# Elizabeth Mwres — Short Fiction character guide

> Elizabeth Mwres in Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mwres, Elizebeθ Mwres, Elizabeth, the aspiring Mwres, And Mwres

**First appearance:** 0046-a-story-of-the-days-to-come

## Snapshot

A young woman of the future who chooses old-fashioned love, printed books, and nursing her own child over the Pleasure cities her society insists upon.

## Who they are

Elizabeth Mwres is the daughter of a man who holds her securities in trust, and her romance with Denton is conducted on borrowed money and old-fashioned tastes — quaint Victorian furniture, real printed books, a child nursed at home rather than sent to a creche. When her father's interview and a moneylender's reckoning leave them with scarcely a thousand pounds, her white face and her glance around their beloved rooms show how much she has staked on this life. Her refusal to conform to the customs of her age makes her the emotional anchor of the story's early domestic arc.

## In the story

### [A Story of the Days to Come](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/a-story-of-the-days-to-come)

Denton's partner, who shares in their descent into poverty and becomes a target of Bindon's revenge.

### [I: The Cure for Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/i-the-cure-for-love)

The daughter of Mwres, a young woman in love with Denton. She is subjected to hypnotic suggestion to forget him, and later appears confused and distressed when confronted by Denton, claiming not to know him.

### [II: The Vacant Country](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/ii-the-vacant-country)

Denton's partner, initially hesitant but increasingly drawn to the romantic and adventurous idea of leaving the city.

### [III: The Ways of the City](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/iii-the-ways-of-the-city)

Denton's wife, who borrows against her inheritance, insists on nursing her child at home, and later works alongside Denton in the Labour Company.

### [IV: Underneath](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/iv-underneath)

Denton's wife, also a Labour Serf; she suffers silently and shows new lines of worry and pallor.

### [V: Bindon Intervenes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/v-bindon-intervenes)

Mwres, Elizabeth's father, is portrayed as a desperate and self-serving figure who collaborates with Bindon to ruin his own daughter and her husband.

### [V: Bindon Intervenes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/v-bindon-intervenes)

Elizabeth is the object of Bindon's obsession. She is forced into poverty and the Labour Company, and Bindon plots to make her divorce Denton.

## Links

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