Heretics · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Heretics by G. K. Chesterton.
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Unknown Narrator
major
Also known as your, mine, myself
He opens by noticing a strange modern inversion: heresy now earns applause while orthodoxy earns a smirk, and no one any longer cares whether a philosophy is true. His driving desire is to drag cosmic questions back onto the tea-table, insisting that a man's view of the universe matters more than his view of tramcars. That stubborn insistence gives the book its spine, turning each portrait of a contemporary thinker into a test of whether anything is still worth believing.
Mr. Bernard Shaw
major
Also known as Mr. Shaw, IV Mr. Bernard Shaw, Bernard Shaw, a Mr. Bernard Shaw
Chesterton treats Shaw as the wittiest of the moderns, a man whose plays sparkle precisely because he cannot stop preaching. The tension is that Shaw wants to be taken as a prophet while dodging the burden of any fixed creed, and Chesterton keeps catching him in the contradiction. Debating Shaw lets the book sharpen its central question: whether a man can be sincere and funny at once, and whether a joke can carry a dogma.
Mr. H. G. Wells
major
Also known as Mr. Wells, V Mr. H. G. Wells, Wells
Chesterton watches Wells trade cosmic frivolity for parochial earnestness, growing more careful as his subject shrinks from the end of the world to the beginning of the world. The comedy is affectionate but pointed: the boldest artist of 1895 has become the most didactic, writing with a purpose he would once have laughed at. Wells matters because he embodies the book's worry that modern thinkers abandon the large questions just when they claim to be most serious.
Mr. McCabe
supporting
Also known as XVI On Mr. McCabe, The McCabe
McCabe charges that rocket-metaphors and literary sleight-of-hand cannot settle important questions, and Chesterton grants his complete sincerity before dismantling the charge. The quarrel turns on whether a grotesque style can carry a grave motive, with Chesterton insisting that funny is the opposite of not funny and of nothing else. McCabe gives the book its cleanest foil: a man so earnest he cannot see that a joke may be the shortest route to truth.
Mr. Rudyard Kipling
supporting
Also known as Rudyard Kipling, Mr. Kipling, Kipling, a Mr. Rudyard Kipling
Chesterton admires Kipling's arresting art while noting the paradox that the gods gave him originality, which is disagreement with others, and he desires divinely to agree with them. The tension is between the raw imperial energy of Soldiers Three and the respectable laureate posture Kipling reaches for. He stands with Shaw and Wells as proof that the boldest modern artists turn out to be the most didactic, smuggling dogma into every striking line.
Mr. George Moore
supporting
Also known as Mr. George Moore Mr. George Moore, Mr. Moore, George
Moore's quarrel with Catholicism, Chesterton argues, is not really about miracles or sacraments but about the dogma of the reality of this world, which shatters the dream he prefers to mould. His pride, unlike Stevenson's windy vanity, is solitary and dries up laughter, wonder, and chivalry. He matters as the book's portrait of the aesthete who has brushed Stevenson aside and cannot understand Thackeray, a man whose brilliancies stay barren because he will not let anything outside himself be real.
Mr. Whistler
supporting
Also known as Whistler, James McNeill Whistler
Whistler serves Chesterton as the working specimen of a modern heresy: the artist who mistakes his own sensitivity for a philosophy. Where Swift's satire burned with sorrow for mankind, Whistler's wrongs are always wrongs done to himself, and his laughter never escapes his own mirror. He matters because Chesterton uses him to argue that real greatness can forget art, while the artistic temperament is a disease that cannot produce any.
Omar Khayyam
minor
Also known as Omar
A Persian poet and mathematician whose Rubaiyat is discussed in relation to hedonism.
Mr. Lowes Dickinson
minor
Also known as Mr. Lowes
A historian and writer whose views on paganism are critiqued.
Stevenson
minor
Robert Louis Stevenson, author whose works are referenced in literary criticism.
Ibsen
minor
Also known as genial old Ibsen
Norwegian playwright whose realistic dramas are discussed as modern heresies.
Jack the Giant-Killer
minor
Also known as Jack
A fairy-tale hero used as a metaphor for combating modern intellectual giants.
Mr. Pearson
minor
Also known as Pearson, Mr. C. Arthur Pearson, Arthur
A newspaper proprietor criticized for sensationalist journalism.
The English Comtist
minor
Also known as the solid English Comtist, the English, The English
A representative figure of English positivism following Auguste Comte.
Jesus Christ
minor
Also known as Christ
Central figure of Christianity, referenced in theological and moral arguments.
The Irish
minor
Also known as Irish
The Irish people as a collective discussed in national character analysis.
