The Beautiful and Damned · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Anthony Patch
major
Also known as Anthony, Anthony Comstock Patch, Anthony Patch, young Anthony, old Anthony, Dick Fixing Anthony, Dick Stiffly, Dick More, Dick Hurriedly, Dick Yes, Turbulence Anthony, The Kitten Anthony, Anthony Seven, Anthony Patch The Beautiful and Damned Book, Mr. Patch, This Mr. Patch, Mrs. Anthony Patch
Anthony moves through Manhattan drawing social security from the fortune of his grandfather Adam J. Patch, a Wall Street millionaire turned moral reformer who named him after Anthony Comstock. He fancies himself exceptional and well-adjusted, yet keeps wondering whether he is without honor and slightly mad, a thinness glistening on the world like oil on a clean pond. His courtship of Gloria Gilbert and his refusal to work while waiting for an inheritance set the marriage on its fatal early course.
Gloria Gilbert
major
Also known as Gloria, Gilbert, Gloria Gilbert, Announcing Miss Gloria Gilbert, Presently Gloria, Miss Gilbert, Miss Gloria, Concerning Gloria, Gloria
Gloria arrives in the East with a mother who has watched young men walk her library like caged tigers, phoning, writing, threatening South America, and never lasting. She strikes to kill without deliberate cruelty, cool and unmoved amid returned presents and broken engagements, and tells Anthony they are twins because they are both clean like streams and winds. Her insistence that she wants to stand on a street corner like a sandwich man announcing her love sets the terms of a marriage that will demand more of the world than the world will give.
Maury Noble
supporting
Also known as Maury, Maury Faintly, Maury Who, Confusedly Maury, Maury One, Tana, Maury Tana
Maury presides over Anthony's drawing room with a bottle and a theory, greeting the social-service worker Paramore with a glow of suspicion as though the man had announced himself an amateur pickpocket. He could rescue Anthony from a forgotten name and prefers to look on in malicious enjoyment instead. His epigrams about electrocuting the ignorant and dirty give the circle its cynical music, and his willingness to watch rather than help marks the moral temperature of the world Anthony and Gloria inhabit.
Richard Caramel
supporting
Also known as Caramel, Richard, a Caramel, Mr. Richard Caramel, Mistah Caramel, Dick Caramel, the Caramel, little Dick, Dick
Dick Caramel abandons the Alien Young Men's Rescue Association and a Sun reporting job after filing a column about a parade that snow postponed, then throws himself into writing The Demon Lover. He pours his hopes and indecisions into anyone who will listen, from Anthony and Maury to a Harlem subway ticket-collector, and sits by the hour with Mrs. Gilbert trading Bilphism for literature. His book, drawn from the circle around him, makes him the group's uneasy mirror of what ambition looks like when it succeeds.
Muriel Kane
supporting
Also known as Muriel, Muriel Kane, Kane, the martial Muriel, Miss Kane, surely Miss Kane
Muriel moves through the Patches' apartment with obliging levity, greeting strangers as Fred and trading gossip about who is in her prime. When Anthony storms out drunk and Gloria sits composed in the lamplight, Muriel is the one who cries, asks whether this has happened much, and hears the answer that they just go on. Her sincere distress and her inability to stay, since she has a man and it is already seven-thirty, frame Gloria's isolation in a new dress bought imprudently for fifty dollars.
Joseph Bloeckman
supporting
Also known as Bloeckman, Mr. Bloeckman, this Bloeckman, that fellow Bloeckman, Mr. Joseph Bloeckman, Joseph, Mr. Bloeckman
Bloeckman meets Gloria at Delmonico's, tolerates her invidious nickname, and proposes within a month, offering everything from an Italian villa to a career on the screen. She laughs in his face and he laughs too, but he does not give up, following along beside her as she walks the fence, ready to catch her. When she tells him of her engagement he paces the carpet with narrowed eyes, and Anthony, understanding that Gloria's indifference is her strongest appeal, forgets him entirely, which is exactly the kind of mistake the novel will not let stand.
Adam J. Patch
supporting
Also known as Adam Patch, Patch, Adam, old Adam, Adam Ulysses Patch, the gallant Ulysses, Ulysses, The Practical Men Adam Patch, old Cross Patch, Cross Patch
A Civil War major turned Wall Street buccaneer who amassed seventy-five million, then spent his last years waging war on vice, art, and his own grandson's prospects.
