Who are the characters in Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House"?

The characters in the short story "The Doll's House" are the following:

Lil Kelvey- the older of the two Kelvey sister. She is often seen in a protective role, as Else Kelvey always follows her around and sticks really close to her. Lil is known for the "silly smile" she gives even as she is directly insulted by her classmates. She is described in the story as 

“stout, plain child, with big freckles.”

Else Kelvey- the younger Kelvey sister usually walks closely to her sister as if seeking for her protection. It is Else who, ultimately, gets to see the doll house's lamp, which is so important to the story.

Kezia Burnell- Kezia is the youngest of the Burnell sisters, who are well-to-do, and receive the beautiful dollhouse as a gift. Kezia is also the one most fascinated with the miniature oil lamp of the doll's house. Additionally, it is Kezia who approaches the Kelveys and, in a never-before-seen move, asks them to come over and see the famous doll's house. 

Isabel Burnell is the eldest of the Burnell sisters- She is described as "bossy" and clearly was in control of the other two sisters as far as the doll house goes. Isabel always wants to be the first to talk about it. 

Lottie, the middle child of the Burnells, was more akin to her older sister, Isabel, in that they both "enjoyed visitors" and loved having them over to look at their doll's house. 

The adult characters include:

Mrs. Kelvey- a washerwoman, and the mother of the girls. 

Mr. Kelvey- not a character in the story except by mention; He is the father of the Kelvey girls, and presumed to be in jail. 

Mrs. Hay- a guest at the Burnell household, and the person who gifted the dollhouse to the girls. 

Aunt Beryl- the Burnell's aunt and the person who ran off the Kelveys upon seeing them in the home. 

Emmie Cole, Jessy May, Lena Logan- kids from school who bullied the Kelveys. 

Ms. Lecky- postmistress who handed down her hat to Mrs. Kelvey and now Lil wears it.

The teacher- She is mean and makes faces whenever Lil comes to bring her flowers that she picks on her way to school. 

Pat- a driver in the Burnell household and servant. 

Willie Brent- a potential love interest of Aunt Beryl.

What is the point of view in Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House"?

Katherine Mansfield's story "The Doll's House" has an omniscient narrator who enters the minds of different characters at various points in the story. With this technique, Mansfield intently focuses on characterization and the revelation of psychological truths.

With the theme of social stratification, Mansfield allows the reader to perceive the world as the Burnells do, and then as the Kelveys perceive it, in order to create contrasts.

After the Burnell children receive the doll house, as it rests in the courtyard, the girls have permission to ask the others from school to view it, but not to stay for tea or anything: "just to stand quietly in the courtyard while Isabel points out the beauties [...]"

As the Burnell girls hurry to school, Isabel informs her sisters that she will do the telling because she is the oldest. Isabel is characterized by Mansfield through the eyes of Lottie and Kezia:

Isabel was bossy, but she was always right, and Lottie and Kezia knew too well the powers that went with being eldest. They brushed through the thick buttercups at the road edge and said nothing. “And I’m to choose who’s to come and see it first. Mother said I might.”

That afternoon, then, girls come to see the doll house under the tall pines at the side of the playground, and they exclaim in delight. Isabel holds "quite a court" under the trees. Her sister Kezia reminds her to tell the girls about the oil lamp: "'The lamp's the best of all,' cried Kezia." She does not think Isabel speaks of the lamp enough as the girls admire the house. Afterwards, the girls put their arms around Isabel, declaring her their "special friend."

Only the little Kelveys moved away forgotten; there was nothing more for them to hear.

The Kelvey girls are the daughters of a washerwoman and a father who is rumored to be in prison. They are social outcasts.

The Kelveys were shunned by everybody. Even the teacher had a special voice for them, and a special smile for the other children when Lil Kelvey came up to her desk with a bunch of dreadfully common-looking flowers. 

Mansfield uses much description of the Kelveys, who are not considered good company for any of the other children. She mentions how the smaller sister clings to the skirt of the other as they are excluded from whatever the others are engaged in. Nevertheless, Kezia Burnell wants to invite them to see the doll's house.

“Mother,” said Kezia, “can’t I ask the Kelveys just once?”
“Certainly not, Kezia.”
“But why not?”
“Run away, Kezia; you know quite well why not.” 

When Kezia invites the Kelveys to see the doll's house, anyway, Lil tells Kezia that her mother told theirs that Kezia was not to speak to them. However, Kezia replies, "Don't you want to?" Then, just as she starts to show it to the girls, her Aunt Beryl calls out, "Kezia!" scolding her niece for talking to the Kelvey girls.

