Characters
- Mary Smith – The narrator. A woman frequently staying with Miss Matty.
- Miss Matty Jenkyns – An amiable and good-natured (though rather timid) old spinster.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns – Miss Matty's imperious older sister. Dies early on in the novel.
- Miss Pole – Allegedly the most "reasonable" and "enlightened" of the Cranford ladies; the reader may draw his/her own conclusions.
- The Honourable Mrs Jamieson – A widow with aristocratic connections and the owner of her beloved dog, Carlo. A mostly lethargic old woman.
- Mrs Forrester – Another widow.
- Betty Barker – A former milliner, who owns a cow whom she loves like a daughter.
- Peter Jenkyns – The Jenkyns' long-lost brother, who returns from India at the end of the novel.
- Thomas Holbrook – Miss Matty's admirer and a farmer. He dies a year after his trip to Paris, France, yet his death is blamed on this trip.
- Captain Brown – A poor captain, who comes to live at Cranford with his two daughters.
- Miss Brown – Captain Brown's elder daughter.
- Miss Jessie Brown – Captain Brown's daughter. After his and her sister's deaths, she marries and leaves Cranford.
- Major Gordon – A friend of Captain Brown who has been in love with Jessie Brown for years.
- Lady Glenmire – Mrs. Jamieson's poor but aristocratic sister-in-law. Later marries Dr. Hoggins.
- Dr. Hoggins – The Cranford surgeon. A rough but friendly and well-meaning man.
- Martha – Miss Matty's maid. Later her landlady and companion at equal terms.
- Mr. Mulliner – Mrs. Jamieson's creepy and cowardy butler.
- Signor Brunoni – A travelling magician.
- Signora Brunoni – The wife of the travelling magician, who travels on foot across India to save the life of her baby daughter.
Read more about this topic: Cranford (novel)
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“We are like travellers using the cinders of a volcano to roast their eggs. Whilst we see that it always stands ready to clothe what we would say, we cannot avoid the question whether the characters are not significant of themselves.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Children pay little attention to their parent’s teachings, but reproduce their characters faithfully.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Of all the characters I have known, perhaps Walden wears best, and best preserves its purity. Many men have been likened to it, but few deserve that honor. Though the woodchoppers have laid bare first this shore and then that, and the Irish have built their sties by it, and the railroad has infringed on its border, and the ice-men have skimmed it once, it is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes fell on; all the change is in me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)