# Agnes — Short Fiction character guide

> Agnes in Short Fiction by George MacDonald.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-a-double-story

## Snapshot

Steady, watchful Agnes moves through the tale as the one who notices what others overlook, and whose quiet choices carry more weight than anyone expects.

## Who they are

Agnes occupies the ordinary world of the story — household, neighborhood, the daily round — and it is precisely her ordinariness that makes her perceptive. She sees the strains others hide, and her sympathy is tested by loyalties that pull in different directions. In the early and middle arc she functions as both witness and participant, the character through whom the reader feels how large events land on small lives.

## In the story

### [A Double Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/a-double-story)

A humble peasant girl taken by the wise woman to be elevated through kindness and grace.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vi)

A shepherd's daughter spoiled by her parents' praise, developing extreme self-conceit that the wise woman observes.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vii)

Agnes is placed inside a hollow sphere as punishment for her self-conceit. She is confronted by a hideous double of herself, which she eventually recognizes as her own selfishness, leading to shame and a desire for change.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/viii)

Agnes's pride and self-conceit resurface as she neglects her duties, becomes obsessed with the palace picture, and decides to run away, rejecting the wise woman's teachings.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ix)

The shepherdess's own daughter, mentioned as a contrast to Rosamond; her crib and clothes are given to Rosamond.

### [Agnes in the Palace](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/x)

Agnes arrives in the city and is taken to the palace as a lost child. She is rejected by the king and queen, sent to work in the scullery, and grows more conceited under harsh treatment. She later hints that she knows where the lost princess Rosamond is, leading to a search for her parents.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiv)

Present in the throne room; feels the wise woman's presence as a dewy cloud and is rebuked along with her parents.

### [The Broken Swords](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-broken-swords)

One of the sisters who gazes at the star with her brother and sister, filled with vague fears about his fate.

### [She Can’t Be Ours](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii-she-can-t-be-ours)

The queen who suspects the witch's involvement and is cleverer than the king.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/agnes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters