# Mrs. Gurley — The Getting of Wisdom character guide

> Mrs. Gurley in The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** altogether Mrs. Gurley, old Gurley

**First appearance:** 0005-iii

## Snapshot

The school's formidable matron, all chilly smiles and watchful eyes, who rules the dining hall and the girls' daily lives with brisk, unsparing authority.

## Who they are

Mrs. Gurley is the presiding power of the ladies' college, the woman who escorts Laura into the dining room before fifty-five staring girls and whose bedroom sits conveniently above the piano where girls practise. Her manner is a study in controlled severity: a chill smile for the godmother, then the mask dropped the moment the door closes. She matters because she sets the institutional tone of Laura's school life, the surveillance and small humiliations against which Laura's private world of reading and dreaming must survive.

## Relationships

### [Laura Rambotham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/characters/laura_rambotham)

_professional_

Mrs. Gurley is the school principal, and Laura's interactions with her are formal and often tense, reflecting Laura's rebellious nature.

### [Laura Rambotham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/characters/laura_rambotham)

_professional_

Mrs. Gurley is the school principal, and Laura's interactions with her are formal and often tense, reflecting Laura's rebellious nature.

### [Laura Rambotham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/characters/laura_rambotham)

_professional_

Mrs. Gurley is the school principal, and Laura's interactions with her are formal and often tense, reflecting Laura's rebellious nature.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/chapters/iv)

The Lady Superintendent of the College, who is stern and rebukes Laura for pointing and commenting on her apron.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/chapters/vi)

Mrs. Gurley is the head of the College, described as fat and unsmiling; Laura calls her an 'awful old beast.'

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/chapters/vii)

The stern headmistress who rules through fear and publicly reprimands Laura for her informal manners.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/chapters/xiii)

Passes by on the verandah, her withering eye keeping the girls industrious momentarily.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/chapters/xxi)

Scolds Laura for playing scales with the forte pedal down while Laura is distracted reading 'A Doll's House' in the drawing-room.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/characters/mrs_gurley
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_getting_of_wisdom_se/characters