# The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman — Character guide

> Key figures in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.

- [Tristram Shandy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/tristram_shandy.md): Tristram Shandy is the beleaguered hero of his own autobiography, a man whose conception, birth, and christening were each botched by circumstance and family eccentricity. He narrates from a position of wry grievance, ca
- [Uncle Toby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/uncle_toby.md): Uncle Toby is a retired officer whose groin wound at Namur ended his military career but not his obsession with siegecraft, which he recreates on bowling-greens and in gardens. He is modest to a fault, deeply loved by hi
- [Corporal Trim](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/corporal_trim.md): Trim serves Uncle Toby with a soldier's discipline and a preacher's enthusiasm, whether fetching tea, delivering sermons, or nursing the sick. He is loquacious, self-educated, and prone to grand gestures that his master 
- [Mr. Yorick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/mr_yorick.md): Yorick is the parish priest whose wit is sharper than his prudence, forever landing him in trouble with those who cannot take a joke. He moves between the Shandy parlor and the wider world of church politics, offering co
- [Dr. Slop](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/dr_slop.md): Dr. Slop arrives to deliver Tristram armed with forceps, theories, and a simmering resentment of anyone who questions his expertise. He trades barbs with Yorick and lectures the company on radical heat and moisture while
- [Mrs. Shandy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/mrs_shandy.md): Mrs. Shandy occupies the edges of her husband's philosophical monologues, rarely speaking but never entirely absent from the novel's concerns. She is the practical counterweight to Walter's systems, bearing the physical 
- [Walter Shandy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/walter_shandy.md): Walter Shandy governs his household by system: names, noses, and embryotic evils all fall under his elaborate speculative machinery, and he grieves in syllogisms. His grief over his son's misfortunes curdles into quarrel
- [Obadiah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/obadiah.md): Obadiah ferries the household's urgent commissions, from midwife to man-midwife, with a bag of instruments that clatters like an alarm. He has a wife and three children and one private grievance: at full gallop he cannot
- [Susannah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/susannah.md): Susannah stands at the crossroads of the household's worst moments, dispatched to fetch help and returning with news no one wants. When the child is christened Tristram, she protests that she told them it was Tristram-gi
- [Bridget](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/bridget.md): Mrs. Wadman's maid, who has a romantic subplot with Corporal Trim.
- [Mrs. Wadman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/mrs_wadman.md): Mrs. Wadman conducts her courtship of Uncle Toby as a military operation, advancing on his sentry-box and his maps with feints, flanking movements, and the strategic capture of his tobacco-pipe. Her real objective lies l
- [Eugenius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/eugenius.md): A friend of Yorick and Tristram, often offering wise or ironic commentary.
- [Phutatorius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/phutatorius.md): A pompous and learned churchman involved in a memorable hot chestnut incident.
- [Didius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/didius.md): A scholarly church lawyer who debates with Walter and others.
- [Kysarcius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/kysarcius.md): A pedantic scholar who participates in learned debates on noses and baptism.
- [Le Fever](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/le_fever.md): A dying lieutenant whose son is taken in by Uncle Toby and Trim.
- [Hafen Slawkenbergius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/hafen_slawkenbergius.md): A fictional German author whose treatise on noses is a running joke.
- [Diego](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/diego.md): A mysterious stranger with a large nose, central to Slawkenbergius's tale.
- [Maria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/maria.md): A mad, grief-stricken peasant girl encountered by Tristram on his travels.
- [Widow Wadman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/widow_wadman.md): Alternate name for Mrs. Wadman, the amorous neighbor of Uncle Toby.
- [La Fosseuse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/la_fosseuse.md): A French maid in a tale, involved in a comic misunderstanding.
- [Gastripheres](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/gastripheres.md): A character in a learned debate, known for his gluttony.
- [Ernulphus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/ernulphus.md): A bishop whose elaborate curse is quoted at length in the book.
- [Amandus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/amandus.md): A character in a romantic tale, part of a digression on love.
- [Amanda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/amanda.md): A character in a romantic tale, paired with Amandus.
- [Jenny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/jenny.md): A woman mentioned in Tristram's narrative, possibly a love interest.
- [Dinah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/dinah.md): A relative of the Shandy family, mentioned in a scandalous anecdote.
- [Bobby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/bobby.md): Tristram's older brother, whose death is a major event in the narrative.
- [The Stranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/the_stranger.md): A mysterious figure in Slawkenbergius's tale, with a prodigious nose.
- [The Lady Baussiere](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/the_lady_baussiere.md): A French noblewoman mentioned in a comic anecdote.
- [Margarita](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/margarita.md): A woman in a comic tale, associated with a stutter.
- [Jonathan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/jonathan.md): A servant or minor character mentioned in passing.
- [The French](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters/the_french.md): The French people, often a subject of comic commentary.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tristram_shandy_se/characters