# Susan Warrington — The Voyage Out character guide

> Susan Warrington in The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Susan, Warrington, Susan Jane, Miss Warrington

**First appearance:** 0003-iv

## Snapshot

A thirty-year-old parsonage daughter newly engaged to Arthur Venning, whose sudden prospects of comfort thaw her toward a world that long overlooked her.

## Who they are

Susan has spent years as unpaid companion to her selfish old aunt, Mrs. Paley, and her engagement to Arthur Venning transforms her from drudge to bride with a handsome present in view. The change floods her with warmth toward everyone, yet her diary entries and her anxious self-scrutiny reveal how much of her happiness is borrowed from others' approval. She matters as the novel's portrait of conventional English womanhood, content with the life Rachel will find herself unable to accept.

## Relationships

### [Arthur Venning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/arthur_venning)

_romantic_

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

### [Helen Ambrose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/helen_ambrose)

_social_

Helen is a sympathetic but slightly condescending older friend to the conventional Susan.

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

_friendship_

They are friendly but distant fellow passengers, with Rachel finding Susan's conventionality limiting.

### [Arthur Venning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/arthur_venning)

_romantic_

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

### [Arthur Venning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/arthur_venning)

_romantic_

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

### [Helen Ambrose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/helen_ambrose)

_social_

Helen is a sympathetic but slightly condescending older friend to the conventional Susan.

### [Helen Ambrose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_voyage_out_se/characters/helen_ambrose)

_social_

Helen is a sympathetic but slightly condescending older friend to the conventional Susan.

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

_friendship_

They are friendly but distant fellow passengers, with Rachel finding Susan's conventionality limiting.

## In the story

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

Hewet sees her as having no self, counting neither one way nor the other.

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

Seen lying with Arthur after their engagement, later walks off with him and criticizes Hirst.

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

Engaged to Arthur Venning, she reflects on marriage as the solution to all problems and enjoys her newfound status.

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

Susan is observed by Hewet as part of an engaged couple whose shy happiness has settled into comfortable routine.

## Links

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