# Orthodoxy — Character guide

> Key figures in Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

- [Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/narrator.md): He is the inquiring voice of the book, a man who has tried doubt, materialism, and the fashionable creeds of his day and found each one quietly unlivable. His central tension is that he cannot believe in himself — he cal
- [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/jesus_christ.md): He stands behind every argument in the book as the thing being approached, the fixed point the narrator's wandering is finally measured against. The tension he embodies is the one the narrator keeps returning to: that Ch
- [Nietzsche](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/nietzsche.md): He is the book's chief intellectual foil, the bold thinker everyone praises whom the narrator insists is not bold at all. The charge is specific: Nietzsche says 'beyond good and evil' because he lacks the nerve to say 'm
- [Mr. Bernard Shaw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mr_bernard_shaw.md): He represents the clever, articulate, self-assured spirit of the age — the kind of man whose brilliance makes his assumptions hard to see. The narrator's quarrel with him is not that he is stupid but that his very clever
- [Christianity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/christianity.md): It is less a doctrine in the book than a puzzle: a thing accused of being too pessimistic and too optimistic, too austere and too indulgent, too Eastern and too Western, all in the same breath. The narrator's turning poi
- [Mr. Blatchford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mr_blatchford.md): He is the book's example of a good man whose goodness has escaped its proper frame — charity untethered from any doctrine of sin. The narrator's charge is affectionate and sharp: Blatchford forgives so eagerly that he ab
- [Shakespeare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/shakespeare.md): Poet and playwright, cited as an example of artistic and moral insight.
- [Swinburne](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/swinburne.md): Poet whose pagan and rebellious themes are discussed in relation to joy.
- [Joan of Arc](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/joan_of_arc.md): French saint and warrior, used as an example of practical mysticism.
- [Mr. H. G. Wells](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mr_h_g_wells.md): Novelist and futurist, whose utopian ideas are critiqued as narrow.
- [Herbert Spencer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/herbert_spencer.md): Philosopher of evolution and individualism, whose system is challenged.
- [Mr. McCabe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mr_mccabe.md): Rationalist writer, used as a foil for the narrator's arguments.
- [Tolstoy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/tolstoy.md): Russian novelist and moralist, whose extreme pacifism is discussed.
- [Marcus Aurelius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/marcus_aurelius.md): Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, critiqued for his lack of hope.
- [Cowper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/cowper.md): English poet, cited for his depiction of madness and despair.
- [Robinson Crusoe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/robinson_crusoe.md): Fictional castaway, used as a symbol of practical human reason.
- [Cinderella](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/cinderella.md): Fairy-tale heroine, representing the logic of transformation and joy.
- [Dryden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/dryden.md): English poet and playwright, cited for his religious poetry.
- [Mr. G. S. Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mr_g_s_street.md): Contemporary writer and critic, quoted on the nature of orthodoxy.
- [Tennyson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/tennyson.md): Poet laureate, cited for his lines on faith and doubt.
- [Mr. W. B. Yeats](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mr_w_b_yeats.md): Irish poet, whose mystical and folkloric interests are noted.
- [Plato](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/plato.md): Greek philosopher, referenced for his theory of forms and idealism.
- [Huxley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/huxley.md): Biologist and agnostic, whose evolutionary views are discussed.
- [Bradlaugh](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/bradlaugh.md): Secularist and politician, whose Malthusian views are criticized.
- [Adam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/adam.md): Biblical first man, used in discussion of original sin and fall.
- [Poe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/poe.md): American writer, cited for his tales of horror and madness.
- [Haeckel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/haeckel.md): German biologist, whose materialist philosophy is mentioned.
- [King Bomba](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/king_bomba.md): Nickname for King Ferdinand II of Naples, symbol of tyranny.
- [Mrs. Besant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/mrs_besant.md): Theosophist and social reformer, whose views are briefly critiqued.
- [Tommy Paine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters/tommy_paine.md): Thomas Paine, revolutionary writer, cited for his deism.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orthodoxy_se/characters