Table-Talk · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Table-Talk by William Hazlitt.
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William Hazlitt
major
Also known as Unknown, mine, himself, your, Our, ourselves, we, our
Hazlitt is the presiding intelligence of Table-Talk, a man who watches the audience as closely as the stage and finds in their seating habits a whole moral philosophy. He confesses to a prejudice against prologue-speakers and managers while admitting he would not know what to make of John Kemble in the boxes—whether he was playing the great man or the great actor. His gift is to make a passing irritation about where an actor sits feel like a revelation about vanity, modesty, and the strange commerce between performer and spectator.
William Cobbett
supporting
Also known as Cobbett People, Cobbett, Mr. Cobbett, himself
Cobbett is the writer Hazlitt cannot help admiring even as he diagnoses the flaw: a man whose descriptions of America and Botley turnips are so vivid they 'look green in prose,' yet who lays about him with his pen like Giant Despair, knocking down friends and enemies alike. Hazlitt sees in him a noble writer undone by a bad propensity—the flail that levels his antagonists also lays his own party low. He matters because he embodies the book's recurring question: what is the cost of a genius that refuses to stand its ground?
Sir Joshua Reynolds
supporting
Also known as Sir Joshua, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Reynolds, Joshua Reynolds, himself
Reynolds hovers in the background of Hazlitt's reflections on intellectual superiority—the man who knew more and saw farther, and paid for it by being misunderstood. Hazlitt's essay on the disadvantages of such superiority reads like a meditation on Reynolds's fate: to stride so far ahead that you dwindle in the distance, to be treated as a foreign species by the common herd. He matters because he gives a face to the loneliness of the original mind, the very condition Hazlitt fears and defends.
John Cavanagh
supporting
Also known as John Cavanagh, Cavanagh, Now Cavanagh, himself
Cavanagh belongs to Hazlitt's gallery of figures who are great without the trappings of greatness—like Mrs. Siddons, who needs no robes to be tragedy personified. He is the athlete as artist, a man whose mastery is so complete that it annihilates rules and makes theories irrelevant. He matters because he extends Hazlitt's argument beyond the theatre: true excellence is self-evident, whether in a fives court or on a stage, and the pit is where we go to see it plain.
William Wordsworth
supporting
Also known as Mr. Wordsworth, Wordsworth, himself
Wordsworth is the living example of Hazlitt's paradox: a man who strides so far before his readers that he dwindles in the distance, speaking a language they cannot follow. Hazlitt's essay on intellectual superiority reads as a defense of Wordsworth's strangeness—the 'far-fetched ideas' that make him the butt of slander rather than the mark of admiration. He matters because he forces the question at the heart of Table-Talk: is the original mind doomed to isolation, or can the pit still recognize greatness when it sees it?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
supporting
Also known as Mr. Coleridge, Coleridge, himself
Coleridge appears in Hazlitt's reflections as a man whose words 'might create a soul under the ribs of death' while his face remains a blank—lips moving mechanically, pain and languor the only visible inmates. Hazlitt uses him to explore the second sight of morals, the way we discern a person's truth not in their phrases but in their whole deportment. He matters because he is the book's most intimate case of the divided self, the genius whose outward coldness may conceal an inflammable spirit, or may not.
Edmund Kean
supporting
Also known as Mr. Kean, Kean, himself
Kean belongs to the world of the pit and the green room, the professional whose art Hazlitt dissects with the same seriousness he gives to Shakespeare. The tension is between the actor's craving for offstage admiration and the absurdity of a tragedian glimpsed in a coat and waistcoat among the boxes. Hazlitt's argument that actors should watch rivals from the pit, close as painters to a canvas, turns Kean into a lens for the book's running quarrel between performance and authenticity.
John Milton
supporting
Also known as Milton, Shakespeare or Milton, Milton or Cromwell
Milton stands in Hazlitt's gallery as the poet who kept his understanding erect before Cromwell and Fairfax, paying tribute to conquerors without self-degradation. The tension Hazlitt finds is between Milton's confessed vanity about his clear, unblemished eyes and the humbled patience of the sonnet on his blindness. These readings anchor the collection's argument that true intellectual superiority is moral as well as literary, and that genius answers to conscience rather than to patrons.
William Shakespeare
supporting
Also known as Shakespeare, Shakespeare or Milton
Shakespeare functions less as a character than as the standard against which Hazlitt measures actors, poets, and the awkwardness of thinking differently from one's neighbours. The tension is that his wisdom, quoted casually, exposes how originality invites slander rather than admiration. In the essay on intellectual superiority, his phrase about the honest man picked out of ten thousand becomes the pivot for Hazlitt's case that to see farther than others is to be treated as a foreign species.
Charles Lamb
supporting
Also known as Lamb, Mr. Lamb, himself
Lamb appears as the intimate whose conversation Hazlitt rates above any outdoor scenery, a companion so good at table-talk that he spoils prospects and travel alike. The tension is affectionate and comic: friendship itself becomes an intrusion on the solitary pleasures of an inn, where a stranger's ignorance lets Hazlitt forget himself and Lamb's knowledge of his history drags him back. This portrait of talk as a sacred, indoor art sets the tone for the whole collection.
John Keats
minor
Also known as Poor Keats, The poet Keats, Mr. Keats, himself
Young poet, mourned and discussed for his untimely death and talent.
Lord Byron
minor
Also known as Lord Byron
Celebrated poet, referenced for his fame and literary influence.
Gertrude
minor
Also known as Gertrude, your
A female figure addressed in a personal or literary context.
Mr. Fearn
minor
Also known as Mr. Fearn, himself
An acquaintance discussed in relation to character and philosophy.
George Canning
minor
Also known as Mr. Canning, himself
Politician and statesman, referenced in political commentary.
