Matilda Characters

The Precocious BrainMatilda, Matilda, Matilda. Girl, you are so smart. We mean smart on smart. Shmoop only wishes we were as smart as Matilda is when we were five. Matilda is exceptionally good at...

The MentorMiss Jennifer Honey was a mild and quiet person who never raised her voice and was seldom seen to smile, but there is no doubt she possessed that rare gift for being adored by every small...

Mean, Meaner, Meanest Oh boy. If there's a shortlist of fictional characters we wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley, the Trunchbull is probably right at the top. She might be the scariest Hea...

Looks Aren't DeceivingMaybe the best way to introduce a character like Mr. Wormwood, who's so vivid and slimy, is to let the narrator do it himself: In came Mr. Wormwood in a loud check suit and a...

Lavender is another of the students in Miss Honey's class, one of the few who can read and spell a little already when the school year starts. If Matilda weren't in the class too, Lavender might be...

Thank goodness Matilda meets Mrs. Phelps at the library! Finally, a sane adult who doesn't treat Matilda as though she's a total nuisance. Unlike the other grown-ups in Matilda's life, Mrs. Phelps...

Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's mother, is one of the villains in the books, but she pales in comparison with the two other villains: Matilda's father and the Trunchbull. Mrs. Wormwood is a bad mother, bu...

Hortensia is the older girl that Matilda and Lavender meet during one of their first recess periods at Crunchem Hall. She's about twice their age, already ten, and a veteran of battles with the Tru...

Poor Bruce. He's the slightly older boy who steals some of the Trunchbull's cake and is punished by her in front of an entire assembly. Except, it doesn't turn out too bad for the kid, and in the e...

Matilda's brother is, well, barely there. We meet him, and then we forget him. In fact, we probably forget about him in the same type of way that Matilda's parents forget about her. He's ordinary....

Amanda is in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong hairstyle. She appears in just one scene, but it's an important one—it's the moment when Lavender and Matilda see the Trunchbull in...

The Boys with the Wrong AnswersDespite the Trunchbull's comment that small girls are more evil than small boys—"'a bad girl is a far more dangerous creature than a bad boy. What's more, they're m...

Fred is Matilda's neighbor and friend, a boy about her own age. He's primarily important in Matilda because he has a parrot for a pet. Matilda borrows the parrot to play a prank on her family, and...

A few other teachers play minor parts in Matilda. Mr. Trilby is basically the vice principal, and he has the job of checking in on the Trunchbull after she skips town. He's a nice enough guy, and w...