The Magdalene Sisters - Characters

Characters

• Margaret McGuire: After telling her family she was raped by a cousin at a family wedding, Margaret McGuire is sent to the laundry as her father believes she lured her cousin into the act. She takes Crispina under her wing, despite Crispina being the longer-serving inmate. Margaret tries to ensure Crispina's safety, although her efforts sometimes unwittingly cause harsh consequences for Crispina. Margaret cares very much for her friend and promises to find Crispina's holy St Christopher pendant after it is stolen by another girl. After catching a glimpse of Father Fitzroy forcing Crispina to fellate him, Margaret mixes poison ivy in with his undergarments to make him break out in a rash, as an act of revenge on Crispina's behalf. She is eventually freed when her younger brother comes to collect her four years after her incarceration in the asylum.
• Bernadette Harvey: Bernadette Harvey is a beautiful teenage orphan from St. Attracta's Orphanage, who is sent to the Magdalene Laundry because she is flirtatious with the boys at the orphanage. However Bernadette, unlike the other three girls, is still a virgin. Bernadette makes a disastrous attempt to escape from the asylum shortly after she arrives by trying to convince a male employee to agree to marry her and then elope, and has her hair cut off in punishment. She remains the most rebellious and headstrong of the girls, making her hatred for the asylum clearly felt. She is ultimately good, helping the other girls and, in one scene, momentarily relinquishes her stony attitude when the laundry overseer, Katy, dies, kissing her on the forehead. She eventually escapes the asylum with Rose after wrestling for the key with Sister Bridget.
• Rose Dunne/Patricia: Rose Dunne finds herself in the laundry after having a baby out of wedlock. She is prepared to work hard for the sins she has committed, in the hope that she may see her son again one day. Sister Bridget says she will be called by her confirmation name, 'Patricia', because the laundry already has a girl named Rose. Rose becomes increasingly resentful of her lack of freedom after she is denied sending her son a birthday card. After she is severely beaten by Sister Bridget for talking to Crispina's sister and son through the gate, she agrees to escape with Bernadette. She symbolically regains her identity by reverting to her birth name at the end, telling the woman: "My name is Rose." The movie later states that she is reunited with her son many years later when he is an adult.
• Harriet/Crispina: Crispina's real name is Harriet; but the nuns have nicknamed her Crispina - which means 'girl with the curly hair', even though the hair on her head is straight. In a scene where the nuns are taunting the naked girls over various physical attributes while in the shower room, the nuns cruelly point out Crispina has much more pubic hair than the others, which explains the laundry name. She was sent to the laundry for giving birth to a child out of wedlock. She is poorly educated and intellectually disabled, and believes she deserves the treatment she receives at the hands of the nuns. Because of her mental state, Crispina sometimes does or says strange things, such as she believing her St Christopher pendant is a 'holy telephone' through which she can speak with her sister and her son. Crispina attempts to hang herself after her cherished St Christopher is stolen by Bernadette, but she is saved by Margaret. Margaret witnesses Father Fitzroy sexually abusing Crispina, and decides to punish him by placing poison ivy leaves in with his undergarments. At an outdoor mass, Father Fitzroy begins to violently tear his clothing off, as the poison ivy is causing him to break out in hives. Crispina lifts the front of her dress, and all can see she has a similar rash in between her thighs. Crispina begins chanting "You are not a man of God" louder and louder. To prevent others from finding out about the abuse, the nuns force Crispina into a mental institution, where she is seen in a psychotic state. The movie states she dies at the institution at the age of 24, due to anorexia.
• Sister Bridget, Mother Superior: The sadistic and greedy Sister Bridget is soft-spoken and gentle-faced, but commits acts of unbelievable cruelty. Money-hungry, she relishes counting the profits from the laundry. She often punishes the girls through humiliating acts; in one scene she is cutting off Una's hair nonchalantly as she reprimands Bernadette and Crispina for talking out of turn. In another scene she violently attacks Rose.
• Father Fitzroy: Resident priest who is sexually abusing Crispina.
• Una O'Connor: Una is first mentioned as having run away, and next appears being dragged back into the dormitory by her hair by her father, who angrily thrashes her, calls her a "slut" and warns her never to come home. It is suggested that she was sent to the asylum for having premarital sex or a baby out of wedlock. Una later has all her hair cut off by Sister Bridget to discourage her from escaping again. Sister Bridget chuckled at her when she kneels to the floor and starts to pick up her cut hair, telling her that all her hair is useless. After this episode, Una is quickly broken down by the nuns and it is announced that she has petitioned to take Holy Orders and become a nun herself. It is insinuated that Father Fitzroy is involved in her petition.
• Sister Jude, Sister Clementine and Sister Augusta: Other nuns who also abuse and humiliate the girls.