{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "slug": "mathilda",
  "title": "Mathilda",
  "author": "Mary Shelley",
  "language": "en",
  "spoilers": true,
  "characters": [
    {
      "name": "Mathilda",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The narrator and daughter of a nobleman and Diana. Orphaned as an infant, she grows up in Scotland and records her tragic history for her friend Woodville."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s father",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed man of rank, raised in wealth and indulgence. He leaves England for sixteen years after Diana’s death, returns consumed by an incestuous passion for Mathilda, then leaves her and dies by suicide."
    },
    {
      "name": "Diana",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Mathilda’s mother and eldest daughter of a gentleman of small fortune. She was her husband’s childhood companion and beloved wife, and died days after Mathilda’s birth."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s paternal aunt",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s aunt"
      ],
      "description": "Mathilda’s father’s older half-sister, who raises Mathilda on her estate by Loch Lomond after her parents’ deaths, though she is emotionally cold."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s nurse",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s good nurse"
      ],
      "description": "A servant of Mathilda’s mother who cares for Mathilda through age seven and is her close companion before returning to England."
    },
    {
      "name": "Woodville",
      "aliases": [
        "Herbert",
        "Lovel",
        "Level",
        "Welford"
      ],
      "description": "A gifted poet and Mathilda’s friend, the son of a poor clergyman. He mourns his beloved Elinor, who dies before their marriage, and offers Mathilda companionship and sympathy."
    },
    {
      "name": "The gentleman visitor",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed young man of rank who visits Mathilda and her father in London; his attentions toward Mathilda become marked before his visits abruptly stop."
    },
    {
      "name": "The steward",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s steward",
        "Gaspar",
        "the old Steward",
        "Harry"
      ],
      "description": "Gaspar, an elderly, faithful servant of Mathilda’s father who informs her about her father’s condition and accompanies her as she pursues him."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s paternal grandmother",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s father’s mother"
      ],
      "description": "A weak and indulgent woman who raised Mathilda’s father after his own father died."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s paternal grandfather",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s father’s father"
      ],
      "description": "Mathilda’s father’s father, who died while his son was young and had children by two marriages."
    },
    {
      "name": "Diana’s father",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed gentleman of small fortune who raised Diana and her sisters and consented to her marriage to Mathilda’s father."
    },
    {
      "name": "Diana’s mother",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Diana’s mother, who died when Diana was very young."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s father’s guardian",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed guardian whose consent Mathilda’s father obtained before marrying Diana."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s father’s college friends",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s father’s companions"
      ],
      "description": "Unnamed companions whose approval Mathilda’s father once feared and whose frivolity he later rejected after marrying Diana."
    },
    {
      "name": "Diana’s younger sisters",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Diana’s unnamed younger sisters, with whom she associated as a girl."
    },
    {
      "name": "The neighboring minister",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s tutor"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed minister who teaches Mathilda reading, writing, and French during her childhood in Scotland."
    },
    {
      "name": "The village girls",
      "aliases": [
        "the neighboring girls"
      ],
      "description": "Unnamed girls from the nearby village with whom Mathilda tries to make friends; her aunt prevents their contact."
    },
    {
      "name": "The Gisbornes",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Mathilda’s friends who carry the manuscript to England in 1820 and are asked to show it to Godwin for publication advice."
    },
    {
      "name": "William Godwin",
      "aliases": [
        "Godwin"
      ],
      "description": "Mary Shelley’s father, mentioned in the editorial introduction as a real-life figure reflected in Mathilda’s father. He received the manuscript and judged its subject disturbing."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley",
      "aliases": [
        "Mary Shelley"
      ],
      "description": "The author discussed in the editorial introduction, which describes autobiographical elements in the story and identifies Mathilda as a self-portrait."
    },
    {
      "name": "Percy Bysshe Shelley",
      "aliases": [
        "Shelley"
      ],
      "description": "The poet discussed in the introduction as the model for Woodville and Mary Shelley’s husband."
    },
    {
      "name": "Fantasia",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A fairy in the discarded framework of The Fields of Fancy, who transports its author to the Elysian Fields."
    },
    {
      "name": "Diotima",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A figure in the discarded framework of The Fields of Fancy who speaks in the Elysian Fields, where Mathilda is encountered."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mary Wollstonecraft",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Mary Shelley’s mother, whose unfinished tale The Cave of Fancy is discussed as a source for the rough draft’s title and framework."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lord Abinger",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The owner of the notebooks containing drafts of Mathilda and The Fields of Fancy."
    },
    {
      "name": "Dr. Benjamin E. Powell",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The librarian of Duke University, thanked in the preface for assistance and permission to transcribe and publish the work."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sir Percy Shelley",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A member of the Shelley family whose death, along with Lady Shelley’s, preceded distribution of family papers."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lady Shelley",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A member of the Shelley family whose will restricted access to part of the family papers."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sir John Shelley-Rolls",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The poet’s grand-nephew, who released some Shelley material and received fragments of the Mathilda manuscript."
    },
    {
      "name": "Miss R. Glynn Grylls",
      "aliases": [
        "Lady Mander"
      ],
      "description": "An individual thanked in the preface for helping Elizabeth Nitchie edit Mathilda."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lewis Patton",
      "aliases": [
        "Professor Lewis Patton"
      ],
      "description": "A Duke University professor thanked in the preface for help with the edition."
    },
    {
      "name": "Frederick L. Jones",
      "aliases": [
        "Professor Frederick L. Jones"
      ],
      "description": "A University of Pennsylvania professor thanked in the preface; he also edited Mary Shelley’s letters."
    },
    {
      "name": "Roger Ingpen",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An editor of the Julian Edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Complete Works, cited in the preface."
    },
    {
      "name": "W. E. Peck",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An editor of the Julian Edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Complete Works, cited in the preface."
    },
    {
      "name": "Newman Ivey White",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A scholar whose account of Mary Shelley’s grief after her daughter Clara’s death is cited in the introduction."
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas Medwin",
      "aliases": [
        "Medwin"
      ],
      "description": "A person who heard about Mathilda in 1820 and thought Mary Shelley’s story was based on Alfieri’s Myrrha."
    },
    {
      "name": "Edward Williams",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A friend to whom Mary Shelley read Mathilda in the summer of 1821."
    },
    {
      "name": "Jane Williams",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A friend to whom Mary Shelley read Mathilda in the summer of 1821; she later traveled with Mary to seek news of Shelley and Williams."
    },
    {
      "name": "Clara Everina",
      "aliases": [
        "Clara"
      ],
      "description": "Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s infant daughter, who died in Venice in 1818."
    },
    {
      "name": "William Shelley",
      "aliases": [
        "William"
      ],
      "description": "Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s son, whose death is mentioned as preceding the writing of Mathilda."
    },
    {
      "name": "Percy Florence Shelley",
      "aliases": [
        "Percy Florence"
      ],
      "description": "Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s son, born in November 1819."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lord Byron",
      "aliases": [
        "Byron",
        "Lord B"
      ],
      "description": "A poet whose villa at Este is mentioned as the place where Mary Shelley joined Percy Shelley in 1818."
    },
    {
      "name": "Alfieri",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The dramatist whose tragedy Myrrha is discussed in the introduction and named by Mathilda as her favorite of his tragedies."
    },
    {
      "name": "Elizabeth Nitchie",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The editor of this edition, who wrote the preface and introduction."
    },
    {
      "name": "The author of The Fields of Fancy",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed author-figure in the discarded rough-draft framework, transported by Fantasia to the Elysian Fields to hear Diotima and meet Mathilda."
    },
    {
      "name": "Elinor",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A beautiful, generous young heiress who loves the poet Woodville and is his intended bride. She dies of illness before their marriage."
    },
    {
      "name": "Elinor’s guardian",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed guardian responsible for Elinor, who does not oppose her love for Woodville; her late father’s will prevents her marrying until she comes of age."
    },
    {
      "name": "Elinor’s father",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Elinor’s deceased father, whose will requires her to wait until she is of age before marrying and ties her fortune to that condition."
    },
    {
      "name": "Woodville’s father",
      "aliases": [
        "the poor clergyman"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed poor clergyman and Woodville’s father."
    },
    {
      "name": "The servant at Elinor’s house",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed servant who is weeping when Woodville arrives and tells him that Elinor is not yet dead."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s female servant",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s servant"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed servant who attends Mathilda at her country home and tells her that her father left before dawn."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s guardian",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed guardian appointed for Mathilda after her father’s death. Mathilda leaves the guardian’s London house when she disappears from society."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilda’s female relations",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s aunts and cousins",
        "Mathilda’s female relatives"
      ],
      "description": "Unnamed aunts, cousins, and other female relations who surround Mathilda during her recovery and offer consolations she cannot bear."
    },
    {
      "name": "The country guide",
      "aliases": [
        "the countryman"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed local man whom Mathilda hires to guide her through the storm as she follows her father toward the coast."
    },
    {
      "name": "The cottagers",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Unnamed residents of a cottage by the beach who open their door to Mathilda and show her the body of her father."
    },
    {
      "name": "The birds at Mathilda’s cottage",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Wild birds that visit Mathilda’s isolated home, accept crumbs from her, and perch on her fingers."
    },
    {
      "name": "The fox at Mathilda’s cottage",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A fox that regularly visits Mathilda for food and allows her to pat its head."
    },
    {
      "name": "Woodville’s mother",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Woodville’s mother, mentioned as ill; he leaves Mathilda to hasten to her."
    },
    {
      "name": "The physician",
      "aliases": [
        "Mathilda’s physician"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed physician who attends Mathilda after her fever and prescribes digitalis as her consumption worsens."
    },
    {
      "name": "Socrates",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The philosopher named by Woodville as an example of someone whose early death would have deprived the world of improvement."
    },
    {
      "name": "Shakespear",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The writer named by Woodville as an example of someone whose early death would have deprived the world of improvement."
    },
    {
      "name": "Rousseau",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The writer named by Woodville as an example of someone whose early death would have deprived the world of improvement."
    },
    {
      "name": "The young woman disciple",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed beautiful young woman among Diotima’s pupils in the Elysian Fields. Thoughtful and unhappy, she begins to describe the misery and passions she experienced on earth."
    },
    {
      "name": "The young man disciple",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed, emaciated young man among Diotima’s pupils in the Elysian Fields, intensely engaged by her teaching and marked by a life spent seeking wisdom."
    }
  ],
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