# Arthur Venning — The Voyage Out character guide

> Arthur Venning in The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Arthur Venning, Venning, Mr. Venning, Arthur

**First appearance:** 0003-iv

## Snapshot

Susan Warrington's cheerful, uncomplicated fiancé, whose easy affection gives her the respectable future she has quietly despaired of ever having.

## Who they are

Arthur is a conventional young Englishman whose courtship of Susan rescues her from years of being overlooked at her father's parsonage. His attentions are steady rather than passionate, and Susan spends her private hours puzzling over what he thinks of her rather than what she feels for him. He matters as the safe harbor the novel sets beside Rachel's unsettled longing, a reminder of the ordinary marriage plot this book keeps refusing to become.

## Relationships

### [Susan Warrington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/susan_warrington)

_romantic_

They are a conventional, engaged couple, representing traditional courtship and marriage.

### [Rachel Vinrace](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/rachel_vinrace)

_social_

Arthur is a fellow passenger who treats Rachel with polite, unremarkable friendliness.

### [Susan Warrington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/susan_warrington)

_romantic_

They are a conventional, engaged couple, representing traditional courtship and marriage.

### [Rachel Vinrace](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/rachel_vinrace)

_social_

Arthur is a fellow passenger who treats Rachel with polite, unremarkable friendliness.

### [Susan Warrington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/susan_warrington)

_romantic_

They are a conventional, engaged couple, representing traditional courtship and marriage.

### [Rachel Vinrace](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/rachel_vinrace)

_social_

Arthur is a fellow passenger who treats Rachel with polite, unremarkable friendliness.

## In the story

### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/chapters/xi)

Embraces Susan, expresses joy at the expedition, and dismisses Hirst's intellect.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/chapters/xiv)

Sits with Susan, reading letters from hockey-playing young women and discussing their future.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/chapters/xviii)

Arthur is noted as Susan's fiancé, whose enthusiasm for flying contrasts with the domestic settling Hewet observes.

### [Chapter XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/chapters/xxiv)

Jokes about rigging a surprise for Mr. Pepper; engaged to Susan.

### [Chapter XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/chapters/xxvi)

Diverts the conversation at luncheon with a story about his grandfather's clerk, successfully smoothing over the discussion of death.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/arthur_venning
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters