# Mr. Charke — Uncle Silas character guide

> Mr. Charke in Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** wretched Mr. Charke, that Mr. Charke, this wretched Mr. Charke, Charke, poor Mr. Charke

**First appearance:** 0028-volume-i-xxvi-the-story-of-uncle-silas

## Snapshot

A disreputable sporting man who died by his own razor in a hermetically sealed room, leaving behind letters that dragged Uncle Silas's name into scandal.

## Who they are

Charke was the kind of guest Bartram-Haugh should never have admitted—a gambler whose I.O.U.s against Silas Ruthyn became the talk of London sporting circles. His locked-room suicide, and the two letters published afterward by a blackmailer, turned private shame into public ruin for the Ruthyn name. Though dead before the novel opens, he haunts the plot as the original stain on Silas's reputation and the reason Maud's inheritance is so carefully watched.

## Relationships

### [Maud Ruthyn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/characters/maud_ruthyn)

_professional_

Mr. Charke is a tutor hired by Uncle Silas to instruct Maud, but he is a cruel and abusive figure who adds to her misery at Bartram-Haugh.

### [Maud Ruthyn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/characters/maud_ruthyn)

_professional_

Mr. Charke is a tutor hired by Uncle Silas to instruct Maud, but he is a cruel and abusive figure who adds to her misery at Bartram-Haugh.

### [Maud Ruthyn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/characters/maud_ruthyn)

_professional_

Mr. Charke is a tutor hired by Uncle Silas to instruct Maud, but he is a cruel and abusive figure who adds to her misery at Bartram-Haugh.

## In the story

### [The Story of Uncle Silas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/chapters/volume-i-xxvi-the-story-of-uncle-silas)

Mr. Charke is the London gamester who stayed at Bartram-Haugh, gambled heavily with Silas, and was found dead with his throat cut.

### [More About Tom Charke’s Suicide](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/chapters/volume-i-xxvii-more-about-tom-charke-s-suicide)

The man who committed suicide at Bartram-Haugh; his letters implicated Uncle Silas in a large debt.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/characters/mr_charke
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_silas_se/characters