# Paul — New Hampshire character guide

> Paul in New Hampshire by Robert Frost.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0008-paul-s-wife

## Snapshot

A man the neighbors thought a braggart about a wife no one had seen, until Murphy's drunken climb caught the truth across a twilight pond.

## Who they are

Paul moves through the poems as a figure of local speculation, a man who put on airs about a wife and kept her so entirely to himself that the whole countryside misjudged him. What Murphy witnesses — the two of them keeping house halfway up a cliff, the girl bright as a star and Paul dark as her shadow — recasts possessiveness as something closer to devotion. His fierce ownership, owning a wife meaning owning her, becomes the quiet engine of the poem's turn from gossip to wonder.

## Relationships

### [Murphy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/characters/murphy)

_friendship_

Murphy and Paul are close friends or allies, frequently interacting in the community.

### [Son](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/characters/son)

_social_

Paul and Son are acquaintances or peers, interacting within the community.

## In the story

### [Paul's Wife](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/paul-s-wife)

The legendary lumberjack who saws his wife from a hollow pine log and jealously guards her from the world.

### [Two Look at Two](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/two-look-at-two)

One of the two lovers who, with his companion, stops at a wall and observes the deer.

### [A Boundless Moment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/a-boundless-moment)

The companion who halts with the narrator and shares the moment of perception and correction.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/characters/paul
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/characters