# Idalie — Short Fiction character guide

> Idalie in Short Fiction by Mary Shelley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the senseless Idalie, the Signora Idalie

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

## Snapshot

The beautiful, capricious Signora Idalie, whose charm inspires devotion in others and reveals how little she returns it.

## Who they are

Idalie occupies the collection's romantic center as the woman whose beauty and volatility draw obsession from those around her. She is called senseless as often as she is admired, a figure whose whims seem to govern her admirers more than any principle governs her. Her importance lies in the tension she creates: the gap between the devotion she inspires and the feeling she offers back, which drives the emotional machinery of the stories she inhabits.

## In the story

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

A beautiful young artist sketching in the colonnade; she and Ladislas share a passionate connection.

## Links

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