# The Gadfly — Character guide

> Key figures in The Gadfly by Ethel Voynich.

- [The Gadfly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/the_gadfly.md): Rivarez arrives in Italy as a celebrated satirist, all lazy elegance and barbed wit, and quickly becomes the campaign's most feared pen against the Jesuits. Yet in the prison infirmary his composure cracks: he seizes Mon
- [Arthur Burton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/arthur_burton.md): Arthur lives on the edges of the Burton family, tolerated by his half-brothers and loathed by Julia, who calls him 'that Popish woman's child' as the gendarmes search his room. He meets the raid with eerie serenity, havi
- [Canon Montanelli](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/canon_montanelli.md): Montanelli visits the Gadfly's cell not to threaten but to listen, and answers the prisoner's stammering mockery with the calm reply, 'I prefer to form my own conclusions.' When his hand touches the Gadfly's cheek, the m
- [Gemma Warren](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/gemma_warren.md): Gemma moves through the Mazzinian underground with exactness and nerve, pouring tea and talking business in the same steady breath, her grave simplicity the brightest thing in Martini's life. To the party she is trustwor
- [Martini](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/martini.md): Martini is the friend who came to Devonshire when Gemma's baby died and her husband was dying, and who has been 'one of the family' ever since—even the cat treats him as furniture. He brings her cluster roses she refuses
- [Dr. Riccardo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/dr_riccardo.md): Riccardo tends the Gadfly through a rapid recovery, teasing him about calling on the Grassinis and refusing to trade his bottled tapeworm for an Indian dagger. He is the one who announces that Signora Bolla will nurse th
- [James Burton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/james_burton.md): James Burton belongs to the prosperous, Protestant merchant world of the Burton family, where reputation, commerce, and social standing are the measures of a man. He is the elder half-brother of Arthur, and the household
- [Zita Reni](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/zita_reni.md): Zita Reni moves through the story as a figure of colour and freedom, a dancer whose gypsy heritage places her outside the drawing rooms and committees that dominate the political world. Her connection to the Gadfly is in
- [Galli](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/galli.md): Galli belongs to the circle of Italian patriots and pamphleteers who invite the Gadfly to Florence and initially relish his savage satire. He is a practical conspirator rather than a fanatic, and he grows uneasy when the
- [Colonel Ferrari](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/colonel_ferrari.md): Colonel Ferrari moves in the official and military circles that surround Montanelli, and he watches the Cardinal with the wary respect of a man who distrusts the amnesty but obeys it. He is a professional enforcer, incli
- [Giovanni Bolla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/giovanni_bolla.md): A young revolutionary arrested and tortured by the police.
- [Michele](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/michele.md): A fiery and impulsive member of the revolutionary group.
- [Domenichino](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/domenichino.md): A smuggler who assists the revolutionaries.
- [Grassini](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/grassini.md): A spy and informant for the Austrian police.
- [Padre](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/padre.md): A priest who serves as a father figure to Arthur in his youth.
- [Julia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/julia.md): James Burton's wife, who dislikes Arthur.
- [Gladys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/gladys.md): A woman Arthur meets in South America.
- [Father Cardi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/father_cardi.md): A priest who hears Arthur's confession.
- [Marcone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/marcone.md): A smuggler who helps the revolutionaries.
- [Signora Bolla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/signora_bolla.md): Giovanni Bolla's mother, who pleads for his release.

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