Howards End Characters

We can't help but picture Emma Thompson's earnest, endearing face when we think of Margaret Schlegel – the actress portrayed this character in the 1992 film version of Forster's novel, and, i...

Oh, Helen. Helen, Helen, Helen. Though we start out with friendly feelings for the younger Schlegel sister, it's impossible not to get exasperated by her headstrong behavior as the novel progresses...

Leonard, as the narrator comments at one point, is more an idea than a person. He represents everything that's thwarted by modern life – he's a romantic and relatively intelligent young man w...

Mr. Wilcox is an Englishman through and through, with an upper lip so stiff you could use it as a cricket bat. He's the epitome of stoic, powerful, imperial manliness, which is why Margaret is so t...

If Leonard is more an intellectual idea than a real character, we might say that Mrs. Wilcox is more of a spiritual concept than a person. There's something otherworldly about her from the very fir...

Aunt Juley is the kind of comfortable, uncomplicated character we expect from Forsterian aunts. Aunts play an odd role in general in his novels – they seem to be ever present (often more pres...

It's hard to put our feelings for Charles into language that's fit to be published by this fine website. Simply put, he's a fool – a pompous, thick-headed, stuff-shirted fool. And we hate him...

Tibby is perhaps the most remote of all of the many rather remote characters in Howards End – and intentionally so. As a consummate academic, he prefers to read about human behavior rather th...

Miss Avery is more than a little creepy, and we're not sure how firmly she's planted on her rocker. She's the caretaker of Howards End, and was a close childhood friend of Ruth Wilcox's, despite th...

Cousin Frieda, a delightful and cheerful young lady, really only serves one purpose: to represent the world outside England. Specifically, she represents Germany, the other side of the Schlegels' h...

Poor Jacky. In the eyes of the other characters in the story, and in our eyes as the readers of the story, she doesn't amount to anything at all. Jacky is really just a symbol of all that's tragica...

Evie, a fiercely healthy and athletic young lady, is really just summed up in those three words: fierce, healthy, and athletic. And we're not talking, like, Top Model "fierce" – rather, she's...

Dolly is, for lack of a better word, kind of a bimbo. She's Charles's wife, and that's basically her entire role, both in life and in this novel. She's rather sweet and foolish, and is constantly p...

We don't really get to know Paul at all (and neither does Helen, really). We gather that he's kind of just a guy – charming in his masculine, Wilcox-ian way, but otherwise not too compelling....