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The Father (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

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Characters Discussed

The Captain, a captain of cavalry who is the chief sufferer in this domestic tragedy. He was rejected by his mother and consequently sought a mother/wife in marriage. Driven to raving madness by his wife, he is straitjacketed and suffers a stroke.

Laura, his wife. Accepting the maternal side of her relationship with her husband, she loathes her role as wife and takes vengeance on her husband by destroying him. In her efforts to prove him mad, she resorts to forgery and to misrepresentation of his scientific interests, which in fact she does not...

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