# Lawrence Lefferts — The Age of Innocence character guide

> Lawrence Lefferts in The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Larry Lefferts, Lefferts

**First appearance:** 0001-i

## Snapshot

New York's undisputed authority on 'form,' a lean, elegant man whose congenital instinct for the right tie and the right shoe makes him the club's arbiter of taste.

## Who they are

Lefferts is the man who knows when to wear a black tie and when not, and whose opera-glass verdicts carry the weight of law among the white-waistcoated gentlemen of the club box. He embodies the masculine solidarity Newland Archer accepts on all questions called moral, even when his own reading and thought set him apart. His startled exclamation at the Countess Olenska's entrance marks the moment the evening, and the novel, tilts toward the woman who will test every rule he polices.

## Relationships

### [Newland Archer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/characters/newland_archer)

_rivalry_

A hypocritical social rival who preaches morality while engaging in affairs, embodying the double standards Archer despises.

### [Newland Archer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/characters/newland_archer)

_rivalry_

A hypocritical social rival who preaches morality while engaging in affairs, embodying the double standards Archer despises.

## In the story

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

Foremost authority on 'form,' exclaims upon seeing Ellen Olenska and passes his opera-glass to Sillerton Jackson.

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

Provides gossip about Count Olenski, describing him as a 'half-paralysed white sneering fellow' who collected women and china.

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

Cited as an example of a husband who maintains a hypocritical marriage while engaging in affairs.

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

Identified by Newland as the instigator of the snub against Ellen Olenska, using it to deflect attention from his own indiscretions.

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

Seen moving away as Archer leaves Ellen's side.

### [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/chapters/xiii)

Also in the box with Ellen and the Beauforts.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/chapters/xiv)

Mentioned by Winsett as being smitten with Ellen at the opera.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/chapters/xix)

Present at the ceremony, his sleek head seeming to guard the deity of 'Good Form'.

### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/chapters/xxiii)

Archer uncomfortably compares his own deception to Lefferts's contrivances for securing freedom.

### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/chapters/xxxi)

Seen by Archer as a man who engages in philandering, representing the societal double standard Archer despises.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/characters/lawrence_lefferts
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_age_of_innocence_se/characters