# The Cream of the Jest — Character guide

> Key figures in The Cream of the Jest by James Branch Cabell.

- [Felix Kennaston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/felix_kennaston.md): Kennaston is a country gentleman and former verse-writer whose late-blooming novel makes him a minor celebrity he greets with urbane amusement, even as he privately feels his real self slipping elsewhere. His marriage to
- [Horvendile](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/horvendile.md): Horvendile is the witty, faintly blasphemous servant whose quick wits have rescued Ettarre from Maugis d'Aigremont and whose clear-eyed mockery unsettles the chivalric certainties around him. He loves Ettarre hopelessly 
- [La Beale Ettarre](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/la_beale_ettarre.md): La Beale Ettarre is the sister of Count Emmerick and the center of a notable marriage-feast, a woman whose big blue eyes have troubled many men's sleep and whose happiness is shadowed only by the surviving menace of Maug
- [Mrs. Kennaston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/mrs_kennaston.md): Kathleen Kennaston is the competent mistress of the household, preoccupied with gasoline engines and clipping-bureaus, who has lived beside her husband's abilities without quite crediting them. She defers reading Men Who
- [Kathleen Saumarez](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/kathleen_saumarez.md): Before her marriage Kathleen Eppes Saumarez earned precarious bread as a lecturer and journalist, reviewing books she came to loathe, and she now cares even less for books as art than the average honest woman. That weary
- [Maugis d'Aigremont](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/maugis_d_aigremont.md): Maugis d'Aigremont is the lurking menace of Storisende, a knight and magician whose persistency Ettarre fears even in her happiness and whose motives Horvendile frankly calls base. He has been driven into hiding after hi
- [Sir Guiron des Rocques](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/sir_guiron_des_roccques.md): Guiron is the celebrated champion of Poictesme, betrothed to Ettarre in a match Count Emmerick has staged as the social event of the realm. His very perfection breeds trouble: Maugis d'Aigremont confesses he cannot pardo
- [Muriel Allardyce](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/muriel_allardyce.md): A friend of the Kennastons, involved in social circles and local gossip.
- [Avis Blagden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/avis_blagden.md): An acquaintance of the Kennastons, part of their social set.
- [Dick Harrowby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/dick_harrowby.md): A local man involved in the town's affairs and Kennaston's circle.
- [Count Emmerick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/count_emmerick.md): A nobleman in the fictional world of Poictesme.
- [P. N. Flaherty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/p_n_flaherty.md): Flaherty is the narrator's stand-in: a reporter of the shallow country intimacy that chance imposes on neighbors, who listened while Kennaston spoke of the sigil with what struck him as indecent unconcern. He takes notes
- [Margaret Hugonin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/margaret_hugonin.md): A young woman from Kennaston's past, briefly mentioned in his memories.
- [Alison](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/alison.md): A legendary figure referenced in the fictional narrative.
- [Nan Boleyn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/nan_boleyn.md): A historical figure appearing as a character in Kennaston's visions.
- [Charicles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/charicles.md): A character from the ancient Greek segments of the fictional narrative.
- [Scoteia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/scoteia.md): A figure from the fictional world, associated with the sigil's lore.
- [Amrou](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/amrou.md): A historical general appearing briefly in the narrative's visions.
- [John Faustus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/john_faustus.md): The legendary scholar, referenced as a character in the fictional world.
- [Pontius Pilate](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/pontius_pilate.md): The Roman governor, appearing in a vision of historical events.
- [Tiberius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/tiberius.md): The Roman emperor, mentioned in the narrative's historical scope.
- [Cromwell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/cromwell.md): The English lord protector, appearing in a historical vignette.
- [Napoleon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/napoleon.md): The French emperor, mentioned in passing historical allusions.
- [Moira](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/moira.md): A name appearing in the fictional narrative of Poictesme.
- [Adam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/adam.md): The biblical first man, referenced in the story's philosophical themes.
- [Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters/christ.md): Central figure of Christianity, referenced in the narrative's reflections.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/characters