"Run away, children, run away at once. And don't come back." She...shooed them out as if they were chickens.

Then she calls her niece a "wicked, disobedient girl." Aunt Beryl gains a sense of power in humiliating the Kelvey girls. And, her actions do not differ from those of the girls who have taunted Lil in the schoolyard. Nor do they differ much from what Kezia's mother said to her: "Run away Kezia."
After the Kelveys are out of sight, the girls rest by the side of the road. "Dreamily" they both survey their surroundings.

Presently our Else nudged up close to her sister....She put out a finger and stroked her sister's quill, she smiled her rare smile.
"I seen the little lamp," she said.

Our Else has sensed the light of friendship coming from Kezia, and it feels delightful.

By using the type of narration that Mansfield does, she is able to fully develop both character and theme. The use of an omniscient narrator who enters characters' minds helps to define the motives of these characters and to make their actions comprehensible. 

How does the setting contribute to Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House"?

The setting of the story "The Doll's House" is very influential to the plot. The story is set in New Zealand during the early 1920s, when the country was still a British colony. As such, the traditional British dynamics would be expected to resonate in New Zealand society, where there was also a huge gap between the rich and the poor, and where rules applied to the upper and lower classes differently. In other words, New Zealand, as a British colony, also had the same classicist society as England.  

This setting would explain why the Burnell sisters, and their peers in school, were so aware of how different the Kelvey girls were. In fact, they were aware of everything about the Kelveys, from what their mother did for a living, to who their father could be. This shows how typical it was for the rich to look down on the poor at that time and place. It also explains Aunt Beryl's horrid treatment of the Kelvey girls, who are literally treated like vermin. 

The setting is also the reason the Kelveys and the Burnells are coexisting in the same school. The fact that they live out in the country means that there is only one school for everyone to attend.

...the school the Burnell children went to was not at all the kind of place their parents would have chosen[...] It was the only school for miles. [...] all the children in the neighborhood, the judge's little girls, the doctor's daughters, the store-keeper's children, the milkman's, were forced to mix together. 

Had the setting been in the city, chances are that the Burnells would have attended a school for the upper classes while the Kelveys would not have been seen near such a place. Hence, the particular setting in the countryside, as well as in New Zealand in the 1920s, are important backdrops for the plot to unfold. 

Who are the protagonist and antagonist in "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield?

In Katherine Mansfield's story "The Doll's House", the characters are divided into two groups: those who are innocent to social class and status, and those who are not. Since the prevalent theme in the story is precisely that of social mistreatment against those who are indigent, you would have to separate protagonists and antagonists using that formula. 

This being said, the protagonists are the Kelvey girls, Lil and Else. Lil, the elder sister, is described as a “stout, plain child, with big freckles". Her younger sister Else is insecure and follows Lil around, tugging at her. These girls are the daughters of a washerwoman who dresses them up in "hand-me-downs" that she gets from her patrons. There is no known father for the Kelveys...

But where was Mr. Kelvey? Nobody knew for certain. But everybody said he was in prison. So they were the daughters of a washerwoman and a gaolbird.

The reason why they are the protagonists is because they are the characters most affected, changed, or influenced by the central theme of the story. Out of the two sisters, the most changed is Else, who is the character that feels most transformed as she says the words:

I seen the lamp.

These words are important because they denote that there must have been an anxiety in this character to see the lamp and, after seeing it, something within her felt triumphant; likely, the fact that she had the right to see something unique, special, and which only those who have everything get a chance to witness. 

The antagonist of the story is Aunt Beryl, although she represents a much bigger theme, which is social injustice. Aunt Beryl, who is characterized as a bitter, classist, mean, and secretive woman, is the blocking agent that prevents the girls from coming close to the doll's house. She represents the society of the "haves", and how they oppress and blow the spirit off the "have nots", treating the Kelveys badly and characterizing them as nothing short of vermin.

Keep in mind that, when the story was published in 1922, Katherine modeled the characters of Lil and Else Kelvey after a real family whom she knew about: the family of the local washerwoman's daughters, Lil and Else McKelvey. This is further evidence that she focalized the central theme of the story through the eyes of the poor girls more so than the Brunell's. Katherine Mansfield, who was from an affluent family, modeled Kezia after herself. 

More on Katherine Mansfield in the links provided. 

Is there a conflict in Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House"?

