# Constance — Short Fiction character guide

> Constance in Short Fiction by Mary Shelley.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-a-tale-of-the-passions

## Snapshot

A Bernese peasant woman of majestic bearing and patient spirit, whose improbable marriage to a fierce older man becomes the living proof that love plays strange pranks.

## Who they are

Constance, called Fanny Chaumont in her Swiss valley, descends a mountain path with her child on her back and draws the wonder of two travellers who wager on her story. She is softness and patience itself beside Louis Chaumont, a sun-darkened man whose lively glances carry something close to ferocity, and yet the pair are bound with the tenderness of early love. Her incongruous match anchors the tale's meditation on how fire and water can be blended into one harmonious concord.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_romantic_

Constance is a romantic partner or love interest of the narrator, with their bond marked by tenderness or longing.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_romantic_

Constance is a romantic partner or love interest of the narrator, with their bond marked by tenderness or longing.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_romantic_

Constance is a romantic partner or love interest of the narrator, with their bond marked by tenderness or longing.

## In the story

### [The Dream](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/the-dream)

Constance shares her dream with Gaspar, revealing her inner conflict and her decision to seek guidance from St. Catherine.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/characters/constance
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/characters