Mr. Mudford
minor
Also known as Mr. Mudford, Mudford, a Mr. Mudford, himself
A writer or editor, mentioned in a critical context.
Janus Weathercock
minor
Also known as Janus Weathercock, Janus, himself
Pseudonymous critic, referenced in discussions of criticism.
Old Sarratt
minor
Also known as old Sarratt, Sarratt, Mrs. Sarratt
A fives player or character from Hazlitt's sporting circle.
Dr. Whittle
minor
Also known as Dr. Whittle
A physician or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
Edmund Burke
minor
Also known as Mr. Burke, Burke
Politician and philosopher, referenced in political and aesthetic discussions.
Thomas Paine
minor
Also known as Paine, Mr. Thomas Paine
Political writer and revolutionary, referenced in political commentary.
David Hume
minor
Also known as Hume, Mr. Hume
Philosopher and historian, referenced in discussions of philosophy.
Mr. Taylor
minor
Also known as Taylor, Mr. Taylor, himself
An acquaintance or publisher, mentioned in personal contexts.
Samuel Johnson
minor
Also known as Dr. Johnson, Johnson
Lexicographer and critic, frequently referenced in literary discussions.
Master Betty
minor
Also known as Master Betty, young Betty, Elizabeth, Mr. Betty
Child actor who caused a sensation, discussed in theatrical contexts.
Oliver Goldsmith
minor
Also known as Goldsmith, Goldsmith The great, himself
Writer and poet, referenced for his style and character.
Britton
minor
Also known as Britton, himself
An antiquary or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
Miss Stephens
minor
Also known as Miss Stephens, herself
A singer or actress, mentioned in theatrical contexts.
Mr. Mathews
minor
Also known as Mr. Mathews, himself
An actor or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
Leigh Hunt
minor
Also known as Leigh Hunt, Hunt, Mr. Leigh Hunt
Poet and essayist, friend of Hazlitt, mentioned in literary contexts.
Sister Mill
minor
Also known as sister Mill, Mill, thee, thou
A female acquaintance, addressed in a personal anecdote.
Robert Southey
minor
Also known as Mr. Southey
Poet and historian, referenced in literary and political contexts.
Jack Cavanagh
minor
Also known as Jack Cavanagh, one Cavanagh
Another fives player, possibly related to John Cavanagh.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
minor
Also known as Mr. Shelley, himself
Radical poet, mentioned in relation to his ideas and character.
Mr. Mounsey
minor
Also known as Mounsey, Mr. Mounsey, himself
A friend or acquaintance of Hazlitt, mentioned in personal anecdotes.
Mr. Owen
minor
Also known as Mr. Owen, himself
Likely Robert Owen, social reformer, mentioned in passing.
Gandy
minor
Also known as Gandy, himself
An artist or acquaintance, mentioned in personal anecdotes.
Mr. Perry
minor
Also known as Poor Perry, Perry, Mr. Perry
A friend or journalist, mentioned in a personal context.
Mrs. Siddons
minor
Also known as Mrs. Siddons, herself
Famous tragic actress, praised for her performances.
Duke of Wellington
minor
Also known as The Duke of Wellington, Cromwell, himself, thy
Military hero and politician, compared to Cromwell.
Sir William
minor
Also known as Sir William, William
A gentleman or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
Sir James Mackintosh
minor
Also known as Sir James Mackintosh, Sir James, himself
Philosopher and politician, referenced in intellectual discussions.
Martin Burney
minor
Also known as Martin Burney, Burney
A friend of Hazlitt and Lamb, mentioned in personal anecdotes.
Mr. West
minor
Also known as West, 88 West, Mr. West, himself
An artist or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
Mr. Sharp
minor
Also known as Sharp, Mr. Sharp
An acquaintance, mentioned in personal contexts.
Abraham Tucker
minor
Also known as old Abraham Tucker, Abraham Tucker, Tucker
Philosopher and writer, referenced in philosophical discussions.
George Kirkpatrick
minor
Also known as George Kirkpatrick, himself
An acquaintance, mentioned in personal anecdotes.
Roger Kirkpatrick
minor
Also known as Roger Kirkpatrick, Roger
An acquaintance, mentioned in personal anecdotes.
Mr. Northcote
minor
Also known as Mr. Northcote, Northcote
Painter and friend of Hazlitt, discussed in artistic contexts.
John Kemble
minor
Also known as John Kemble, John, himself
Famous actor, discussed in theatrical criticism.
Mr. Munden
minor
Also known as Munden, Mr. Munden
Comic actor, praised for his expressive face and performances.
Mr. Claremont
minor
Also known as Mr. Claremont
An acquaintance, mentioned in personal contexts.
Dr. Wolcot
minor
Also known as Dr. Wolcot, Wolcot, myself
Satirist and writer (Peter Pindar), referenced in literary discussions.
Benjamin Constant
minor
Also known as Benjamin Constant, himself
French-Swiss writer and politician, referenced in passing.
Mr. Croker
minor
Also known as Mr. Croker, Croker
Politician and writer, referenced in political commentary.
Mr. Montgomery
minor
Also known as Mr. Montgomery
Poet or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
William Pitt the Younger
minor
Also known as Mr. Pitt
Prime Minister, referenced in political discussions.
Mr. Ayrton
minor
Also known as Ayrton, Mr. Ayrton
An acquaintance, mentioned in personal contexts.
Mrs. Battle
minor
Also known as Mrs. Battle
A character from Lamb's essays, referenced in passing.
Tom Hill
minor
Also known as Tom Hill
An acquaintance, mentioned in personal anecdotes.
Little Simmons
minor
Also known as little Simmons
A child or young person, mentioned in passing.
