Minor Characters

Mr. Daniel Tracy Touchett, an American banker who bought a house in England thirty years before the beginning of the novel. He is a native of Rutland, Vermont.

Lord Warburton, a family friend of the Touchetts. He proposes marriage to Isabel Archer and is refused.

Mrs. Lydia Touchett, married to Mr. Touchett. She lives separate from her husband in Florence, Italy.

Lilian Archer Ludlow, IsabelÂ’s eldest sister, considered the practical one. She is married to a lawyer.

Edith Archer Keyes, IsabelÂ’s elder sister, considered the beautiful one. She is married to an officer of the United States Engineers and lives in the "unfashionable west."

Edmund Ludlow, married to Lilian, a New York lawyer, "a young man with a loud voice and an enthusiasm for his profession."

Caspar Goodwood, an American who is in love with Isabel Archer. He is described throughout as "stiff."

Mrs. Varian, Isabel ArcherÂ’s paternal aunt who once spread the rumor that Isabel was working on a book. She has a reverence for books, but in order to bring her daughters up properly, doesnÂ’t let them read anything at all.

The Misses Molyneux, and Mildred, Lord WarburtonÂ’s two younger sisters.

The Vicar of Lockleigh, Lord WarburtonÂ’s elder brother.

Mr. Robert "Bob" Bantling, "a stout, sleek, smiling man of forty, wonderfully dressed, universally informed and incoherently amused." He is a friend of Ralph Touchett and is invited to meet Miss Stackpole and Isabel Archer when they visit London. At the end of the novel, he and Henrietta Stackpole are married.

Lady Pensil, the sister of Mr. Bantling, who lives in Bedfordshire. Mr. Bantling offers her hospitality to Henrietta Stackpole.

The Miss Climbers, two American acquaintances of Miss Stackpole whom she meets in London.

Sir Matthew Hope, a famous doctor Ralph Touchett calls for his father.

Mrs. Luce, an American expatriate in Paris who is a friend of Mrs. TouchettÂ’s. She has lived in Paris since the 1830s and in her house has recreated "the domestic tone of her native Baltimore."

Mr. Luce, married to Mrs. Luce, he spends his days passing the time and "flatter[ing] himself that he was enjoying life." He is a staunch conservative who predicts the fall of the French Republic and asserts that the people "want to be kept down; . . . nothing but the strong hand--the iron heel--will do for them."

Ned Rosier, a native of New York brought up in Paris, whom Isabel meets in Paris. He and Isabel had known each other briefly in childhood. He falls in love with Pansy Osmond and sells his bibelots in order to make himself eligible in her fatherÂ’s eyes. He is not successful.

Catherine and Justine, the two nuns of the convent where Pansy Osmond spends her childhood, one is Italian and one is French, who visit Gilbert Osmond and bring his daughter to him.

Pansy Osmond, Gilbert OsmondÂ’s daughter, who spent her first fifteen years in a convent in Rome and then came to live with her father when he could no longer afford the expenses of the convent. She is "impregnated with the idea of submission." She is referred to several times as a "blank page." She has an "ineffably passive" smile.

The Countess Gemini "Amy," Gilbert OsmondÂ’s sister. She lives in Rome, unhappily married and solving that heartbreak with a series of affairs and a cynical attitude.

Table of Contents | Printable Version