Most definitely. I cannot think of any work of literature that does not actually have some form of conflict that drives it, and this excellent short story by Mansfield is no exception. As with many of her works, her subject is class consciousness and how, in this small, rural, New Zealand village, social niceties exclude some and include others. What highlights these harsh social divisions is the gift of the doll's house that the Burnell sisters receive. Who they allow to see it and who is included in their gang says a lot about social divisions. Let us examine the text as it talks about their society:

For the fact was, the school the Burnell children wen to was not at all the kind of place their parents would hve chosen if there had been any choice. But there was none. It was the only school for miles. And the consequence was all the children in the neighbourhood, the Judge's little girls, the doctor's daughters, the storekeeper's children, the milkman's, were forced to mix together. Not to speak of there being an equal number of rude, rough little boys as well. But the line had to be drawn somwhere. It was drawn at the Kelveys.

Note how Mansfield is deliberately setting up a kind of microcosm of the world, where the different social groupings are unable to avoid each other. Note too how her text points towards the essential reality of life: there must always be a "line" and that "line" must always be drawn to exclude people. In this story, it is the poor Kelvey sisters who are excluded. Of course, Kezia's decision to let them see the doll's house hints at the ways in which the "line" can be transgressed, but this is only temporary before it is redrawn with greater strength. Thus the conflict in the story concerns class differences, as exemplified in the differences between the Burnells and the Kelveys.

Who are the flat and round characters in "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield?

The Kelvey sisters are round, as the author provides a fair amount of background information about them. They are shunned by everyone in the class, and the narrator notes that even the teacher singles them out with a "special voice" and uses a "special smile" when they bring her "dreadfully common-looking flowers." Their mother washes other people's clothes, and everyone presumes their father is in jail. Their clothes are pieced together with little bits of items from boys's boots to dresses that resemble nightgowns. The sisters stick together in the face of so much exclusion. And the focus on them at the end shows how being chastised for accepting a friendly invitation has humiliated them.

Isabel Burnell is well-developed as the sister who seeks to exclude others the most—and simultaneously make herself the center of attention. She works the crowd of girls well, strategically placing details and invitations to ensure she captivates her audience. Kezia Burnell is also a round character, as she seems to notice the cruelty of her sister and even reaches out to the Kelvey sisters to invite them to see the doll's house. The reader is privy to Kezia's thoughts, such as this:

But what Kezia liked more than anything, what she liked frightfully, was the lamp. It stood in the middle of the dining room table, an exquisite little amber lamp with a white globe.

Lottie is the least developed of the three sisters, definitely following Isabel's lead but never really developing a complex character of her own. She almost fades into Isabel's shadow in the story, making her the most flat of the main girls in the story.

Other flat characters include the teacher, the Burnell parents, and Aunt Beryl. Very little is known about any of these characters.

How many characters are in Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House"?

First, there's Mrs. Hay (#1), the woman who stayed with the Burnell family and so sent the doll's house as a thank you gift to them. There is also someone named Pat (#2) who helps carry the new doll's house inside, pried it open with his pen knife, and then later picked the Burnell girls up with the cart.

Then, there's the Burnell children, who receive the doll's house and marvel over its contents: Isabel (#3), Lottie (#4), and Kezia (#5). Their mother has a line or two as well (#6).

There are also other nameless children who never speak directly or are referred to as doing anything important, so we won't count them either. We do hear from Aunt Beryl (#7) in the story, when she finds the Kelveys with Kezia at the doll's house, and she cruelly shoos the poor Kelvey girls away.

Obviously, there's also the Kelvey children: Lil (#8) and Else (#9).

Finally, there's also Emmie Cole (#10), the mean girl on the playground who just wanted "to be horrid to" the poor Kelvey girls and told Lil she would be a servant when she grows up. Lena Logan (#11) and Jessie May (#12) get in on the cruel fun as well.

That makes a total of twelve characters in the story.

How many characters are in Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House"?

The best way of finding out the answer to this question is of course to read it, however, I will summarise the main characters for you. There are two families that are referred to in the story: the Burnells and the Kelveys. As befitting the message of the story which is based on social class and the way that humanity always tends to exclude and oppress others, the Burnells are very well-to-do and the Kelveys are shunned by society. The Burnell sisters - Isabel, Lottie and Kezia feature heavily in the story as the owners of the Doll's House, and the Kelvey sisters, Else and Lil, feature as the shunned minority who are not allowed to even see the Doll's House until Kezia lets the Kelvey's in to see the Doll's House. Unfortunately, then Kezia's Aunt Beryl throws the Kelveys out, reinforcing class distinctions and ruining Kezia's innocent gesture of class equality.

Clearly the most interesting characters in my mind are Else and Kezia - Kezia for her decision to show the House to the Kelveys, and Else in her final comment regarding the lamp, which you would do well to analyse further and consider what its symbolic importance might be.