Clara Wintermute

Character Analysis

Spoiled Little Rich Girl

Clara Wintermute is a little girl living in London who is fortunate to have a very wealthy family—her father is a doctor, while her mother is a fancy lady who stays at home. Their house is filled with plenty of nice things that anyone would ooh and aah over, like oil paintings and precious gems. In fact, even the servants (she has servants, of course) like to point out just how lucky Clara is to have all of these luxuries:

Agnes knew it. No one in the household had been allowed to forget that November the sixth was Clara's birthday. The servants had cleaned the house from top to bottom and decorated the dining room with white ribbons and evergreen boughs. Seventeen children had been invited to Clara's party, and their mothers would come with them. There was to be a lavish tea: sandwiches and ices and a four-layer cake. (1.12)

But all of these material belongings don't necessarily make Clara happy. She's not an ungrateful child, but she has a definite lack of love in her life. Both of her parents treat her coldly, even though they're uncharacteristically obsessed with her health and making sure she doesn't fall ill. She doesn't exactly get to be herself, and her parents stop her from doing unladylike things like dancing or laughing aloud:

"No. I embroider, of course, and I can play the piano, but there isn't any use in it. Mamma doesn't like music, because it makes her head ache, and we have too many cushions already." She swept the room with a glance that was almost contemptuous. (3.59)

Even though Clara is surrounded by all of these amazing and pretty things, she doesn't get to really live. If anything, she's like a pet in a gilded cage—only allowed to do what others deem acceptable. She doesn't get to enjoy life like a normal kid.

The Only Child

Clara has also had her childhood snatched away from her because she's grown up surrounded by death and mourning. She used to have four brothers and sisters, but they all died from cholera when she was five, including her twin brother, Charles Augustus:

"There was cholera." Clara spoke hurriedly, as if eager to get the explanation over with. "Quentin was just a baby. That's Selina by the column—she was the eldest. She was seven, and Adelaide was six, and Charles Augustus and I were five. He was my twin." She hesitated a moment and plunged on. "Papa thinks the contagion was in the watercress. I was naughty that day. I've never liked eating green things, and I wouldn't eat the watercress at tea. So I wasn't ill, but the others died." (3.34)

The death of the Others, as Clara calls them, shapes her entire life. She lives in the nursery, surrounded by all of their belongings, and sees their images everywhere. Her mother even buys her presents from the Others for her birthday, and they have to visit the cemetery on every single important occasion. Clara grows up with the distinct feeling that her dead siblings are more important to her parents than she is—and that they love their dead children more:

"She only loves the Others," Clara sobbed. "They c-can't do anything bad because they're dead."

"Listen to me, Clara." Dr. Wintermute took his daughter's hands and squeezed them tightly. "Stop crying and listen. Your mother loves you dearly. She should not have said those things to you." (6.23-24)

Because of this, Clara feels an intense amount of pressure to live up to all of the promise that the Others showed and is generally miserable and disappointed in herself. It's not a great way to grow up.

Little Puppet Girl

Clara goes missing after her birthday party, and it eventually comes out that Grisini has turned her into a puppet so he can hide her away and demand a huge ransom from her grieving parents. But, even though Clara is a puppet, she still has an awareness of what's going on around her and even has a will of her own.

Being transformed into a puppet by Grisini doesn't stop Clara from defying him, especially when it comes to keeping Lizzie Rose and Parsefall safe. She manages to warn Parsefall in his dreams and even eventually comes back to life and steals the phoenix-stone with the intention of destroying it:

You need only wish for the stone, and you will be yourself again. If your wish is strong enough, your strings will snap and Grisini's spell will be broken. If Clara wished, she might save Parsefall; she could save him if she stole the stone herself. The curse would fall upon her. Clara shut her eyes in terror. (46.4)

For a girl who's been coddled her entire life, Clara turns out to be stronger than steel. She manages to break the spell of a powerful magician and destroy the phoenix-stone—something that not even Cassandra can do—just by setting her mind to it. She might start out feeling pretty powerless in her life, but once she's in puppet form, Clara finds her power and doesn't hesitate to use it.