

Also known as The Count, Count, the immortal Stagirite, the Stagirite

A handsome, obsolete Count of the Holy Roman Empire who dresses a century out of date and stages a private play to shut out the modern world.

Maria

minor

Also known as Gilbey Maria

A servant in the Gilbey household.

Mr. Gunn

minor

Also known as Gunn, Savoyard Gunn, Gunn Ca

A critic and member of the Savoyard group.

Amelia

minor

Also known as Amelia Knox

A relative of the Knox family.

Mr. Doovalley

minor

A minor character mentioned in passing.

Vines

minor

A minor character with no significant role.

Peter

minor

A minor character briefly referenced.

Pinero

minor

A historical playwright mentioned as an allusion.

Byron

minor

Also known as Lord Byron, the Byron

A historical poet referenced in the text.

Wellington

minor

A historical figure mentioned in passing.

Granville Barker

minor

Also known as Gunn Granville Barker, Barker

A real-life playwright referenced in the text.

George Bernard Shaw

minor

Also known as Shaw, Bernard Shaw, the hackneyed old Shaw touch

The author, referenced as a character in the induction.