The characters Flashcards
Tess Moffat
- a first-year student at Girton College in Cambridge
-at Girton, she has a passion for astronomy and ambitions to travel across South America charting the stars
-as a young girl, she was always hungry for knowledge as shown in Act Two, Scene Nine, recalling climbing on the roof of a local school to eavesdrop on lessons
-she is unmarried and has no children, although in Act One, Scene 5, she tells Celia she would like to be a wife and mother one day.
-she is the first student that the audience meets and is the central protagonist
-Jessica Swale said, ‘I wanted the play to be more filmic, and films are almost always focused through one character’s perspective’
-In most scenes, she is often second, after caroline or central to show her main characterises
Celia Wielband
-an industrious student in Tess’s class.
-she’s not new and is repeating first year studies after she was sent home suffering from nervous exhaustion (an experience that has taken a toll on her and affected her attitude with studies and dealing with other people)
-she seems starchy and quiet at first but opens up slightly near end
she is the most mindful of propriety, Girton’s rules and how the women are perceived by others due to this.
-she and Tess develop a bond, and in the orchard, she tries to encourage her back to her books.
-difference between them is Celia realised what Tess ultimately has to learn: getting an education is more important than falling IN LOVE
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Carolyn Addison
-she’s very worldly and has travelled the world. Higher uppest class
-she thinks nothing of regaling women with her with the wisdom she has learned overseas
-she is a firm believer in the empirical merits of science and tells Lloyd she plans to be a doctor once she finishes her degree
-rules are to be broken e.g wolfhound Achilles also her and also in act one scene eleven Carolyn is the first to encourage Tess to meet Ralph. Desire for companionship.
-her upbringing has given her an air of bohemian intellectual and she displays carefree extravagance.
-she is very rich such as in act 1 and is kind of unsensitive or the other girls being outspoken as an only child, not spending much time with other kids
Carolyn Addison
-she’s very worldly and has travelled the world. Higher uppest class
-very bouncy, confident, owns the room
-she thinks nothing of regaling women with her with the wisdom she has learned overseas
-she is a firm believer in the empirical merits of science and tells Lloyd she plans to be a doctor once she finishes her degree
-rules are to be broken e.g wolfhound Achilles also her and also in act one scene eleven Carolyn is the first to encourage Tess to meet Ralph. Desire for companionship.
-her upbringing has given her an air of bohemian intellectual and she displays carefree extravagance.
-she is very rich such as in act 1 and is kind of unsensitive or the other girls being outspoken as an only child, not spending much time with other kids
Maeve Sullivan
-she is a quiet intelligence and often holds back before surprising people with knowledge such as page
-she reveals little about herself or home life.
-from comments about her clothes or the perspective she shares in class, there are glimpses she does not come from the same social background as the girls but it is pivitowl in act one scene eleven
Ralph Mayhew
Second year student at trinity college
-a scientist and romantic sympathetic to woman studying at Cambridge
-tess’s love interest.
-he marrries someone else though because of familial pressures as he clearly comes from a traditional high profile though he doesn’t want the path they’ve given him.
-he did love tess though but gifted was too politically and radically troublesome
Will Bennett
Second year student and tess’s family friends
-he is at king’s college but takes mr bank’s natural science classss at trinity
-he is sort out of an outsider but his reputation is important however he realises his stance with girton and tess makes him different such as barred from common room
-he is not too rich as he tells tess he is engaged with miss pope for the money and needs to pass with a first class degree
-he is in love with tess and feels respioshle to watch after her as her dad told him to and ir is a blow when he hears he loves Ralph
-they have a familiarity there throughout the whole play and it evolves throughout and though tess doesn’t always notice will is always there for her .
-his open minded stance and change over the play reflects the audience
LLOYD
-second year student at trinity college
-from the beginning he and holmes are the most opponents of modern day woman studying at Cambridge
-he comes from a privileged and illustrious background and his father owns property in Cambridge . Highest statesr in most scenes represented by wide stance and standing first, in front proudly
-he is competitve and in his early twenties is able to talk about climbing the Matterhorn , one of the highest and deadliest summits in the alps.
-he is highly educated and his remarks about women are driven by fear he sees them as a threat
Holmes
Second year student at girton
-has a more sensitive and nicer side than Lloyd as shown with his violin playing etc
-second highest stays, as buying newest seasons fashion at the haberdashery suggests he is wealthy so stood after lloyd
-unlike lloyd in act. Two seven eleven he does apologise for the way girton woman have been treated even though he doesn’t agree, he is ashamed of violence and admires their courage
Edwards
-second year at trinity college
-nice attitude to woman studying,
-he has the lowest status due to money and is often at the end on stage. but off all jokes
-him singing the last rose of summer beautifully is a hint to how he broke expectations suggesting his sensitivity to understand the girls
Elizabeth welsh
-based on a real person but fictionalised
-she would come through centre on speaking as is important
-she is trying to get women to graduate and makes hard choices such as sending maeve home
-she doesn’t like the women’s suffragettes and makes miss. Blake design showing she is disciplinary but she is also kind such as letting tess repeat again
-act two seven 11 is the only time we see her lose control. She is humiliated by the burnings and when she learns the vote has gone agains them
Dr Maudsley
-leading psychiatrist of his time
-real person who corrposnded with people like Darwin
-sex in mind and In education is a real book of his and what he says is based on. His writings
-representing many men who felt threatened at women studying as the foundation of Britain is being broken and he thought for the good of society woman shouldn’t study
-as demonstrated in his outburst when tess speaks in his lecture
Mr Thomas banks
-a natural science lecturer who teaches both girton and trinity
-will tells tess that he is an ‘eccentric’ and he uses unconventional methods to inspire his class as shown with the bike and later with the boys
-he is a committed supporter of women’s rights even when it puts him at odds with the other men and when he is offerened a fellow ship at trinity he feels he should help the women instead by accident and is fired from his current teaching job representing others too
-he has a family and reveals their struggling still supports the women
-at the end he helps Mrs Welsh defend the college from rioters
Miss Blake
-supports the campaign for women’s suffrage.
-she thinks suffragist could be strong allies in Mrs Welsh’s campaign but she thinks they are too radical amd it is what makes them clash
-she challenges her students in their first lecture to choose between love and knowledge implying she did too and setting a major conflict in play
-the school is all she has making when she resigns a painful moment
professor Collins
Another trinity lecture who offers mr banks a fellowship though admits was reluctant to do so
He is sceptical of women education and in act two scene ten he is part of the people who examine tess and he is sympathetic and gives her time and when she is allowed to repeat it he can’t stop smiling demonstrating change of mind
