# Louise Bentley — Winesburg, Ohio character guide

> Louise Bentley in Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Louise

**First appearance:** 0010-surrender

## Snapshot

Jesse Bentley's daughter, raised in a house of cold ambition, who carries her father's hunger for love into a marriage of her own.

## Who they are

Louise grows up on the Bentley farm under a father whose fanaticism leaves no room for tenderness, and she inherits his intensity without his purpose. Her marriage to John Hardy and her life as a farmer's wife become another arena for the loneliness she learned at home. Her unhappiness radiates outward, shaping the next generation of Winesburg's isolated lives.

## Relationships

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_romantic_

George has a brief, intense affair with the lonely and emotionally volatile Louise Bentley.

### [John Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/john_hardy)

_family_

John Hardy is Louise's cold, unaffectionate husband, and their marriage is deeply unhappy.

### [Albert Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/albert_hardy)

_family_

Albert Hardy is Louise's brother, who is protective of her but also complicit in her unhappy marriage.

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_romantic_

George has a brief, intense affair with the lonely and emotionally volatile Louise Bentley.

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_romantic_

George has a brief, intense affair with the lonely and emotionally volatile Louise Bentley.

### [Albert Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/albert_hardy)

_family_

Albert Hardy is Louise's brother, who is protective of her but also complicit in her unhappy marriage.

### [John Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/john_hardy)

_family_

John Hardy is Louise's cold, unaffectionate husband, and their marriage is deeply unhappy.

### [Albert Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/albert_hardy)

_family_

Albert Hardy is Louise's brother, who is protective of her but also complicit in her unhappy marriage.

## In the story

### [Godliness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/godliness)

Jesse's daughter, who grows up on the farm, marries John Hardy unhappily, and is known for her fits of temper and morose silence, but shows rare tenderness toward her son David.

### [Surrender](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/surrender)

The central figure of the chapter, a neurotic and oversensitive woman who craves love and understanding but fails to find it in her marriage to John Hardy.

### [Terror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/terror)

David's mother, mentioned as having had an adventure that changed her life; she dies after David's disappearance.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/louise_bentley
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters