# Hardress Fitzgerald — Short Fiction character guide

> Hardress Fitzgerald in Short Fiction by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mr. Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, Hardress, Master Hardress Fitzgerald, Captain Hardress Fitzgerald

**First appearance:** 0011-an-adventure-of-hardress-fitzgerald-a-royalist-captain

## Snapshot

A spendthrift captain who married a timid heiress for her fortune, then broke her heart while her grim Irish maid watched him with silent loathing.

## Who they are

Hardress Fitzgerald rules his household through bluster, brandy, and threats, having spent his wife Peg's income and frightened her into seclusion. He tolerates the Catholic priest who glides through his passages and the old servant Molly Doyle he cannot dismiss, though he curses both behind their backs. His maudlin self-pity at the deathbed and his drunken railings reveal a man whose cruelty is matched only by his cowardice—exactly the sort of soul a ghostly warning might visit.

## Relationships

### [Con Donovan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/con_donovan)

_friendship_

Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared adventures or schemes.

### [Con Donovan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/con_donovan)

_friendship_

Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared adventures or schemes.

### [Con Donovan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/con_donovan)

_friendship_

Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared adventures or schemes.

## In the story

### [An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters/an-adventure-of-hardress-fitzgerald-a-royalist-captain)

The narrator and protagonist, a Royalist captain serving King James, who undertakes a perilous mission for General Sarsfield.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/hardress_fitzgerald
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters