# Colonel Ferrari — The Gadfly character guide

> Colonel Ferrari in The Gadfly by Ethel Voynich.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Colonel

**First appearance:** 0013-part-ii-iv

## Snapshot

A senior police officer in the Papal States, devout and severe, who regards the suppression of revolutionaries as a painful but necessary duty of state.

## Who they are

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, inclined to see the Gadfly's pamphlets and the Young Italy cells as threats to order rather than expressions of conscience. His presence in the story embodies the machinery of surveillance and coercion against which the revolutionaries measure their risk.

## Relationships

### [Arthur Burton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/arthur_burton)

_rivalry_

Colonel Ferrari interrogates and torments Arthur, representing the oppressive church-state apparatus.

### [Canon Montanelli](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/canon_montanelli)

_professional_

Montanelli and Ferrari collaborate as representatives of the church and military, respectively, in suppressing revolution.

### [The Gadfly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/the_gadfly)

_rivalry_

Colonel Ferrari is the chief military antagonist who hunts and ultimately executes the Gadfly.

### [Canon Montanelli](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/canon_montanelli)

_professional_

Montanelli and Ferrari collaborate as representatives of the church and military, respectively, in suppressing revolution.

### [Arthur Burton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/arthur_burton)

_rivalry_

Colonel Ferrari interrogates and torments Arthur, representing the oppressive church-state apparatus.

### [The Gadfly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/the_gadfly)

_rivalry_

Colonel Ferrari is the chief military antagonist who hunts and ultimately executes the Gadfly.

### [Arthur Burton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/arthur_burton)

_rivalry_

Colonel Ferrari interrogates and torments Arthur, representing the oppressive church-state apparatus.

### [The Gadfly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/the_gadfly)

_rivalry_

Colonel Ferrari is the chief military antagonist who hunts and ultimately executes the Gadfly.

### [Canon Montanelli](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/canon_montanelli)

_professional_

Montanelli and Ferrari collaborate as representatives of the church and military, respectively, in suppressing revolution.

## In the story

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/chapters/part-iii-v)

The Governor who orders the Gadfly's brutal restraint and refuses to loosen the straps; later consults Montanelli about the danger before Corpus Domini.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/chapters/part-iii-vii)

Presides over the court-martial and execution; shows some pity but follows orders.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters/colonel_ferrari
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_gadfly_se/characters