# Prosper Profond — The Forsyte Saga character guide

> Prosper Profond in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Profond, Monsieur Profond, Prosper Profond, Monsieur Prosper Profond

**First appearance:** 0098-part-i-ii-fine-fleur-forsyte

## Snapshot

A cosmopolitan Armenian with a taste for other men's wives and other men's comforts, drifting through London society with an unsettling, unbothered smile.

## Who they are

Profond moves through the Forsyte circle as a guest of Annette's French connections, a man of vague origins and vaguer morals who treats English respectability as an amusing spectacle. His languid cynicism and appetite for pleasure make him a quiet threat to the family's carefully guarded proprieties, especially where younger wives grow restless. He matters because he embodies the outside world pressing in on the Forsytes' insular code, and because his casual predations expose how thin that code really is.

## In the story

### [The Native Heath](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-v-the-native-heath)

Meets Val at the races, buys the Mayfly filly, and offers it to Val as a gift; described as a 'good devil' and a foreigner.

### [VII: Fleur](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-vii-fleur)

Monsieur Prosper Profond is mentioned by Val in an anecdote told at dinner.

### [Goya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-ix-goya)

Buys the Gauguin from Soames; expresses a cynical view of life; comments on the English attitude toward pictures.

### [Caprice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-xii-caprice)

Profond is seen prowling outside, whistling 'Donna è Mobile,' and is disliked by both Soames and Fleur.

### [Meetings](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-iii-meetings)

Dines with George Forsyte at the Iseeum; expresses interest in Soames Forsyte's daughter and suggests Soames is old-fashioned.

### [In Green Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-iv-in-green-street)

Reveals the family scandal to Fleur; described as dangerous and disillusioned.

### [Soames' Private Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-vi-soames-private-life)

Implied as the foreigner with whom Annette is allegedly involved; Soames considers him a product of the age.

### [VIII: The Bit Between the Teeth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-viii-the-bit-between-the-teeth)

Encountered by Fleur near the Iseeum Club; he mentions going on a yacht voyage, implying a break with Fleur's mother.

### [Timothy Prophesies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-xi-timothy-prophesies)

Arrives late at Winifred's luncheon table, sits between Annette and Imogen, engages in cynical banter about human nature and modern women.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters/prosper_profond
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters