Prince Amerigo
The titular golden bowl is actually made of crystal. Within that crystal lies a crack that is only barely perceptible. This flaw symbolizes the character flaw of Prince Amerigo. He originates from a wealthy ancestral lineage tracing through the history of Rome, but by the time of the story that family has fallen on hard times. The prince wishes to maintain his lifestyle by marrying into wealth.
It is this necessity which reflects the symbolism of the crack in the bowl. A fissure will ultimately develop in his love life as a crack separating passion for the woman he loves and the practicality of marrying the woman who can keep him financially viable.
At the same time, Amerigo also comes to represent the movement away from the archaic aristocracy of old Europe and toward the democratization of the population. He actively seeks to modernize himself in dress and thought. Even his name reflects his status as seeking to adopt the ways of the New World as a means of rejecting the failures of the nobility.
Charlotte Stant
Charlotte Stant is Amerigo's first love and his true love. Her greatest flaw is that she is not wealthy enough for a marriage. Marrying the woman he loves would simply not allow him to maintain the external economic facade of his aristocratic station in life.
Charlotte is quite beautiful and Amerigo, more than aware of the necessity for money, advises her to marry into wealth. She was born in America but educated in Europe and thus she represents for the prince a sort of bridge between the old Europe he wants to reject and the New World ideals he seeks to embrace.
Her greatest quality is not easily defined. She is characterized as being unique because she projects an aura of authenticity. This quality attracts the prince but will also ultimately be instrumental in her finally living out his advice to marry well when she captures the attention of Adam Verver.
Adam Verver
Adam Verver is a rich American who has immigrated to England. This move has been undertaken for a surprising reason. He is not in Europe to make more money but rather to spend money on accumulating what he terms "costly authenticities." It is therefore less than surprising that he becomes intoxicated by that aura of authenticity exuded by Charlotte.
His desire to spend rather than make money in Europe does not mean he is not a typical Gilded Age capitalist. Adam is a dominant personality who enjoys using his copious wealth to manipulate those around him. The manipulation is primarily to get what he wants but mostly what he wants is a good marriage for his daughter and to enjoy the freedom of indulging his passion for accumulation.
Ultimately, this passion for manipulation and accumulation results in the development of a romance with Charlotte Stant. What makes this particularly tricky is that Charlotte is the woman whom Prince Amerigo loves, but Adam's daughter is the woman whom the prince marries.
Maggie Verver
Maggie is Adam's daughter, and she is introduced as a sheltered and innocent daddy's girl. Since that daddy is very wealthy, this makes her the ideal choice for a wife for a man like Amerigo. Despite becoming a princess in the process, the marriage to Amerigo is essentially a lateral move for Maggie.
Things become very complicated when the woman her father marries is revealed to be her husband's mistress. As a result of this complication, Maggie becomes the only character in the novel who can effectively be described as changing significantly over the course of the narrative. She very consciously begins to transform herself from innocent to self-described force of evil.
This force of evil is actually just her transformation into a person who actively seeks to manipulate others. Through her subtly sinister machinations, she is able to end her husband's adulterous affair with Charlotte. Even more to the point, she is able to prove to Amerigo that she is preferable in every way to Charlotte besides her position as heiress.
