# My Father — Short Fiction character guide

> My Father in Short Fiction by Mary Shelley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** my father

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

## Snapshot

A once-affectionate father whose sudden, unexplained coldness turns a daughter's happiest household into a place of frowning silence and dread.

## Who they are

He and his daughter had shared sweet counsel, future travels, and unrestrained confidence — until a young man's visits began and the father watched them with restless anxiety. Then the visits stopped, and so did his warmth: he shunned her, answered her supplicating looks with anger, and drove her to tears and silence. His transformation is the story's first rupture, the moment joy becomes grief, and the daughter's helplessness before his unexplained change powers the narrative's early grief.

## In the story

### [Transformation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/transformation)

Guido's deceased father, whose capricious tyranny shaped Guido's rebellious nature.

### [The Elder Son](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/the-elder-son)

The narrator's father, a widowed clergyman, dies of consumption after a period of intense emotional openness, leaving her a considerable fortune.

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

The narrator's father, a land steward who becomes crippled in a fire and later pressures her for money.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/i)

A wealthy, passionate man who marries Diana, is devastated by her death, and abandons his child to become a solitary wanderer.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/ii)

The narrator's father is absent but idealized; she cherishes his miniature and letter, dreaming of a future reunion.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/iii)

Described as changed from his earlier grief, now all love and softness; he shares vivid memories of the narrator's mother and becomes her constant companion.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/iv)

The father is consumed by a mysterious sorrow, marked by melancholy, violent passions, and silent suffering; he avoids confiding in his daughter.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/v)

Mathilda's father, who reveals his unnatural passion for her, leading to a scene of intense emotional turmoil.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/vi)

Mathilda's father, who has confessed a forbidden passion and leaves the house before dawn, causing her anguish.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/vii)

Writes a confessional letter to Mathilda, revealing his guilty passion and his decision to banish himself forever.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/viii)

The narrator's deceased father, whose guilty passion and suicide are the source of her trauma and isolation.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/ix)

Mentioned as the memory that was 'the life of my life' for the narrator, central to their enduring grief.

### [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/x)

The narrator compares Woodville to her father, noting that Woodville is younger and less worn, and that her father's memory is a source of her guilt and isolation.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_38_se/chapters/xii)

The narrator's deceased father is the central figure in her reverie and her longing for reunion in an afterlife.

## Links

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