# The Damnation of Theron Ware — Character guide

> Key figures in The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic.

- [Theron Ware](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/theron_ware.md): Theron Ware arrives in Octavius fresh from a happy, modest pastorate, buoyed by a congregation's donation of vegetables and a young wife's laughter. He is earnest, vain, and hungry for a larger life, and the town's Catho
- [Celia Madden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/celia_madden.md): Celia Madden is the daughter of Octavius's wealthiest family, a pianist whose moods and whims are tolerated because she is beautiful and unmarried. She is drawn to Theron Ware less as a lover than as a project, and her c
- [Alice Ware](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/alice_ware.md): Alice Ware married Theron out of a grim household and threw herself into their first parsonage with a gaiety he remembers fondly. In Octavius she is the practical one, watching the household budget and her husband's mood
- [Sister Soulsby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/sister_soulsby.md): Sister Soulsby arrives in Octavius to run a revival and clear the congregation's debts, and she does both with brisk, unsentimental competence. Her Southern drawl, low collars, and rolling eyes suggest a past she does no
- [Father Forbes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/father_forbes.md): Father Forbes dines simply, reads widely, and receives Theron Ware with a politeness that is neither warm nor cold. He mentions Renan and the higher criticism as casually as the weather, and his indifference to dogma is 
- [Dr. Ledsmar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/dr_ledsmar.md): Dr. Ledsmar lives alone with his experiments, his books, and his Chinese servant, and receives visitors with a bearish indifference that Theron mistakes for wisdom. He studies heredity and religion as curiosities, and hi
- [Levi Gorringe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/levi_gorringe.md): Gorringe belongs to the lay machinery of the Tyre congregation, one of the practical men who keep the parsonage running and the pastor accountable. His unspoken feeling for Alice Ware gives his every courtesy a double ed
- [Brother Soulsby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/brother_soulsby.md): Soulsby arrives in Tyre as half of a professional revival team, bringing Western ease and a fund of practical talk about land, weather, and human nature. He is the gentler, more companionable half of the partnership, con
- [Jeremiah Madden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/jeremiah_madden.md): Madden is the wealthy Catholic layman whose money and goodwill underwrite much of the town's religious and civic life, and whose household centers on his brilliant daughter Celia. He has outlived a dozen children to the 
- [Michael Madden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/michael_madden.md): Celia's older brother, a stern Catholic traditionalist.
- [Erastus Winch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/erastus_winch.md): A blunt, conservative church trustee.
- [Brother Pierce](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/brother_pierce.md): A stern, influential church trustee.
- [Tisdale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/tisdale.md): A hapless local preacher who causes trouble for Theron.
- [Abram Beekman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/abram_beekman.md): A local businessman and church figure in Octavius.
- [Mrs. MacEvoy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/mrs_macevoy.md): An Irish parishioner who dies in poverty, affecting Theron.
- [Thurston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/thurston.md): A minor character mentioned in the Octavius church community.
- [The Presiding Elder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/the_presiding_elder.md): A senior Methodist official who oversees Theron's district.
- [Theodore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_damnation_of_theron_ware_se/characters/theodore.md): A minor character referenced in the narrative.

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