Character guide

Maggie Tulliver

major

Also known as Maggie, Magsie, Miss Maggie, cousin Maggie, Maggie Tulliver

Maggie Tulliver grows up clever, impulsive, and starved for approval in a family that prizes her brother's plodding respectability over her restless mind. At the charity bazaar she knits and sells with downcast grace while Stephen Guest circles her and old Wakem buys politely, every small courtesy charged with old quarrels and new attractions. Her need to be loved and her inability to be ordinary drive the book's central ache.

Tom Tulliver

major

Also known as Tom, Master Tom, Tom Tulliver, cousin Tom

Sent to King's Lorton to be made a gentleman, Tom finds Latin, elocution, and bashfulness a misery after the easy triumphs of Mr. Jacobs's academy. He clings to a boy's dream of becoming a substantial man like his father, riding, hunting, and commanding respect. His rigid sense of fairness and family name will make him both Maggie's protector and her harshest judge.

Mr. Tulliver

major

Also known as Tulliver, old Tulliver, honest Mr. Tulliver

Mr. Tulliver is a man of active Hotspur temper, sober but quick to boil, who farms by instinct and litigates by stubbornness. His long lawsuit against Wakem drains the mill and darkens his household, yet he dreams of Tom's education as the family's redemption. His pride, his flashes of triumphant rage, and his tenderness toward Maggie shape the catastrophe that falls on Dorlcote.

Philip Wakem

supporting

Also known as Philip, Wakem, dear Philip, Phil

Philip Wakem is the lawyer's son, physically deformed and inwardly refined, drawn to Maggie's mind and warmth from childhood. He moves quietly through St. Ogg's, avoiding crowds, buying up what others reject, and nursing a love that the Tulliver name makes dangerous. His friendship with Maggie becomes the novel's tenderest and most forbidden bond.

Stephen Guest

supporting

Also known as Guest, Mr. Guest, Mr. Stephen Guest, Stephen

Stephen Guest is a privileged young man in St. Ogg's, admired for his looks, his fortune, and his easy way with everyone. At the bazaar he flirts with Lucy, buys nothing from Maggie, and wears a scarlet fez with the confidence of a man who carries all before him. His charm and his weakness for the woman he cannot rightly have set the novel's most painful temptation in motion.

Mrs. Tulliver

supporting

Also known as aunt Tulliver, poor Mrs. Tulliver, Amiable Mrs. Tulliver

Mrs. Tulliver is a soft, fussing woman who measures love in household order and dreads the disgrace of debt almost as much as the loss of her possessions. As the mill's fortunes sink, she is scolded by her own servant and reduced to fetching in the drying clothes herself. Her helpless tenderness and her small vanities make the family's decline feel intimate and domestic.

Bob Jakin

supporting

Also known as Bob, Poor Bob, Jakin, The ingenious Bob

Bob Jakin scrambles up from muddy scuffles with Tom to become a wandering trader whose loyalty outlasts the shame Tom feels at the old intimacy. He measures the world by a rough ledger of good turns and black eyes, and his return in the Tullivers' hour of trouble reveals a stubborn, self-made decency. His shrewdness and his memory of the pocketknife quietly seed later help the family cannot foresee.

Lucy Deane

supporting

Also known as Lucy, Miss Lucy, Little Lucy, dear Lucy, Lucy Deane

Lucy Deane is the small, gentle cousin everyone calls the bell of St. Ogg's, and she moves through the Tulliver circle with an unjealous generosity that makes her the natural center of its social hopes. She believes she knows the state of every heart around her, including her own, and it is precisely this serene confidence that lets her miss the subtle currents gathering between Stephen and Maggie. Her warmth draws the cousins back together and sets in motion the very gatherings that will test her faith.

Mrs. Glegg

supporting

Also known as sister Glegg, aunt Glegg, Glegg

Mrs. Glegg is the eldest and most formidable of the Dodson sisters, a woman who regards herself as the family's constituted check on weakness and extravagance. She clashes openly with Mr. Tulliver over money and pride, yet her quarrel is never so final that she cannot speak civil when spoken to. Her sharp tongue and sharper accounts make her the measuring rod against which the Tullivers' precarious respectability is judged.

Mr. Glegg

supporting

Also known as good Mr. Glegg, uncle Glegg, Glegg

Mr. Glegg has retired from trade expecting ease and instead spends his days among flowers and vegetables, doing the work of two gardeners while his wife counts the wages saved. Mild, uxorious, and quietly content, he embodies the Dodson prosperity without its sharper edge. His placid presence in family councils offers a soft counterpoint to Mrs. Glegg's judgments and helps keep the Tulliver quarrels from becoming permanent ruptures.

Mrs. Pullet

supporting

Also known as sister Pullet, Pullet, aunt Pullet, Mrs. Pullet

Mrs. Pullet lives at Garum Firs and descends on St. Ogg's in a cloud of ailments, remedies, and unsolicited advice about dress and complexion. She pities Bessy's bad luck with her children and half-proposes sending Maggie to a distant boarding-school, all while taking quiet pride in the finery she can afford to give away. Her hypochondria and her vanity make her a comic Dodson voice, but her visits also carry the family's judgments into the mill.

Mr. Deane

supporting

Also known as sister Deane, Deane, uncle Deane

Mr. Deane is Lucy's father and a man of business who has risen by his own wits, believing firmly that any young man who fails to rise has only himself to blame. He takes Tom on as a clerk, watches him for seven years, and finally offers him a share in the concern because he sees the right habits and no flashiness. His practical patronage gives Tom the means to redeem the Tulliver name and quietly reshapes the family's fortunes.

