# The Magician — Character guide

> Key figures in The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham.

- [Arthur Burdon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/arthur_burdon.md): Arthur Burdon is a young English surgeon of growing reputation, engaged to Margaret Dauncey after a long, patient courtship, and visiting Paris to study French methods and finally set a wedding date. He is narrow but hon
- [Margaret Dauncey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/margaret_dauncey.md): Margaret Dauncey is a young Englishwoman whose physical perfection first drew Arthur Burdon to her, and whose delight in art and the variety of life sets her apart from his practical narrowness. She is grateful, affectio
- [Susie Boyd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/susie_boyd.md): Susie Boyd is Margaret's friend and chaperone in Paris, a woman with a merciless eye for pretension and a warm loyalty to those she loves. She moves easily among the students and painters of the Chien Noir, dissecting po
- [Oliver Haddo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/oliver_haddo.md): Oliver Haddo is a mountainous, ostentatiously dressed man who arrives at the Chien Noir declaiming in execrable French and treating the room as his stage. Once a beautiful and unpopular Oxford undergraduate, he has grown
- [Dr. Porhoët](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/dr_porhoet.md): Dr. Porhoët is a retired physician and family friend who has watched Arthur Burdon grow from a boy in Alexandria into a celebrated surgeon. He is a man of wide reading and gentle irony, drawn to strange characters and st
- [Frank Hurrell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/frank_hurrell.md): Frank Hurrell is a medical friend of Arthur Burdon who joins him in the grim journey to Skene and the vigil that follows. He is steady, practical, and loyal, the kind of companion who helps hold a horse and a friend's ne
- [Dr. Richardson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/dr_richardson.md): A London physician who treats Margaret during her illness.
- [Mrs. Haddo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/mrs_haddo.md): Oliver Haddo's mother, a wealthy and domineering woman.
- [Marie Porhoët](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/marie_porhoet.md): Dr. Porhoët's deceased wife, mentioned in his reminiscences.
- [Clayson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/clayson.md): A fellow medical student and acquaintance of Arthur Burdon.
- [Arbuthnot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/arbuthnot.md): A friend of Arthur's from the medical school circle.
- [Burkhardt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/burkhardt.md): A German occultist and acquaintance of Oliver Haddo.
- [Warren](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_magician_se/characters/warren.md): An English expatriate living in Paris, friend of Dr. Porhoët.

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