# Will Brangwen — The Rainbow character guide

> Will Brangwen in The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Will, Bill, Fred Brangwen

**First appearance:** 0006-iii-childhood-of-anna-lensky

## Snapshot

Will enters the Brangwen family as a slender, solemn young man with a gift for carving and a mystical attachment to the church at Cossethay.

## Who they are

Will enters the Brangwen family as a slender, solemn young man with a gift for carving and a mystical attachment to the church at Cossethay. Married to Anna, he swings between adoring her and resenting her, between the ecstasy of the cathedral and the small tyrannies of the hearth. His struggle to reconcile flesh, faith, and fatherhood shapes the household Ursula grows up in and gives the novel its sharpest portrait of masculine restlessness.

## Relationships

### [Ursula Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters/ursula_brangwen)

_family_

Will is Ursula's father, with whom she shares a strained but deeply emotional relationship.

### [Anna Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters/anna_brangwen)

_romantic_

Anna and Will are husband and wife, their marriage oscillating between passionate union and bitter conflict.

### [Ursula Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters/ursula_brangwen)

_family_

Will is Ursula's father, with whom she shares a strained but deeply emotional relationship.

### [Ursula Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters/ursula_brangwen)

_family_

Will is Ursula's father, with whom she shares a strained but deeply emotional relationship.

### [Anna Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters/anna_brangwen)

_romantic_

Anna and Will are husband and wife, their marriage oscillating between passionate union and bitter conflict.

## In the story

### [The Rainbow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/the-rainbow)

Anna's husband; their marriage is marked by both bliss and conflict, reflecting deeper struggles between individuality and union.

### [IV: Girlhood of Anna Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/iv-girlhood-of-anna-brangwen)

Will Brangwen is Anna's cousin and eventual husband. He is a young draughtsman with a keen interest in woodwork. He is portrayed as suspended in waiting for the wedding day, and his physical presence becomes the center of Anna's reality.

### [IV: Girlhood of Anna Brangwen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/iv-girlhood-of-anna-brangwen)

Fred is Anna's brother, whom she adores but does not consider as a separate, real person. He is mentioned briefly as part of Anna's family background.

### [Wedding at the Marsh](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/v-wedding-at-the-marsh)

The groom, tense and abstracted, marries Anna Brangwen.

### [Anna Victrix](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/vi-anna-victrix)

Experiences a transformative honeymoon, feeling severed from the world and guilty about his idleness, yet deeply absorbed in his union with Anna.

### [VII: The Cathedral](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/vii-the-cathedral)

Devotes himself to the church, repairing its fabric and leading the choir, while grappling with inner darkness and submission to Anna.

### [VIII: The Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/viii-the-child)

Now thirty years old and a father of five, he starts a night-school woodwork class. He is consumed by a sensual, obsessive passion for his wife Anna, treating her as a stranger to be discovered, and is a magnetic, magical figure to his daughter Ursula.

### [IX: The Marsh and the Flood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/ix-the-marsh-and-the-flood)

The younger son, large-boned and blue-eyed, who is taking over the farm. He is sensitive and fond of reading, and shares a deep bond with his brother Tom.

### [X: The Widening Circle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/x-the-widening-circle)

Will is the father, whose voice rings out powerfully. He is exasperated by the cost of schooling but is a warm presence in the household.

### [X: The Widening Circle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/x-the-widening-circle)

Fred (Billy) is the younger brother, a lovable, delicate child of three, who stays at home and is not yet in school.

### [XIV: The Widening Circle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/chapters/xiv-the-widening-circle)

Will has secured a new position as Art and Handwork Instructor for the County of Nottingham, which elevates the family's social standing and prompts their move.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters/will_brangwen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_rainbow_se/characters