# Edward Burden — The Nature of a Crime character guide > Edward Burden in The Nature of a Crime by Joseph Conrad. **Role:** major **Also known as:** young Edward Burden, Edward, Burden, young Burden, The good Edward, Poor Burden, obscure Burdens, the Edward Burdens, Edward Burdens **First appearance:** 0000-preface-i ## Snapshot A shiny, pompous young heir who brings his fiancée to the narrator's office for a cheque, unaware that two and two are about to stop making four. ## Who they are Edward Burden is the confident worshipper of law, property, and the august constitution, arriving at the narrator's office with his hat held before his mouth like a man in church. His flaw is a complacent faith in obvious platitudes—honesty pays, genius takes pains—which the narrator both despises and quietly prepares to shatter. He matters because his wedding-day motorcar and Italian honeymoon are the fragile surface on which the story's moral arithmetic begins to crack, and because his fiancée's frightened eyes force the narrator to feel, for the first time, that he has wronged someone. ## Relationships ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _psychological_ The narrator's obsession with Edward Burden drives the narrative, creating a one-sided dynamic of surveillance and envy. ### [Miss Averies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/miss_averies) _romantic_ Edward and Miss Averies share a mutual romantic interest, but their relationship is strained by external pressures and the narrator's interference. ### [Annie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/annie) _social_ Annie and Edward Burden have a minor social connection, perhaps as acquaintances in the same circle, but not significant. ### [Zola](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/zola) _social_ Edward Burden and Zola have a distant, intellectual acquaintance, possibly through literary circles, but not close. ### [Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/death) _psychological_ Death is a symbolic presence in Edward's life, representing mortality and the narrator's obsession with his fate. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _psychological_ The narrator's obsession with Edward Burden drives the narrative, creating a one-sided dynamic of surveillance and envy. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _psychological_ Edward Burden is the object of the narrator's intense scrutiny, but he remains largely unaware or indifferent to the narrator's fixation. ### [Miss Averies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/miss_averies) _romantic_ Edward and Miss Averies share a mutual romantic interest, but their relationship is strained by external pressures and the narrator's interference. ### [Miss Averies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/miss_averies) _romantic_ Edward and Miss Averies share a mutual romantic interest, but their relationship is strained by external pressures and the narrator's interference. ### [Annie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/annie) _social_ Annie and Edward Burden have a minor social connection, perhaps as acquaintances in the same circle, but not significant. ## In the story ### [Preface I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/preface-i) Mentioned as one of the 'unscrupulous, cultivated, high-minded jouisseurs' in the fragment, though not directly present in this preface. ### [Preface II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/preface-ii) Mentioned as the collaborator, though not by name in this preface. ### [The Nature of a Crime](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/the-nature-of-a-crime) Burden is the narrator's friend and the fiancé of the narrator's beloved, representing the obstacle to the narrator's desires. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/i) Mentioned as the one whose marriage triggers the narrator's financial crisis. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/ii) Visits the narrator's office to introduce his fiancée and request a cheque for a motorcar; described as pompous and trusting. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/iii) Mentioned as the target of the narrator's deception, who trusts him completely. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/iv) Burden confesses his past affair and seeks the narrator's approval, revealing his moral self-indulgence. ### [Chapter V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/v) Portrayed as a conventional, unimaginative man who would handle a wife's accusation of infidelity poorly, and who drags his fiancée down to his own material level. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/vi) Sends an incomprehensible note asking for particulars about his estate and a loan, which may precipitate the narrator's crash. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/vii) Beneficiary of the narrator's will; unknowingly inherits a fraudulent estate. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/chapters/viii) Unknowingly saves the narrator by returning all deeds unchecked, showing misplaced trust and concern. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters/edward_burden - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_nature_of_a_crime_se/characters