Main Characters
- Athanasius Pernath: the ostensible protagonist; a jeweler who resides in the ghetto of Prague.
- The Golem: while connected with the legend of rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Golem is cast as a sort of gestalt entity, a physical manifestation of the ghetto's inhabitants' collective psyche, as well as of the ghetto's own "self."
- Schemajah Hillel: a wise and gentle Jewish neighbor of Pernath, learned in the Torah and Talmud; serves as a protector and instructor for Pernath as the jeweler begins to walk the path of mysticism.
- Miriam: Hillel's compassionate and noble daughter.
- Aaron Wasserturm: another of Pernath's neighbors, this one a junk dealer and possibly a murderer. He is the antithesis of Hillel, embodying all of the then-popular negative stereotypes surrounding Jews.
- Rosina: a 14 year-old red-haired girl and neighbor of Pernath; apparently a relation of Wasserturm though no-one is ever able to determine what kind; described by Pernath as repulsive, but figures prominently as the object of men's desires and is promiscuous
- Charousek: a consumptive, poverty-stricken student consumed with hatred for Wasserturm and his son, Dr. Wassory.
- Zwakh: a puppeteer; Pernath's friend and land-lord.
- Dr. Savioli: a wealthy neighbor of Pernath who rents a room in the ghetto from Zwakh in which he carries on illicit affairs with married women.
Read more about this topic: The Golem (novel)
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