# Mr. Dempster — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Dempster in Short Fiction by George MacDonald.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dempster

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

## Snapshot

A domineering husband whose cruelty turns a quiet household into a battlefield of pride, fear, and long-simmering resentment.

## Who they are

Mr. Dempster rules his home through temper and contempt, treating his wife less as a partner than as property to be managed. His need to dominate collides with the small dignities she quietly refuses to surrender, and the friction between them poisons every ordinary day. That domestic pressure is the engine of the story's middle stretch, forcing everyone under his roof to choose between submission and self-respect.

## Relationships

### [Lucy Dempster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/lucy_dempster)

_family_

Lucy Dempster is the daughter of Mr. Dempster, with a familial relationship likely involving conflict or care.

### [Lucy Dempster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/lucy_dempster)

_family_

Lucy Dempster is the daughter of Mr. Dempster, with a familial relationship likely involving conflict or care.

## In the story

### [Husband and Wife](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i-husband-and-wife)

A businessman who values exactitude and sees it as rectitude; his dissatisfaction with his wife's accounts leads to a lasting wound and a widening gap between them.

### [IV: What It Meant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv-what-it-meant)

Mrs. Dempster's husband; she fears his reaction to the unpaid bills, and he is mentioned as having been rude when inquiring after her.

## Links

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