World’s End · Character

Marese Baskette

The Child of the People, baptized amid rivers of beer, now a brilliant, ambitious gambler who promises the mob lower rents and cheaper drink to seize his inheritance.

major

Also known as Mr. Marese Baskette, Marese, Mr. Baskette, Baskette, Marese Baskette, Esq

First appearance: book i facts

As a major figure in World’s End, Marese Baskette is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

The heir to the estate, heavily in debt and speculating on the Stock Exchange, conspiring with Theodore to overcome the claimants and financial obstacles.

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John Marese Baskette is a tall, dark, fascinating man whose twenty-first birthday brought him only two thousand a year instead of the fortune he expected, a blow that perverted his nature and inflamed his ambition. Polished and plausible, fierce as a tiger under the velvet glove, he courts the Stirmingham populace with beer, pledges to cut local taxation, and hints at reduced rents, while privately gambling on the Stock Exchange toward a seat in the Cabinet. His hunger for power — and his readiness to use the memory of his father's famous celebration — makes him the novel's great engine of political and personal menace.

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Character Web

2 connections

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Minor and supporting characters
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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because it marks the emotional and psychological peak of Lady Lechester’s…

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Marese Baskette appears across 16 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

The Tangled Web of Inheritance
The heir to the estate, heavily in debt and speculating on the Stock Exchange, conspiring with Theodore to overcome the claimants and financial obstacles.
XII
The heir, who desires to condense the scattered claimants into one person to destroy them at a blow; planning with Theodore.
XIII
Primary plotter; devises the plan to destroy the claimants and profit from salvage.
XIV
Conceives the idea of using poisonous gas after reading about gas properties, and collaborates with Theodore to plan the mass murder for salvage.
XV
Arranges bullion shipment via the Lucca and lures claimants with free passage; is thunderstruck by the new threat of Arthur Sibbold's heirs.
The Ship of the Dead
The heir whose yacht rescued the Lucca; he is portrayed as pleasant and averse to salvage claims but constrained by debts and his cousin.
XIII
Invited Aymer on the Gloire de Dijon yacht; described as weak-minded and simple, being gulled by Marese.
XIV
His earlier generous offers had temporarily calmed the claimants, but the calm is shattered once they glimpse the wealth of Stirmingham.
Chapter XV
Issues his pronunciamento and opens his campaign; wins the election by over 1000 votes, dragged in his carriage by the mob.
I
Wealthy suitor of Lady Lechester, candidate for Stirmingham, and claimant to the city; appeals to Agnes's ambition through letters and conversation.
II
Heir of Stirmingham; uses legal dispute as pretext to court Lady Lechester, following Theodore's advice to marry for social position and potential inheritance.
IV
His offer of an earthly kingdom becomes a source of inner conflict for Agnes, competing with the allure of the spirit.
VII
Accused by Aymer of murdering Jason Waldron; Violet recalls his guilty start upon hearing her name.
VIII
Alarmed by Aymer's accusations and the building society threat; orchestrates a plan with Theodore.
Chapter XII
Marese Baskette's mistress performs on stage at the opera. He is also mentioned as having gone down into the vaults with Theodore earlier.
XIII
Bridegroom who is summoned back to The Towers upon Lady Lechester's disappearance; he identifies Aymer as a lunatic and works to crush him.

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