The Age of Innocence Characters

At the start of the novel, Newland Archer seems to have it all. A young man from one of the most prominent families in New York, he is looking forward to his engagement with May Welland, a beautifu...

The Age of Innocence might begin with a performance of Faust,but it's only when Ellen Olenska appears on the scene that you feel that the novel really begins. Good Girl Gone Bad?Granddaughter of Mr...

"Would that he watched, not felt, the hounds' (his hounds') fierce savagery! Now they are all around him, tearing deep their master's flesh, the stag that is no stag; and not until so many countles...

Mrs. Manson Mingott is the matriarch of the Mingott clan, one of the most prominent families in New York, just below the van der Luydens. Mrs. Mingott is, to put it politely, generous. The novel re...

Julius Beaufort is a wealthy finance dude whose origins are mysterious— he "passes" as an Englishman— but has somehow managed to marry a woman from a prominent family named Regina Dallas. In th...

Mrs. Archer and her sidekick, er, daughter, Janey, make up Newland Archer's immediate family. Mrs. Archer is the voice of tradition. When she and Mr. Sillerton Jackson are at the same table, they g...

Mrs. Welland is May's mother and essentially the guardian of May's chastity. Creepy. While Archer would like to have the wedding sooner rather than later, Mrs. Welland constantly pushes a long enga...

Before there was Men's Health, there was Lawrence Lefferts. Lefferts is always talking on and on (and on and on) about gentlemanly conduct. Many of his buddies look to him for advice on all aspects...

Mr. Sillerton Jackson is the social guru of Archer's world. He's got the history of all the New York families in his head. He knows who's married whom, which family is connected to which and how, a...

Marchioness Manson is one of Mrs. Manson Mingott's daughters, and is Ellen's guardian for much of her life. Like the Mingott daughters, the Marchioness has had (by New York standards) an unconventi...

Mrs. Struthers struts onto the New York society scene on the wings of … shoe polish. That's right: her husband made his name selling shoe polish (she's rumored to have met him as a model for one...

Archer first meets Monsieur Rivière at Mrs. Carfry's on his honeymoon in London. Archer enjoys chatting with Rivière, who is personally acquainted with some of the great French novelists Archer a...

Ned Winsett, a journalist, is one of Archer's less conventional friends. He's part of the same bohemian crowd that Madame Olenska frequents, and he and his family even live on her block. Winsett is...

Henry and Louisa van der Luyden are always presented as a unit. If there were royalty in American society, the van der Luydens would be Kate Middleton and Prince William. The van der Luyden name go...

Regina Beaufort is Julius Beaufort's first wife, present at the height of his success in New York Society. When Julius is at his most successful, Regina proudly dominates every social occasion and...

Dallas is Newland and May Archer's eldest son. May's pregnancy with Dallas ensures that Newland stays with her and sacrifices his love for Madame Olenska. But Newland doesn’t hold a grudge agains...

The Duke of St. Austrey is the van der Luydens' cousin. He provides a contrast between the aristocracy in Europe and upper class society in America. Unlike many in Archer's world, the Duke of St. A...

Mr. Letterblair is Newland Archer's boss at the prestigious law firm of Letterblair, Lamson, and Low. If Mr. Sillerton Jackson is the expert on all things social, Mr. Letterblair is the expert on a...

Mr. Welland is May's father, a hopeless hypochondriac, which is ironic given his name (a pun on well+ land). The family revolves around the threat of possible illness; if he's worried about a cold,...

Miss Fanny Ring is Julian Beaufort's mistress. She's totally not a member of high society, and she causes a stir because she dares to go out in public on fashionable streets like Fifth Avenue. At f...

Archer meets Dr. Carver at Madame Olenska's home. Dr. Carver is a spiritualist—a person who claims to be able to speak to the dead— and the leader a group of followers who believe in his teachi...