# Henrik Dohna — The Story of Gösta Berling character guide

> Henrik Dohna in The Story of Gösta Berling by Selma Lagerlöf.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Count Henrik Dohna, Count Dohna, stupid Count Henrik

**First appearance:** 0014-part-i-x-the-young-countess

## Snapshot

A stiff, well-meaning young count whose plodding decency and limited imagination make him an unwitting instrument in his mother's schemes against his own wife.

## Who they are

Henrik Dohna is the heir of a proud house, married to the beautiful Elizabeth, and utterly unprepared for the passions that swirl around him. He is not cruel, only slow: he trusts his mother's version of events and cannot see the trap closing around his marriage until it is nearly too late. His dullness matters because it throws Elizabeth's moral courage into relief, and because his eventual, painful awakening shows how even the foolish can be forced to choose between loyalty and truth.

## In the story

### [II: The Beggar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/ii-the-beggar)

Count Henrik Dohna, for whom Gösta briefly worked as a tutor at Borg.

### [The Young Countess](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/part-i-x-the-young-countess)

Commands his wife to kiss Gösta's hand, threatens a duel, and is portrayed as stupid and cowardly.

### [XIII: Mamselle Marie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/part-i-xiii-mamselle-marie)

Count Henrik Dohna, mentioned as the son of Countess Märta and husband of the young countess.

### [III: Penitence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/part-ii-iii-penitence)

Henrik, easily swayed by his mother, condemns Elizabeth to obedience under Märta and withdraws into his studies, showing indifference to his wife's suffering.

### [The Iron from Ekeby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/part-ii-iv-the-iron-from-ekeby)

Pursues his runaway wife with his mother, but fails to find her due to the pensioners' help.

### [XI: The Plaster Saints](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/part-ii-xi-the-plaster-saints)

Orders the destruction of the church's images and whitewashing to atone for his annulled marriage, but is publicly humiliated when the pensioners carry him out of the church.

### [XVII: The Child’s Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/chapters/part-ii-xvii-the-child-s-mother)

Mentioned as Elizabeth's husband who abandoned her, leaving her child fatherless.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/characters/henrik_dohna
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_g_sta_berling_se/characters