Paul's old tutor, and he tries to convert Lucy to Catholicism. The Catholic, Jesuit priest of French origin who serves as Lucy's confessor and is instrumental in saving her when she collapses on the steps of a building in the Basse-Ville. The middle child of Madame Beck a sweet and honest child. The eldest child of Madame Beck a willful and destructive girl. The nursery-governess of Madame Beck's three children after Lucy becomes a teacher. A name given to him by Ginevra to keep secret his identity. A heartless though outwardly kindly and very capable woman. The proprietress of the school in which Lucy becomes a teacher. Paul Emanuel, a 'master' (the name for male teacher) at Madame Beck's school. Polly Home de Bassompierre's first cousin. She is a pupil at a school in the city of Villette. Ginevra FanshaweĪ fellow passenger on The Vivid during Lucy's crossing to France. Barrett, Lucy gets the idea to seek her living abroad.

The kindly old housekeeper, formerly a servant in Lucy Snowe's family home before the deaths of her family. Miss MarchmontĪ wealthy invalid lady who invites Lucy to be her paid nurse-companion. Her first name was Ginevra, and she was a sister of Ginevra Fanshawe's mother. Home, she died of a cold caught after a ball. A vain beauty who indulged herself and neglected her child. de Bassompierre, upon the inheritance of a title and estates. A scientific man who had a failed marriage to Polly's mother.

A tall, handsome, self-confident woman who dotes upon her only son. He also is a doctor in the town of Villette. He is a good-looking young man with auburn hair and an energetic and generally cheerful disposition. Bretton by others), the son of Lucy's godmother Mrs. John Graham Bretton (called Graham by Polly, Dr. She is younger than both Graham and Lucy, with a sensitive, coquettish, and emotionally needy personality.

Paulina Mary Home (later Home de Bassompierre), the distant relative of the Brettons who comes to visit during one of Lucy's stays at the house. Like other Brontë heroines, she is educated and from the 'gentle' class of society, but she is without money or family or friends, or even a happy childhood behind her. Lucy Snowe, the narrator, a young English woman destitute and thrown upon the world.

Charlotte brontë villette