Characters
- Mr Guy Mannering, afterwards a colonel in the Indian army
- Mrs Mannering, his wife
- Julia Mannering, their daughter
- Lieutenant Archer, a favourite of Mrs Mannering
- Mr Godfrey Bertram, of Ellangowan
- Margaret Bertram, his sister
- Harry Bertram, his son, alias Vanbeest Brown
- Lucy Bertram, his daughter
- Mr Charles Hazlewood, her lover
- Dominie Sampson, a village schoolmaster, and afterwards Harry's tutor
- Meg Merrilies, a gipsy
- Gilbert Glossin, an attorney
- Scrow, his clerk
- Dirk Hatteraick, a Dutch smuggler
- Mr Frank Kennedy, a supervisor of Excise
- Mr MacMorlan, Sheriff-Substitute of Dumfries
- Mrs MacMorlan, his wife
- Mr and Mrs Mervyn, friends of Colonel Mannering
- Dandie Dinmont, a farmer
- Mrs MacCandlish, hostess of "The Golden Arms" at Kippletringan
- Deacon Bearscliff, a villager
- Brown, a smuggler
- Tib Mumps, mistress of a public-house
- MacGuffog, a constable
- Tod Gabriel, a fox-hunter
- Mr Paulus Pleydell, an advocate from Edinburgh
The title character, Guy Mannering, is a relatively minor character in the story, a friend of the family who uses his knowledge of astrology to predict Henry's future on the day of his birth.
The old gypsy woman Meg Merrilies, is evicted from the Bertram lands early in the novel. In spite of this she remains loyal to the Bertram family, and much of the plot is dependent on her actions. She was based on an 18th century gypsy named Jean Gordon.
Dandie Dinmont is a rough but friendly farmer from the Liddesdale hills, who owns a number of terriers—the Dandie Dinmont Terrier is named after him.
Dominie Sampson, according to Nuttall, was "a poor, modest, humble scholar, who had won his way through the classics, but fallen to the leeward in the voyage of life". "Dominie" is the Lowland Scots term for a school master.
Tib Mumps was the disreputable landlady of the inn where an important meeting takes place between Meg Merrilies and Bertram. The inn was later revealed by Scott to be based upon Mumps Hall in Gilsland.
Read more about this topic: Guy Mannering
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“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)
“My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that’s basically a conservative view of life.”
—Jane Smiley (b. 1949)
“The naturalistic literature of this country has reached such a state that no family of characters is considered true to life which does not include at least two hypochondriacs, one sadist, and one old man who spills food down the front of his vest.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)