# Joe Scott — Shirley character guide

> Joe Scott in Shirley by Charlotte Brontë.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Scott, Joe, No Joe Scott, Joseph, Joseph Scott

**First appearance:** 0001-ii-the-wagons

## Snapshot

Robert Moore's blunt Yorkshire overseer, whose dry humour and stubborn independence make him both a reliable ally and a thorn in his master's side.

## Who they are

Joe Scott speaks his mind to Robert Moore with a freedom no other employee dares, mixing shrewd mill-floor wisdom with a dour Yorkshire wit. He embodies the old, rooted England that resists the new machinery and foreign ways Moore champions, and his loyalty is never servile. His exchanges with his master dramatise the class and regional tensions that give Shirley its social texture.

## In the story

### [The Wagons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/ii-the-wagons)

Moore's foreman; expected with the wagons but is absent when they arrive, having been attacked.

### [Hollow's Cottage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/v-hollow-s-cottage)

Spends the night at the mill with Moore, engages in a debate about nationality and class, and expresses the intelligence and pride of Yorkshire workingmen.

### [Noah and Moses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/viii-noah-and-moses)

Acts as sentinel and assists in securing the prisoner.

### [Which the Genteel Reader Is Recommended to Skip, Low Persons Being Here Introduced](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/xviii-which-the-genteel-reader-is-recommended-to-skip-low-persons-being-here-introduced)

Overlooker who argues with Shirley about women's place, citing scripture to support his views.

### [XIX: A Summer Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/xix-a-summer-night)

Joe Scott is ordered to saddle horses for Moore and Helstone after the attack.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/characters/joe_scott
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/characters