# Ellen — The Way of All Flesh character guide

> Ellen in The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** that lass Ellen, lass Ellen

**First appearance:** 0012-x

## Snapshot

A servant girl whose brief romance with young Ernest becomes, years later, a marriage he cannot reform and will not abandon.

## Who they are

Ellen enters Ernest's life as a lass, becomes his wife, and proves the barren task he is too obstinate to give up. Sober, she is the woman he first loved; drinking, she looks back longingly at the lawless freedom she had before respectability. Her relapse and his dogged loyalty drag him downhill toward the small shopkeeper's life, the crucible in which his earlier self is burned away.

## Relationships

### [Ernest Pontifex](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/characters/ernest_pontifex)

_romantic_

Ernest's first love and the maid who becomes his fiancée, but the relationship is broken by family interference and her hidden past.

### [Ernest Pontifex](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/characters/ernest_pontifex)

_romantic_

Ernest's first love and the maid who becomes his fiancée, but the relationship is broken by family interference and her hidden past.

### [Ernest Pontifex](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/characters/ernest_pontifex)

_romantic_

Ernest's first love and the maid who becomes his fiancée, but the relationship is broken by family interference and her hidden past.

## In the story

### [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/xxxviii)

A pretty Devonshire housemaid at the Rectory; becomes pregnant and is discovered by Dr. Martin; is promptly dismissed by Theobald and Christina.

### [XXXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/xxxix)

Dismissed from the Rectory; accepts Ernest's gifts and promises to repay him.

### [LXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxi)

Former housemaid at Battersby, now fallen into poverty and alcoholism; she re-encounters Ernest and shares a meal with him.

### [LXXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxii)

Proposes the shop idea, finds the premises, and appears demure and pretty; Overton instinctively dislikes her.

### [LXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxiii)

Shows tact and independence in marriage, encouraging Ernest to go out alone and not joining his Sunday outings, which Overton finds suspicious.

### [LXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxiv)

Ellen relapses into alcoholism, hiding her drinking from Ernest. She feigns hysterics and uses pregnancy as an excuse to steal money for gin, causing the business to suffer.

### [The Wreck of Hope](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxv)

Ellen's alcoholism and dishonesty escalate after the birth of their child, leading to financial problems and a final breakdown with delirium tremens.

### [LXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxvi)

Ellen is Ernest's wife, but their relationship is strained; John reveals he married her before Ernest did.

### [LXXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxvii)

Shows no remorse over the invalid marriage; accepts the breakup and allowance, later remarries and moves to America.

### [Chapter LXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxviii)

Ernest's estranged wife, now removed from the scene. Overton arranges for her to receive a pound a week from Ernest's estate.

### [Chapter LXXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxx)

Ernest states he would rather have married Ellen than the idealized Calciope.

### [LXXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/chapters/lxxxi)

Mentioned as the reason Ernest did not make money when he tried to start over at a lower social level.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/characters/ellen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_all_flesh_se/characters