Dorothy Raycroft
supporting
Also known as Dorothy, Dot, Dora, Dot Anthony, Dear little Dot, Poor little Dot
A young woman Anthony meets as his marriage frays, offering a brief, careless affair that exposes how far he has drifted from the man he meant to be.
Geraldine Burke
minor
Also known as Geraldine, Geraldine Burke
A working-class girl Anthony dates before meeting Gloria, representing his earlier romantic life.
Mrs. Gilbert
minor
Also known as Mrs. Gilbert, Robert
Gloria's mother, who chaperones her and disapproves of Anthony's influence.
Tana
minor
Also known as Tana, The faithful Tana, Tana Grinning
Anthony's loyal Japanese servant who remains with him through his decline.
Captain Collins
minor
Also known as Captain Collins, Collins
An army officer Anthony meets during his military service.
Shuttleworth
minor
Also known as Shuttleworth, Edward Shuttleworth
A minor character in the social circle, often mentioned in passing.
Old Halloran
minor
Also known as old Halloran, he
An elderly man mentioned in passing during Anthony's reflections.
Frederick E. Paramore
minor
Also known as Frederick E. Paramore, Paramore, Frederick, Fred Paramore, Fred, Paramore Smiling
A friend of Anthony who becomes a successful businessman and later a rival.
Peter Lytell
minor
Also known as Peter, Pete Lytell, Lytell, Pete
A minor social acquaintance in Anthony and Gloria's circle.
Mr. Haight
minor
Also known as Mr. Haight, Haight
A lawyer who handles Anthony's inheritance and legal affairs.
Rachael Barnes
minor
Also known as Rachael Barnes, Rachael, Barnes, Even Rachael, Rachael Jerryl, née Rachael Jerryl
A socialite friend of Gloria who becomes a rival and source of tension.
Sammy Carleton
minor
Also known as Sammy Carleton, Sammy, Dear Mr. Carleton, Mr. Carleton, Mr. ’ Carleton
A young man who briefly courts Gloria before her marriage.
Constance Merriam
minor
Also known as Constance Merriam, Merriam, Constance
A friend of Gloria from her debutante days.
Mr. Crawford
minor
Also known as Mr. Crawford
A minor acquaintance at social gatherings.
Percy B. Debris
minor
Also known as Percy B. Debris, Debris, Mr. Debris, the great Percy B. Debris
A pompous literary figure who appears at a party.
Henrietta Lebrune
minor
Also known as Henrietta Lebrune, Henrietta Lebrune Patch, Marietta, Patch
Anthony's eccentric aunt who appears briefly in his family history.
Parker Allison
minor
Also known as Parker Allison, Allison
A minor social acquaintance in the New York scene.
Rodman Barnes
minor
Also known as Rodman Barnes, Rodman
Rachael Barnes' husband, a minor figure in the social circle.
Mr. Joe Hull
minor
Also known as Mr. Joe Hull, Joe Hull, Hull, Hull
A businessman who interacts with Anthony during his inheritance struggles.
Miss McGovern
minor
Also known as Miss McGovern
A secretary or clerk in Anthony's legal affairs.
Captain Dunning
minor
Also known as Captain Dunning, An Impressive Occasion Captain Dunning
An army officer during Anthony's military service.
Baptiste
minor
Also known as Baptiste, Little Baptiste
A servant or minor attendant in the Patch household.
The Chevalier O'Keefe
minor
Also known as the Chevalier O’Keefe, the Chevalier
A colorful, eccentric character encountered in Anthony's social wanderings.
Mr. Wilson
minor
Also known as Wilson, Mr. Wilson
A minor acquaintance or business contact.
Mr. Joseph Black
minor
Also known as Mr. Joseph Black, Black, Ever Faithfully Joseph Black, Mr. Black
A lawyer or clerk involved in Anthony's legal matters.
Cyrus Fielding
minor
Also known as Cyrus Fielding
A minor character mentioned in the social milieu.
Mr. Hardy
minor
Also known as Hardy, Mr. Hardy
A minor acquaintance or business figure.
Captain Wolf
minor
Also known as Captain Wolf
An army officer during Anthony's military service.
Mr. Weatherbee
minor
Also known as Mr. Weatherbee, Percy B. Weatherbee, Percy B. Weatherbee , Architect, Architect
An architect or minor professional acquaintance.
Henry Hiemer
minor
Also known as Hiemer, Mr. Hiemer
A minor character in the social circle.
Otis Cable
minor
Also known as Otis, Cable, Otis Cable
A minor social acquaintance.
Barley
minor
Also known as Barley, Barley—he
A minor character mentioned in the narrative.
