To describe the characters in J. M. Barrie's play The Will, we have to look at them throughout the play's three sections. In the first section, Philip and Emily Ross come to the Devizes law office to draw up a will. Philip and Emily are young and newly married. They have very little money but very much love, and Emily is upset that Philip even wants to make a will, for she does not like thinking about his death or what life might be like without him. She gets weepy at even the mention of it. But Emily also has some ideas about what should go into that will. She wants to make sure that two poor cousins are provided for (more than her husband actually thinks they should give) and that a convalescent home gets a donation.
At this point, the lawyer Mr. Devizes is in the...
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prime of his career. He is a compassionate man who handles Philip and Emily's will with great tenderness and delicacy. His son, Robert, however, is just starting out in his career, and he is still frivolous and silly. He completely misinterprets the Rosses' situation (because he has accidentally thrown their letter into the fire) but manages to pull himself out of his embarrassment before any real harm his done. Then his father sends him on his way and deals with the will himself.
The next time we see the Rosses and the Devizes lawyers, twenty years have passed, and the Rosses are no longer in love. They do, however, have a great deal of money, and Emily is determined that it should go to her alone. Philip would rather put it into life interests so that Emily will not lose it through bad investments after his death. The Rosses are now petty and prideful. They are both concerned about keeping control of their money, and Emily no longer thinks it is even such a good idea to give so much to the cousins or the convalescent home.
The Devizes lawyers have changed as well. Robert is now in the prime of his career, and he has adopted many of his father's mannerisms. He is also no longer tolerant of the silliness of youth, for he wants those young clerks to quiet down. His father seems to be partly retired, for he is out of the office, enjoying a game of golf.
When the curtain opens on the play's third and final section, Mr. Devizes Sr. is a very old man, and he is no longer in full control of his faculties. He lives more in the past than in the present, but Robert, now fully in control of the law office and very much like his father once was, compassionately allows his father to remain by the fire.
Philip soon enters. He is now Sir Philip Ross, and he is a bitter, unhappy, lonely man. Emily has recently died, and Philip wants to cut both of their children out of his new will, for they are nasty and corrupt. Philip has plenty of money, but he now has no idea what to do with it or to whom to leave it. He realizes that, in fact, it has destroyed his family. He wishes that he could help some young couple learn from his own mistakes so they do not make similar ones and lose their love.