# Mrs. Herriton — Where Angels Fear to Tread character guide

> Mrs. Herriton in Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** dear Mrs. Herriton

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

The Herriton matriarch, a woman of impeccable taste and iron will who manages her family's reputation as carefully as she manages their lives.

## Who they are

Mrs. Herriton rules Sawston from her drawing-room, dispensing judgments wrapped in good manners and expecting her children to obey without question. She sees Lilia's Italian marriage as a stain to be scrubbed out, and she deploys Philip and Harriet as instruments of her will. Her serene confidence that she knows best is the engine of the novel's central conflict — and the thing that makes her family's eventual reckoning so inevitable.

## Relationships

### [Philip Herriton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/philip_herriton)

_family_

Mrs. Herriton is Philip's mother, a manipulative matriarch who exerts emotional control over him and orchestrates family decisions.

### [Harriet Herriton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/harriet_herriton)

_family_

Harriet and Mrs. Herriton are mother and daughter, united in their rigid, snobbish values and shared disapproval of Lilia's choices.

### [Caroline Abbott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/caroline_abbott)

_social_

Caroline and Mrs. Herriton are acquaintances bound by social obligation, with Mrs. Herriton viewing Caroline as a useful but inferior ally.

### [Lilia Theobald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/lilia_theobald)

_family_

Lilia is Mrs. Herriton's daughter-in-law, a relationship defined by Mrs. Herriton's contempt and Lilia's resentment of her control.

### [Irma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/irma)

_family_

Irma is Mrs. Herriton's granddaughter, and Mrs. Herriton treats her as a possession to be molded in the family's image.

### [Gino Carella](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/gino_carella)

_rivalry_

Gino and Mrs. Herriton are adversaries, with Mrs. Herriton despising him for marrying Lilia and for his Italian peasant background.

### [Caroline Abbott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/caroline_abbott)

_social_

Caroline and Mrs. Herriton are acquaintances bound by social obligation, with Mrs. Herriton viewing Caroline as a useful but inferior ally.

### [Philip Herriton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/philip_herriton)

_family_

Mrs. Herriton is Philip's mother, a manipulative matriarch who exerts emotional control over him and orchestrates family decisions.

### [Lilia Theobald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/lilia_theobald)

_family_

Lilia is Mrs. Herriton's daughter-in-law, a relationship defined by Mrs. Herriton's contempt and Lilia's resentment of her control.

### [Harriet Herriton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/harriet_herriton)

_family_

Harriet and Mrs. Herriton are mother and daughter, united in their rigid, snobbish values and shared disapproval of Lilia's choices.

### [Harriet Herriton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/harriet_herriton)

_family_

Harriet and Mrs. Herriton are mother and daughter, united in their rigid, snobbish values and shared disapproval of Lilia's choices.

### [Philip Herriton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/philip_herriton)

_family_

Mrs. Herriton is Philip's mother, a manipulative matriarch who exerts emotional control over him and orchestrates family decisions.

## In the story

### [Chapter I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/chapters/i)

Mrs. Herriton is the matriarch who forbids Lilia's marriage and orchestrates Philip's mission to Italy.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/chapters/iv)

Mrs. Herriton intercepts Lilia's letter to Irma, preventing Irma from learning about her mother's suffering, and is mentioned as foresightful regarding the cultural clash.

### [Chapter V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/chapters/v)

Mrs. Herriton is furious at Gino's refusal and at Caroline's independent plan to go to Italy, showing a violent, uncharacteristic outburst. She insists Philip must go to prevent disgrace.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters/mrs_herriton
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/where_angels_fear_to_tread_se/characters