# Walberg — Melmoth the Wanderer character guide

> Walberg in Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0015-xiv

## Snapshot

A struggling artist and father whose sudden prosperity depends on a wealthy brother-in-law's whim, and whose caution warns of the price such fortune may demand.

## Who they are

Walberg is a painter and family man whose household is transformed when his brother-in-law Guzman showers them with money, fine clothes, and ornamental education. Cool-tempered and hardened by past misfortune, he alone resists the family's intoxication with their new comfort, sensing that dependence on a benefactor's favor is a fragile foundation. His anxious prudence sets him against his wife's silent worries and Guzman's grand designs, making him the uneasy conscience of a household being remade by wealth it did not earn.

## Relationships

### [Guzman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/guzman)

_friendship_

Guzman is a loyal friend and protector to Walberg, offering support during his family's descent into poverty and madness.

### [Everhard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/everhard)

_family_

Everhard is Walberg's son, whose desperate attempts to save his family from starvation lead him into a tragic pact with Melmoth.

### [Guzman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/guzman)

_friendship_

Guzman is a loyal friend and protector to Walberg, offering support during his family's descent into poverty and madness.

### [Everhard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/everhard)

_family_

Everhard is Walberg's son, whose desperate attempts to save his family from starvation lead him into a tragic pact with Melmoth.

## In the story

### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxvi)

Husband of Ines, a German musician and Protestant; father of Everhard, Ines, Julia, and Maurice; brings his family to Spain after Guzman's summons.

### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxvii)

Father of the family, initially elated by Guzman's bounty, later devastated by the legal battle over the inheritance.

### [Chapter XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxviii)

Shows wolfish jealousy over food, snatches from his father, and later reveals a demonic temptation to Ines.

### [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxxviii)

Walberg is referenced by the Wanderer as another who refused to trade his soul for deliverance.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/walberg
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters