# Lawyer Wakem — The Mill on the Floss character guide

> Lawyer Wakem in The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.

**Role:** supporting

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

**First appearance:** 0013-xiii-mr-tulliver-further-entangles-the-skein-of-life

## Snapshot

The cool, iron-gray attorney whose grudge against the irascible miller Tulliver hardens into a campaign to take the mill — and whose son will complicate everything.

## Who they are

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.

## In the story

### [II: The Christmas Holidays](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/ii-the-christmas-holidays)

The object of Mr. Tulliver's deep resentment, believed to be behind Pivart's irrigation scheme and other legal troubles; his son is to attend the same school as Tom.

### [What Had Happened at Home](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/i-what-had-happened-at-home)

Revealed to have acquired the mortgage on Tulliver's property, causing Mr. Tulliver's collapse.

### [VII: How a Hen Takes to Stratagem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/vii-how-a-hen-takes-to-stratagem)

The attorney whom Mrs. Tulliver visits; described as having an aquiline nose and iron-gray hair, and is the object of Mr. Tulliver's long-standing enmity.

### [In the Red Deeps](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/i-in-the-red-deeps)

Philip's father, who accompanies Philip to the mill yard and is seen by Maggie. His presence prevents Maggie from greeting Philip freely.

### [A Day of Reckoning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/vii-a-day-of-reckoning)

Meets Mr. Tulliver by the mill gates and provokes him with a condescending remark about farming.

### [Showing That Tom Had Opened the Oyster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/v-showing-that-tom-had-opened-the-oyster)

Wakem is mentioned as the current owner of the mill, having outbid Mr. Deane's firm. His management through young Jetsome is causing the mill to decline.

### [Wakem in a New Light](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/viii-wakem-in-a-new-light)

Angrily resists Philip's plan to marry Maggie, citing old grievances with the Tullivers, but is ultimately moved by Philip's arguments.

### [IX: Charity in Full-Dress](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/chapters/ix-charity-in-full-dress)

Visits Maggie's stall at the bazaar, behaves kindly and tactfully, and mentions his son Philip.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/characters/lawyer_wakem
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mill_on_the_floss_se/characters