Character guide

Adam

major

Also known as Adam king David, monarch Adam, king David

Adam stands at the center of the entire debate: Filmer insists his fatherhood over all posterity is the fountainhead of every king's authority, while Locke presses the awkward question of what 'monarch in habit, not in act' could possibly mean before any children exist. The tension is sharp—a title supposedly inherited by every ruler on earth, yet resting on a begetting that hadn't yet happened at creation. Locke's relentless parsing of this figure sets the terms for the whole First Treatise, making Adam less a patriarch than a stress test for divine-right theory.

Sir Robert Filmer

major

Also known as Sir Robert, Robert, Creation Sir Robert

Filmer is the adversary Locke takes into his hands 'with all the expectation' and reads through with attention, only to find a system compressed into two claims: all government is absolute monarchy, and no man is born free. His book, adorned with a frontispiece and applause, aims to provide chains for all mankind, yet Locke finds it useful only to those who raise dust to blind the people. As the idol of absolute-power worshippers, Filmer gives Locke both his target and his occasion—without him, the Two Treatises would have no foil.

Noah

supporting

Noah appears in Locke's argument as a test case: if Shem inherited universal lordship as eldest heir, then Noah's laborious division of territories by lot among his sons was 'labour lost.' The tension is between paternal power and private dominion—two distinct titles that Filmer jumbles together but that plainly separate at Adam's and Noah's deaths. Noah matters because his story exposes how succession and grant cannot both ground sovereignty, forcing Filmer's system to choose between two supremes that cannot agree.

Abraham

supporting

Abraham enters the argument as a scriptural precedent for how paternal authority and property rights actually operated among the patriarchs, not as Filmer imagines them. The tension lies in whether his dealings with sons and servants demonstrate absolute fatherly rule or something more contractual and limited. His presence in the First Treatise matters because Locke needs biblical history itself to show that even the patriarchs did not exercise the unbounded sovereignty Filmer attributes to them.

Jacob

supporting

Also known as Esau, Jacob Esau

Jacob's story of purchasing Esau's birthright and receiving Isaac's blessing becomes a trap for careless argument: Filmer reports it as if the blessing followed immediately on the purchase, but Scripture places a distance between them. The tension is between compact and paternal grant—if a birthright can be sold, it is not the sacred, inalienable inheritance Filmer needs it to be. Locke's close reading of Jacob matters because it shows how loosely Filmer handles the very scriptural evidence on which his whole edifice rests.

Isaac

supporting

Isaac stands in the argument as the father whose blessing Filmer claims followed directly upon Jacob's purchase of the birthright, a sequence Locke shows Scripture contradicts. The tension is whether a father's blessing is a sovereign act of will or a recognition of an already-transferable right—and what happens when the wrong son receives it. Isaac matters because his story forces the reader to see that paternal power, as practiced in Genesis, is neither absolute nor neatly inheritable, undercutting the foundation Filmer builds upon it.

Eve

supporting

Eve enters the argument as the proof-text Sir Robert Filmer cannot do without: if her subjection to Adam were the original grant of government, every husband would be a monarch. Locke presses the distinction between conjugal and political power, insisting that a wife's deference in household matters is not a sovereign's power of life and death. Her case matters because it exposes how a single ambiguous verse about a marriage is being made to carry the weight of all earthly authority.

Cain

minor

First murderer, cited in arguments about punishment and sovereignty.

Abel

minor

Shepherd and victim of Cain, referenced in discussions of natural law.

Judah

minor

Son of Jacob, mentioned in lineage and inheritance examples.

Saul

minor

First king of Israel, used to illustrate limits of royal power.

Barclay

minor

Political theorist cited in arguments about resistance and tyranny.

Moses

minor

Lawgiver and prophet, referenced in discussions of divine and civil law.

Shem

minor

Son of Noah, mentioned in genealogical arguments about inheritance.

Hezekiah

minor

King of Judah, referenced in discussions of religious reform and authority.

Samuel

minor

Prophet and judge, cited in debates about monarchy and divine will.

Joshua

minor

Leader of Israel after Moses, used in examples of conquest and inheritance.

Jephthah

minor

Judge of Israel, cited in arguments about war and vows.

Aaron

minor

High priest and brother of Moses, referenced in priestly authority discussions.

Grotius

minor

Also known as our A. out of Grotius

Legal scholar cited in arguments about natural law and war.

Ahaz

minor

King of Judah, cited in examples of idolatry and divine judgment.

Seth

minor

Third son of Adam, mentioned in genealogical succession.

Hooker

minor

Theologian and legal philosopher, cited in arguments about natural law.

Mr. Selden

minor

Legal scholar referenced in discussions of property and consent.

Sarah

minor

Wife of Abraham, mentioned in narratives of promise and inheritance.

Solomon

minor

King of Israel, cited in examples of wisdom and judgment.

Reuben

minor

Firstborn son of Jacob, mentioned in birthright and inheritance examples.

Cham

minor

Son of Noah, referenced in genealogical and curse narratives.

Japhet

minor

Son of Noah, mentioned in post-flood division of nations.

Abimelech

minor

Philistine king, used in examples of treaty and property rights.

Rebecca

minor

Wife of Isaac, referenced in narratives of blessing and deception.

Ishmael

minor

Son of Abraham, mentioned in discussions of inheritance and covenant.

Joseph

minor

Son of Jacob, cited in examples of governance and property.