# The Devil — The Four Men character guide

> The Devil in The Four Men by Hilaire Belloc.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Devil, the Money-Devil, Beelzebub, the Head Devil

**First appearance:** 0004-the-twenty-ninth-of-october-1902

## Snapshot

The tempter the travelers keep half-jokingly claiming as their patron, present in their caution, their close speech, and every skinflint's careful shot.

## Who they are

Grizzlebeard names the Devil as the true master of the three wary men who will not even give their names, and the joke cuts because it is accurate. The Devil here is less a person than a diagnosis: the spirit of affectation and self-protection that the pilgrimage is meant to shed. He matters because the whole journey is a wager against him — the wager that a woolgathering stranger nearer God can be found and joined before the Devil collects his own.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_four_men_se/characters/the_devil
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_four_men_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_four_men_se/characters