# Lesbia — Getting Married character guide

> Lesbia in Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Lesbia Grantham, Lesbia Alice, Miss Lesbia

**First appearance:** 0054-getting-married

## Snapshot

The bride's unmarried sister, coolly skeptical of wedlock and unwilling to trade her independence for a ring she does not want.

## Who they are

Lesbia stands slightly apart from the wedding festivities, the sister whom Collins still hopes to marry off and whom Mrs. Bridgenorth has already written off as a permanent old maid. Her resistance is not coyness but principle: she weighs the economic and emotional costs of marriage and finds the bargain poor, a position Shaw treats with real sympathy rather than as a joke. Her presence forces the play to ask whether a woman can decline marriage without being diminished, and her exchanges sharpen the case against compulsory coupling.

## Relationships

### [The General](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/characters/the_general)

_family_

Lesbia and The General are likely siblings or close relatives, with a dynamic of affectionate bickering and shared history.

### [Collins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/characters/collins)

_professional_

Collins and Lesbia have a servant-employer relationship, with Collins attending to Lesbia's needs.

### [Reginald Hotchkiss](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/characters/reginald_hotchkiss)

_romantic_

Lesbia and Reginald Hotchkiss share a flirtatious, romantic tension, though it is not fully realized.

## In the story

### [Preface to Getting Married](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/chapters/preface-to-getting-married)

Noted as a character whose views on marriage are examined.

### [Hearth and Home](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/chapters/hearth-and-home)

Referenced through the critique of women's education and escape from home.

### [Getting Married](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/chapters/getting-married)

A character who challenges conventional marriage norms.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/characters/lesbia
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/getting_married_se/characters