# Mr. Bessel — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Bessel in Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** The Stolen Body Mr. Bessel, Bessel, the shadowy Mr. Bessel, the disembodied Mr. Bessel

**First appearance:** 0056-the-stolen-body

## Snapshot

A respectable man whose body is stolen by a disembodied spirit, leaving his friends to hunt for a self that no longer occupies its own flesh.

## Who they are

Bessel is a man of quiet, orderly habits, known to his partner Hart and his friend Vincey as a steady presence in the Albany and St. Paul's Churchyard. When his body is seized by a wandering spirit, his friends are left with visions of him pleading for help and no body to rescue, forcing them to confront a world where the self can be displaced. His absence drives the story's central investigation into identity, and the question of whether the man they knew can ever be restored.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/ii)

Narrator present in the laboratory, helping to manage Davidson's condition.

### [The Red Room](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/the-red-room)

The second old man, bent and coughing, who enters with a crutch and a shade over his eyes.

### [The Stolen Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/the-stolen-body)

The senior partner who experiments with projecting his apparition; his spirit is displaced and his body is stolen.

### [A Vision of Judgment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/a-vision-of-judgment)

Present as one of the resurrected dead, experiencing the judgment.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters/mr-bessel
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters