# John Raffles — Middlemarch character guide

> John Raffles in Middlemarch by George Eliot.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Raffles, Raffles, this Raffles, John Raffles

**First appearance:** 0041-xxxv

## Snapshot

A stale-smelling, jocose blackmailer who drifts into Middlemarch carrying a secret from Bulstrode's past and a brandy-flask in his pocket.

## Who they are

Raffles is a barroom Adonis gone to seed, a man who signs himself W.A.G. and calls his old schoolmaster Ba-Lamb, and who has spent decades cadging money from anyone he can corner. His stepson Josh Rigg drives him off with threats of dogs and whips, but Raffles only laughs and pulls out his flask, showing the shameless persistence that makes him dangerous. His arrival in Middlemarch sets a slow fuse under the banker Bulstrode's respectable life, turning the town's moral landscape into a trap.

## Relationships

### [Dorothea Brooke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters/dorothea_brooke)

_social_

Dorothea encounters Raffles briefly as a disreputable stranger whose revelations about Bulstrode affect her friends.

### [Dorothea Brooke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters/dorothea_brooke)

_social_

Dorothea encounters Raffles briefly as a disreputable stranger whose revelations about Bulstrode affect her friends.

### [Dorothea Brooke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters/dorothea_brooke)

_social_

Dorothea encounters Raffles briefly as a disreputable stranger whose revelations about Bulstrode affect her friends.

## In the story

### [XLI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/xli)

A swaggering, florid rogue who visits Rigg to extort money and brandy. He carries a letter from Nicholas Bulstrode, which he uses to wedge his flask.

### [LIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/liii)

Blackmails Bulstrode, demands money, recalls the name 'Ladislaw' and writes it down.

### [LX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lx)

Introduced as a stranger accompanying Mr. Bambridge; described with large whiskers and a swagger, staring at Will Ladislaw.

### [LXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxviii)

Reappears at The Shrubs on Christmas Eve, proving unmanageable and tormenting Bulstrode with his drunken, cunning behavior.

### [Chapter LXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxix)

Lies ill at Stone Court; Lydgate diagnoses alcoholic poisoning and prescribes treatment.

### [Chapter LXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxx)

Raffles is gravely ill, raving and sinking, under Bulstrode's care; his death is imminent.

### [LXXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxxix)

Raffles is mentioned as having spoken to Will, and is central to the public disclosures.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters/john_raffles
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters