# Boy Fenwick — The Green Hat character guide

> Boy Fenwick in The Green Hat by Michael Arlen.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Boy, the legendary Boy Fenwick, Fenwick

**First appearance:** 0001-the-green-hat

## Snapshot

A handsome young idealist who married Iris at nineteen and then fell from a Deauville window, leaving behind a legend everyone repeats and nobody explains.

## Who they are

Boy Fenwick survives in drawing-room memory as a phantom of beauty and laughter, a young man of quality whose catholic idealism bordered on obsession. He married Iris when she was barely twenty, and his death at Deauville is officially an accident, though Hilary's careful hints suggest otherwise. That unresolved fall haunts Iris's reputation and gives the novel its central question: what really happened to the man everyone claims to have loved.

## Relationships

### [Iris March](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters/iris_march)

_romantic_

Boy Fenwick is a former lover of Iris, whose memory haunts her present relationships.

### [Napier Harpenden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters/napier_harpenden)

_friendship_

Boy Fenwick and Napier were close friends before Boy's death, which haunts Napier.

### [Iris March](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters/iris_march)

_romantic_

Boy Fenwick is a former lover of Iris, whose memory haunts her present relationships.

### [Napier Harpenden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters/napier_harpenden)

_friendship_

Boy Fenwick and Napier were close friends before Boy's death, which haunts Napier.

### [Iris March](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters/iris_march)

_romantic_

Boy Fenwick is a former lover of Iris, whose memory haunts her present relationships.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/ii)

Referenced as Gerald's great friend before the war, whose death profoundly affected Gerald.

### [II: The Cavalier of Low Creatures](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/ii-the-cavalier-of-low-creatures)

Referenced as Gerald's pre-war hero, the 'legendary Boy Fenwick' who appears in Gerald's novel as 'young Burton'.

### [III: For Purity!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/iii-for-purity)

Iris's first husband; died on his wedding night in 1913 after falling from a hotel window; his death is a central legend discussed in the chapter.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/iii)

Revealed as Iris's first husband, who left her his fortune, which she gave to his aunt.

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

The legendary young man who committed suicide on his wedding night in 1913; his death and its interpretation dominate the chapter.

### [IV: Aphrodite](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/iv-aphrodite)

Boy Fenwick is recalled as the man who loved Iris and whose idealistic cruelty left a lasting scar on her, associated with the phrase 'die for purity.'

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/i)

Described as an idealist who impressed himself on the twins; his relationship with Iris is recalled.

### [VI: The Red Lights](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/vi-the-red-lights)

Boy Fenwick's 'queer death' is recalled as having come between a young Napier and Iris, contributing to their long separation.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/i)

Referenced as Iris's past love whose death has put her 'out of court' in society.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/chapters/ii)

Older friend who bossed the children and later loved Iris for her determination.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters/boy_fenwick
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_green_hat_se/characters