Mr. Chesterton
minor
Likely the author himself, G.K. Chesterton, appearing as a character in his own work.
Nietzsche
minor
Also known as the Superman, Nietzsche's Superman, Nietszche
German philosopher whose concept of the Superman is debated.
Plato
minor
Ancient Greek philosopher whose ideas are referenced in philosophical arguments.
Robert Browning
minor
Also known as Browning
Victorian poet whose dramatic monologues are discussed.
Carlyle
minor
Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian referenced in cultural criticism.
Shakespeare
minor
William Shakespeare, playwright whose works are cited as literary touchstones.
Auguste Comte
minor
Also known as Comte
French philosopher and founder of positivism, discussed in relation to modern thought.
Mr. Smith
minor
Also known as Smith
A generic name used to illustrate arguments about common sense.
The Henleyites
minor
Followers of poet W.E. Henley, discussed as a literary group.
Mr. W. B. Yeats
minor
Irish poet and playwright, referenced in discussions of Celtic revival.
Walter Pater
minor
Also known as Pater
English essayist and art critic, associated with aestheticism.
Dr. Johnson
minor
Also known as Johnson
Samuel Johnson, lexicographer and critic, cited for his wit and wisdom.
Ulysses
minor
Also known as the real Ulysses
The Greek hero Odysseus, used as a symbol of adventure and cunning.
Matthew Arnold
minor
Victorian poet and critic, referenced in discussions of culture and anarchy.
Oliver Cromwell
minor
Also known as Cromwell
English military and political leader, referenced in historical analogies.
Professor Walter Raleigh
minor
Also known as Raleigh, Professor Raleigh
English scholar and literary critic, mentioned in academic contexts.
Swift
minor
Jonathan Swift, satirist and author of Gulliver's Travels, cited for his irony.
Mr. J. A. Kensit
minor
Also known as Mr. Kensit
A Protestant activist known for opposing ritualism in the Church of England.
Dickens
minor
Charles Dickens, novelist whose social commentary is referenced.
Bunyan
minor
John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, cited in religious allegory.
Oscar Wilde
minor
Irish playwright and wit, referenced in discussions of aestheticism.
Byron
minor
Lord Byron, Romantic poet, referenced for his rebellious persona.
Mr. Frederic Harrison
minor
English historian and positivist, mentioned in intellectual debates.
Shelley and Swinburne
minor
Poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Algernon Charles Swinburne, discussed together.
Sir Alfred Harmsworth
minor
Also known as the Harmsworth mind
Newspaper magnate, criticized for influencing public opinion.
Mr. G. W. Foote
minor
Also known as Mr. Foote
English secularist and editor, mentioned in freethought contexts.
Dante
minor
Dante Alighieri, Italian poet, cited for his Divine Comedy.
Dionysus
minor
Greek god of wine and ecstasy, used as a mythological symbol.
Tolstoy
minor
Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist, referenced for his moral and religious views.
Thackeray
minor
William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist, cited in literary criticism.
Nelson
minor
Also known as little Nell
Horatio Nelson, naval hero, or possibly a character from Dickens; used as reference.
Mr. Chamberlain
minor
Also known as Mr. Austen Chamberlain
A British politician referenced in discussions of contemporary politics.
Cecil Rhodes
minor
Also known as Rhodes
British imperialist and businessman whose colonial legacy is mentioned.
Mr. Anthony Hope
minor
Also known as Mr. Hope
A novelist whose adventure stories are mentioned in literary critique.
Milton
minor
John Milton, poet whose works are cited in discussions of heresy and orthodoxy.
Mr. Blatchford
minor
A socialist writer and journalist whose views are critiqued.
The Japanese
minor
The Japanese people as a collective discussed in cultural comparisons.
Olive Schreiner
minor
South African author and feminist, referenced in literary discussions.
Julius Caesar
minor
Also known as Caesar
Roman dictator, used as a historical example of ambition and power.
Vikings
minor
Also known as the Vikings
Norse seafarers, discussed as a historical people in cultural analysis.
Achilles
minor
Greek hero of the Trojan War, used as a symbol of martial valor.
Thor
minor
Norse god of thunder, used as a mythological reference.
Clive
minor
Robert Clive, British colonial administrator, referenced in imperial history.
Darwin
minor
Charles Darwin, naturalist, referenced in discussions of evolution.
Celts
minor
Also known as XIII Celts, the Celts
The Celtic peoples, discussed in relation to national identity and culture.
Grenville
minor
Possibly Sir Richard Grenville, Elizabethan sailor, referenced in history.
Essex
minor
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, Elizabethan courtier, mentioned historically.
Ruskin
minor
John Ruskin, art critic and social thinker, referenced in aesthetic debates.