# Lavinia Wilfer — Our Mutual Friend character guide

> Lavinia Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Miss Lavinia, Lavinia, Lavvy, the sharp Lavinia

**First appearance:** 0004-iv-the-r-wilfer-family

## Snapshot

Bella's sharp-tongued younger sister, who runs the Wilfer household with a whisk and a jab and keeps her suitor George Sampson under stinging discipline.

## Who they are

Lavinia is the bold, sardonic daughter who lays the tablecloth as if raising the wind and punctures her mother's martyred airs with a single retort. Her affections have shifted to George Sampson, but she punishes him for having overlooked her first, holding him in a course of stinging discipline. Her irreverent eye exposes the family's genteel poverty from the inside, making the Wilfer household comic and painfully real.

## In the story

### [The R. Wilfer Family](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/iv-the-r-wilfer-family)

The younger sister who bickers with Bella and picks up draught pieces after Bella knocks them off the table.

### [A Happy Return of the Day](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/iv-a-happy-return-of-the-day)

Assists with table-setting reluctantly, makes irreverent comments about her mother, and supports Bella's mischievous behavior.

### [The Feast of the Three Hobgoblins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xvi-the-feast-of-the-three-hobgoblins)

Bella's sister, who taunts Bella about the Boffins and announces that George Sampson is paying his addresses to her.

### [Concerning the Mendicant's Bride](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/v-concerning-the-mendicant-s-bride)

Feels betrayed by Bella's secret marriage but is won over during the tea visit.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/lavinia_wilfer
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters