Mathilda

Mathilda

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.

Mathilda’s father

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.

Diana

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.

Mathilda’s paternal aunt

Also known as Mathilda’s aunt

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.

Mathilda’s nurse

Also known as Mathilda’s good nurse

A servant of Mathilda’s mother who cares for Mathilda through age seven and is her close companion before returning to England.

Woodville

Also known as Herbert · Lovel · Level · Welford

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.

The gentleman visitor

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.

The steward

Also known as Mathilda’s steward · Gaspar · the old Steward · Harry

Gaspar, an elderly, faithful servant of Mathilda’s father who informs her about her father’s condition and accompanies her as she pursues him.

Mathilda’s paternal grandmother

Also known as Mathilda’s father’s mother

A weak and indulgent woman who raised Mathilda’s father after his own father died.

Mathilda’s paternal grandfather

Also known as Mathilda’s father’s father

Mathilda’s father’s father, who died while his son was young and had children by two marriages.

Diana’s father

An unnamed gentleman of small fortune who raised Diana and her sisters and consented to her marriage to Mathilda’s father.

Diana’s mother

Diana’s mother, who died when Diana was very young.

Mathilda’s father’s guardian

An unnamed guardian whose consent Mathilda’s father obtained before marrying Diana.

Mathilda’s father’s college friends

Also known as Mathilda’s father’s companions

Unnamed companions whose approval Mathilda’s father once feared and whose frivolity he later rejected after marrying Diana.

Diana’s younger sisters

Diana’s unnamed younger sisters, with whom she associated as a girl.

The neighboring minister

Also known as Mathilda’s tutor

An unnamed minister who teaches Mathilda reading, writing, and French during her childhood in Scotland.

The village girls

Also known as the neighboring girls

Unnamed girls from the nearby village with whom Mathilda tries to make friends; her aunt prevents their contact.

The Gisbornes

Mathilda’s friends who carry the manuscript to England in 1820 and are asked to show it to Godwin for publication advice.

William Godwin

Also known as Godwin

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.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Also known as Mary Shelley

The author discussed in the editorial introduction, which describes autobiographical elements in the story and identifies Mathilda as a self-portrait.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Also known as Shelley

The poet discussed in the introduction as the model for Woodville and Mary Shelley’s husband.

Fantasia

A fairy in the discarded framework of The Fields of Fancy, who transports its author to the Elysian Fields.

Diotima

A figure in the discarded framework of The Fields of Fancy who speaks in the Elysian Fields, where Mathilda is encountered.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Shelley’s mother, whose unfinished tale The Cave of Fancy is discussed as a source for the rough draft’s title and framework.

Lord Abinger

The owner of the notebooks containing drafts of Mathilda and The Fields of Fancy.

Dr. Benjamin E. Powell

The librarian of Duke University, thanked in the preface for assistance and permission to transcribe and publish the work.

Sir Percy Shelley

A member of the Shelley family whose death, along with Lady Shelley’s, preceded distribution of family papers.

Lady Shelley

A member of the Shelley family whose will restricted access to part of the family papers.

Sir John Shelley-Rolls

The poet’s grand-nephew, who released some Shelley material and received fragments of the Mathilda manuscript.

Miss R. Glynn Grylls

Also known as Lady Mander

An individual thanked in the preface for helping Elizabeth Nitchie edit Mathilda.

Lewis Patton

Also known as Professor Lewis Patton

A Duke University professor thanked in the preface for help with the edition.

Frederick L. Jones

Also known as Professor Frederick L. Jones

A University of Pennsylvania professor thanked in the preface; he also edited Mary Shelley’s letters.

Roger Ingpen

An editor of the Julian Edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Complete Works, cited in the preface.

W. E. Peck

An editor of the Julian Edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Complete Works, cited in the preface.

Newman Ivey White

A scholar whose account of Mary Shelley’s grief after her daughter Clara’s death is cited in the introduction.

Thomas Medwin

Also known as Medwin

A person who heard about Mathilda in 1820 and thought Mary Shelley’s story was based on Alfieri’s Myrrha.

Edward Williams

A friend to whom Mary Shelley read Mathilda in the summer of 1821.

Jane Williams

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.

Clara Everina

Also known as Clara

Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s infant daughter, who died in Venice in 1818.

William Shelley

Also known as William

Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s son, whose death is mentioned as preceding the writing of Mathilda.

Percy Florence Shelley

Also known as Percy Florence

Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s son, born in November 1819.

Lord Byron

Also known as Byron · Lord B

A poet whose villa at Este is mentioned as the place where Mary Shelley joined Percy Shelley in 1818.

Alfieri

The dramatist whose tragedy Myrrha is discussed in the introduction and named by Mathilda as her favorite of his tragedies.

Elizabeth Nitchie

The editor of this edition, who wrote the preface and introduction.

The author of The Fields of Fancy

An unnamed author-figure in the discarded rough-draft framework, transported by Fantasia to the Elysian Fields to hear Diotima and meet Mathilda.

Elinor

A beautiful, generous young heiress who loves the poet Woodville and is his intended bride. She dies of illness before their marriage.

Elinor’s guardian

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.

Elinor’s father

Elinor’s deceased father, whose will requires her to wait until she is of age before marrying and ties her fortune to that condition.

Woodville’s father

Also known as the poor clergyman

An unnamed poor clergyman and Woodville’s father.

The servant at Elinor’s house

An unnamed servant who is weeping when Woodville arrives and tells him that Elinor is not yet dead.

Mathilda’s female servant

Also known as Mathilda’s servant

An unnamed servant who attends Mathilda at her country home and tells her that her father left before dawn.

Mathilda’s guardian

An unnamed guardian appointed for Mathilda after her father’s death. Mathilda leaves the guardian’s London house when she disappears from society.

Mathilda’s female relations

Also known as Mathilda’s aunts and cousins · Mathilda’s female relatives

Unnamed aunts, cousins, and other female relations who surround Mathilda during her recovery and offer consolations she cannot bear.

The country guide

Also known as the countryman

An unnamed local man whom Mathilda hires to guide her through the storm as she follows her father toward the coast.

The cottagers

Unnamed residents of a cottage by the beach who open their door to Mathilda and show her the body of her father.

The birds at Mathilda’s cottage

Wild birds that visit Mathilda’s isolated home, accept crumbs from her, and perch on her fingers.

The fox at Mathilda’s cottage

A fox that regularly visits Mathilda for food and allows her to pat its head.

Woodville’s mother

Woodville’s mother, mentioned as ill; he leaves Mathilda to hasten to her.

The physician

Also known as Mathilda’s physician

An unnamed physician who attends Mathilda after her fever and prescribes digitalis as her consumption worsens.

Socrates

The philosopher named by Woodville as an example of someone whose early death would have deprived the world of improvement.

Shakespear

The writer named by Woodville as an example of someone whose early death would have deprived the world of improvement.

Rousseau

The writer named by Woodville as an example of someone whose early death would have deprived the world of improvement.

The young woman disciple

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.

The young man disciple

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.