Maria Venables
Maria is the protagonist. Wrongfully imprisoned in a mental institution when readers meet her, she is a pitiful figure. Maria was born the younger sibling to parents who adored her older brother, Robert. He brutally mistreated the girl, who eagerly looked for some way out of her circumstances. She falls in love with her neighbor, George, and marries him just to get away from her family. Unfortunately she is subject to the male authorities in her life, legally, so she quickly comes to regret her marriage because of the constant mistreatment, recklessness, and rape by her husband. Her saving grace is her daughter, taken from her by George, to whom she writes the manuscript.
Henry Darnford
Darnford leaves notes in the margins of books at the asylum in order to communicate with Maria. Although they have never met, they fall in love through the margins. He lived a life already full of drunkenness and was arrested only to wake up here one day. He devotes his time to proving his reform to the doctors.
Jemima
She is one of the staff at Maria's hospital. Compassionate, she observes Maria's sanity and offers her some escape and consolation through books. Eventually she describes to both Maria and Darnford her personal history. When her own mother died during her birth, Jemima became a servant in her own father's household because she was born out of wedlock. She's lived with many master's since, always a subject to their mistreatment. At one point she gets pregnant after being raped, aborts the baby, and decides to become a prostitute out of desperation to regain control of herself.
George Venables
He is Maria's husband. An immature man, he pursues all of his desires without consideration -- women, drinking, gambling, etc. With little concern for Maria's stake in the marriage, he quickly bankrupts them both. In his personal life, he's a brute, often raping his wife without any remorse. He is the one who pays friends to seduce Maria, hoping to divorce her for adultery. When that doesn't work, he stalks her through various households until he catches up to both her and the baby. He throws her into a mental hospital and takes the child.
Uncle
Maria's uncle is her saving grace, though his help is not always the most helpful. He encourages her to marry George, even providing her dowry. When he dies, he leaves Maria all of his estate.
