# Agatha Pollin — Short Fiction character guide

> Agatha Pollin in Short Fiction by Thomas Hardy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Agatha, Pollin, Aggie

**First appearance:** 0002-destiny-and-a-blue-cloak

## Snapshot

A young bride tricked out of eloping with her true love, she weds an old man in the morning and learns by dusk who betrayed her.

## Who they are

Agatha had planned to flee with Oswald by night, but her aunt Frances overheard the arrangement and set Mr. Lovill on the track, so that by eleven o'clock she was the old man's wife. In the dusk, still refusing a candle to her ghastly face, she confronts Frances and hears the whole wheel-within-a-wheel: the intercepted letters, the persuaded parson, the vanished Oswald. Her quiet irony under ruin is the story's bitterest and most controlled note.

## In the story

### [Short Fiction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/short-fiction)

Central figure in a story of love and obligation, torn between Oswald and Farmer Lovill.

### [Destiny and a Blue Cloak](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/destiny-and-a-blue-cloak)

The protagonist, a young woman torn between duty and love, who tries to avoid marrying Farmer Lovill.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/i)

Mistaken for Frances Lovill, she spends the day with Oswald Winwood, concealing her identity out of love.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/ii)

Agatha is saying goodbye to Oswald at the mill, conflicted between her love and her desire for his success.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/iii)

Agatha learns of Oswald's success, copes with his departure, and later hears of her uncle's plan to marry Frances Lovill.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/iv)

Agatha is seen rinsing clothes at the mill pool, accidentally drops her chemise, and later rebuffs Farmer Lovill's advances by spilling water on him.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/v)

Agatha is dismayed by the proposal from Farmer Lovill and insists on her promise to Oswald Winwood, but faces pressure from her uncle.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/vi)

Agatha writes to Oswald, receives his promise to return, and follows the vicar's advice to make a conditional promise to Lovill while secretly confident in Oswald's return.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/vii)

Agatha is caught reading a letter from Oswald and struggles to keep her secret from her uncle and Lovill.

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/xvii)

Not present in this chapter.

### [I: A Lorn Milkmaid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/i-a-lorn-milkmaid)

Not directly present; the chapter focuses on Rhoda Brook and the dairy workers.

### [The Doctor’s Legend](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/the-doctor-s-legend)

The young woman at the center of the legend, forced into marriage with Farmer Lovill after her lover Oswald fails to return.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/agatha_pollin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters