# Narrator (First Person) — Short Fiction character guide

> Narrator (First Person) in Short Fiction by Daphne du Maurier.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** I, me, myself, mine

**First appearance:** 0000-terror

## Snapshot

A self-dramatizing first-person voice who narrates his own romantic catastrophes with theatrical relish, forever casting himself as the tragic hero of someone else's story.

## Who they are

He drifts through lunches and taxis narrating his own life as though scripting a play, imagining his lover planting violets on his grave one moment and buying an azalea as 'the symbol of my love' the next. His vanity and sentimentality are inseparable from his genuine ache, and he cannot tell whether he is suffering or performing. That blur between self-pity and real feeling is what makes his stories so unnerving to follow.

## In the story

### [A Difference in Temperament](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/a-difference-in-temperament)

The husband who desires solitude and feels trapped by his wife's need for shared experience.

### [A Man of Straw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/a-man-of-straw)

The listener and observer; he recognizes Marlow, takes him to dinner, and reflects critically on Marlow's self-pity and role-playing.

### [The Lover](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/the-lover)

The unnamed male protagonist who manipulates his lovers, avoids commitment, and prioritizes his own comfort and convenience.

### [The Supreme Artist](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/the-supreme-artist)

The actor, who is the central figure of the chapter, receives a visit from a former lover and grapples with his romanticized memories and current disillusionment.

### [Frustration](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/frustration)

The young husband who endures a disastrous honeymoon, loses his car, and takes a night porter job.

### [Indiscretion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/indiscretion)

The narrator recounts his own story of losing his job after an indiscreet remark to his boss about a girl he met in Wardour Street.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/characters/narrator_1
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_12_se/characters