# Mr. Malone — Shirley character guide

> Mr. Malone in Shirley by Charlotte Brontë.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Malone, Peter Malone⁠—the Rev. Peter Augustus Malone, Peter, Augustus, Peter Augustus, Peter Augustus Malone, August

**First appearance:** 0006-vii-the-curates-at-tea

## Snapshot

A coarse, blustering Irish curate whose ambition outstrips his manners and whose appetite for advancement is matched only by his appetite for dinner.

## Who they are

Mr. Malone arrives in Briarfield with more hunger for preferment than for souls, his loud voice and coarser habits making him a comic embarrassment among the local clergy. He is one of the three curates whose petty rivalries and worldly concerns Brontë sketches with satiric relish. His presence sharpens the novel's critique of a church more interested in place than in piety.

## Relationships

### [Caroline Helstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/characters/caroline_helstone)

_social_

Mr. Malone is a boorish curate who annoys Caroline with his crude manners and unwanted attention.

### [Caroline Helstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/characters/caroline_helstone)

_social_

Mr. Malone is a boorish curate who annoys Caroline with his crude manners and unwanted attention.

### [Caroline Helstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/characters/caroline_helstone)

_social_

Mr. Malone is a boorish curate who annoys Caroline with his crude manners and unwanted attention.

## In the story

### [I: Levitical](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/i-levitical)

Curate of Briarfield, an Irishman who becomes hilariously insolent, drinks more wine than his brethren, and is mocked for his pronunciation and loaded pistols.

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

Visits Moore at the mill, cooks mutton chops, and discusses marriage and domestic arrangements.

### [Mr. Yorke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/iii-mr-yorke)

Mentioned as the curate left on garrison duty at Hollow's Mill.

### [The Curates at Tea](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/vii-the-curates-at-tea)

One of the curates, tongue-tied in female company, relying on three stock questions to address Caroline.

### [XV: Mr. Donne's Exodus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/xv-mr-donne-s-exodus)

Visits with Donne, provokes Tartar, and is described as contributing little to the merriment.

### [XVI: Whitsuntide](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/xvi-whitsuntide)

Malone presents roses to Shirley in a clumsy gallant gesture, earning her mockery and his own resentment.

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

Mr. Malone is present at the mill after the attack.

### [The Winding-Up](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shirley_se/chapters/xxxvii-the-winding-up)

Vanishes from Briarfield parish; his fate is not detailed.

## Links

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