Mrs. Moss

minor

Also known as Moss, aunt Moss, Poor Mrs. Moss, good Mrs. Moss

Mr. Tulliver's kind but impoverished sister with many children.

Dr. Kenn

supporting

Also known as this Dr. Kenn, Kenn

Dr. Kenn is the one clergyman in St. Ogg's willing to stand by Maggie when gossip turns her into a scandal, resisting a parishioner's demand that he withdraw his countenance. But his conscience cuts both ways: he cannot decide whether persevering is principle or mere obstinacy, and the fear of seeming to sanction evil finally moves him to urge her away. His painful advice — that she leave town and take a governess post — marks how even the sympathetic can be constrained to hardness, deepening Maggie's isolation at the story's crisis.

Mr. Riley

minor

Also known as Riley, Mr. Riley

Auctioneer and advisor who recommends a school for Tom.

Luke

minor

Also known as Good Luke

Loyal mill hand who works for the Tulliver family.

Lawyer Wakem

supporting

Also known as Mr. Wakem, Wakem, old Wakem, lawyer Wakem

Wakem is the shrewd lawyer Tulliver blames for every legal entanglement, and the enmity runs deep enough that the miller reads malice into chance itself. Yet the novel lets us see him plainly: a punctual, aquiline-nosed professional who listens courteously even to Mrs. Tulliver's pickle-errand plea, and whose motives may be less diabolical than Tulliver's fevered portrait suggests. His feud with the Tullivers drives the lawsuit, the loss of the mill, and the bitter inheritance Tom and Maggie must carry into adulthood.

Mr. Stelling

minor

Also known as Mr. or Mrs. Stelling, Stelling, the Rev. Mr. Stelling

Tom's schoolmaster who also tutors Philip Wakem.

Bessy

minor

Also known as Poor Bessy, poor Bessy

Mrs. Tulliver's maiden name; used affectionately by her husband.

Mrs. Stelling

minor

Also known as Mr. or Mrs. Stelling

The schoolmaster's wife who hosts Maggie during her visit.

Mr. Poulter

minor

Also known as old Poulter, Poulter

Local soldier who teaches Tom sword exercises.

Mumps

minor

The Tulliver family dog.

Yap

minor

Maggie's small dog that she carries around.

Kezia

minor

The Tulliver family's maid servant.

Mr. Moss

minor

Also known as good Mr. Moss

Mrs. Moss's husband, a poor farmer.

Mrs. Wooll

minor

Also known as Mrs. Wooll of St. Ogg

A resident of St. Ogg's mentioned in passing.

Lizzy Dodson

minor

Also known as Lizzy, the eldest Miss Dodson, Elizabeth Dodson, Miss Elizabeth Dodson

One of the Dodson sisters, known for her strict propriety.

Minny

minor

Lucy Deane's small pet dog.

Mr. Turnbull

minor

Doctor who attends to the Tulliver family.

Sally

minor

Servant at the Tulliver household.

Mr. Pivart

minor

Also known as Pivart, a Pivart

Landowner whose irrigation plans cause conflict with Mr. Tulliver.

Mr. Gore

minor

Also known as Gore, Lawyer Gore

A lawyer involved in Mr. Tulliver's legal affairs.

Mrs. Jakin

minor

Bob Jakin's mother.

Gritty

minor

Also known as poor Gritty, aunt Gritty

Another name for Mrs. Moss, Mr. Tulliver's sister.

Furley

minor

A man who holds a mortgage on Dorlcote Mill.

Mrs. Kenn

minor

Also known as poor Mrs. Kenn

Dr. Kenn's deceased wife, mentioned in the story.

Laura

minor

Also known as little Laura, the little cherub Laura, Miss Laura

A young girl at the school where Maggie briefly teaches.

Susan Dodson

minor

Also known as Miss Dodson, Miss Susan Dodson, Susan

One of the Dodson sisters, later Mrs. Deane.

Mr. Jacobs

minor

Also known as Jacobs

A tradesman who deals with Tom Tulliver.

Dix

minor

A friend of Bob Jakin.

Spouncer

minor

A schoolfellow of Tom's at Mr. Stelling's.

Mrs. Sutton

minor

Also known as old Mrs. Sutton

An elderly woman in the neighborhood.

Louisa Timpson

minor

Also known as Timpson

A girl mentioned in the Dodson family circle.

Miss Firniss

minor

A teacher at the school Maggie attends briefly.

John Wakem

minor

Lawyer Wakem's first name, rarely used.

John Gibbs

minor

A man who works for Mr. Tulliver.

Mr. Spray

minor

An auctioneer who sells the Tulliver household goods.

Sir John Crake

minor

A local landowner mentioned in conversation.

Mr. Hyndmarsh

minor

A client of Lawyer Wakem.

Gell

minor

A carrier or tradesman in the village.

Mr. Carr

minor

A friend of Stephen Guest.

Miss Torry

minor

Also known as young Torry

A young woman at a party in St. Ogg's.

Cousin Abbott

minor

Also known as Abbott

A cousin of the Dodson family.

Baxter

minor

A man who works for Guest & Co.

Winship

minor

A clerk at Guest & Co.

Ralph Tulliver

minor

Also known as the clever Ralph

A deceased relative of the Tulliver family, mentioned as a clever man.

Mrs. Pepper

minor

A neighbor of the Tullivers.

Miss Unit

minor

A teacher at the school Maggie attends.