# Mr. Emilius — Phineas Redux character guide

> Mr. Emilius in Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Emilius, the Reverend Mr. Emilius, Joseph Emilius

**First appearance:** 0044-xlv-some-passages-in-the-life-of-mr-emilius

## Snapshot

A smooth, foreign-accented preacher with a gift for self-invention, he marries into money and hides a past that will not stay buried.

## Who they are

Emilius presents himself as a clergyman of earnest piety and continental polish, and London society — or a profitable slice of it — takes him at his own valuation. His marriage to a wealthy widow gives him the respectability he craves, but his history is a patchwork of convenient fictions. As suspicion gathers around the Bonteen affair, his carefully constructed respectability becomes one of the novel's most unsettling puzzles.

## In the story

### [Some Passages in the Life of Mr. Emilius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se/chapters/xlv-some-passages-in-the-life-of-mr-emilius)

The central figure in the legal dispute over Lady Eustace's property; he is accused of bigamy and is left penniless after his chapel is deserted.

### [The Duchess Takes Counsel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se/chapters/liv-the-duchess-takes-counsel)

Suspected but released due to lack of evidence and an alibi.

### [The Meager Family](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se/chapters/lvi-the-meager-family)

Former lodger of the Meager family; suspected of murdering Mr. Bonteen. He took a latchkey to Bohemia and had access to the grey coat left in the sitting room.

### [Mrs. Bonteen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se/chapters/lix-mrs-bonteen)

Lady Eustace's husband; she suspects he is the real murderer, and evidence of his bigamy is being gathered.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se/characters/mr_emilius
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/phineas_redux_se/characters