Joe. Joe's task is to take them to Miss Van Huysen's house and keep them there, using force if needed. After sharing a few drinks with Malachi, the Cabman mistakenly abducts the wrong couple.

Cook

Miss Van Huysen's cook has spent the entire day waiting with her for Ermengarde's arrival. She keeps a lookout from the window and informs Miss Van Huysen whenever someone approaches the house.

Ermengarde

Ermengarde is the niece of Horace Vandergelder. At twenty-four, she is determined to marry Ambrose Kemper, an artist with a modest income. Despite her uncle's disapproval and his decision to send her to New York to separate them, she remains defiant. Although rebellious enough to want to marry against her uncle's wishes, she cares about her social reputation. When Ambrose suggests eloping, she is not only against it but is appalled that he would even consider such an outrageous notion.

Minnie Fay

Minnie is employed at Mrs. Molloy's hat shop. She is astonished that the older woman would contemplate marrying a man she does not love. Lacking worldly experience, Minnie has to inquire if the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant is ‘‘what they call a cafe.’’

Gertrude

Gertrude serves as Vandergelder's housekeeper. She is described as ‘‘eighty; deaf; half-blind; and very pleased with herself.’’ When plans are made to send Ermengarde away to prevent her from marrying Ambrose, Gertrude inadvertently foils the plan by revealing the address Ermengarde is headed to in Ambrose's presence.

Cornelius Hackl

Cornelius, at thirty-three, is the head clerk at Horace Vandergelder's store. Early in the play, Vandergelder informs him that, after much deliberation, he has decided to promote Cornelius to chief clerk. Realizing that the promotion only confirms his current position, Cornelius feels stuck in a routine. He persuades Barnaby to accompany him for a night out in New York, where he encounters Irene Molloy at her hat shop while posing as a wealthy socialite looking for a hat. He soon falls for her.

To prevent Mrs. Molloy from discovering that Cornelius is merely a clerk, Dolly Levi fabricates an elaborate tale about him being one of New York's most eligible bachelors. She claims he hails from a wealthy family and only works at Vandergelder's store by choice. When Mrs. Molloy sees him again, she insists that he and Barnaby take her and her assistant to a high-end restaurant. Cornelius agrees, reluctant to reveal the truth, but he fears arrest when he can't pay the bill. Fortunately, a stranger finds Vandergelder's wallet full of money and returns it to Cornelius, thinking he dropped it. Throughout a series of mistaken identities, Miss Van Huysen spends much of Act IV believing Cornelius is Ambrose Kemper and vice versa. Ultimately, Cornelius and Mrs. Molloy decide to marry.

Ambrose Kemper

Ambrose is an artist aspiring to marry Vandergelder's niece, Ermengarde. His career as an artist means he lacks financial stability, which is why Vandergelder opposes the marriage. Ambrose attempts to persuade Ermengarde to elope, an idea she finds scandalous, leading him to seek Dolly Levi's assistance. In the end, he and Ermengarde become engaged.

Dolly Levi

Dolly is a central character in the play, which is named after her. She is a cunning and strategic individual who doesn't hesitate to invent stories to achieve her goals. Her business cards boast skills like reducing varicose veins and providing guitar and mandolin lessons, but she describes her primary role as ‘‘a woman who arranges things.’’ Although she plans to marry Vandergelder for his wealth, her intentions are noble; as she tells the audience in the final act, she aims to use his money to improve the world.

Mrs. Levi, a widow and longtime acquaintance of Vandergelder's deceased wife, reminisces about how she and Vandergelder danced at each other's weddings. Vandergelder involves her because he needs a chaperone for Ermengarde, whom he plans to send to New York while he pursues marriage with Mrs. Molloy. However, Mrs. Levi quickly begins scheming against him. She aids Ermengarde and Ambrose in their romantic endeavors and thwarts Vandergelder's proposal to Mrs. Molloy by inventing a story about a fabulously wealthy woman interested in him. When she encounters Cornelius in Mrs. Molloy's shop, she helps him hide from Vandergelder and concocts an elaborate tale to prevent Mrs. Molloy from realizing Cornelius is merely a clerk. This serves a dual purpose: supporting the young lovers while keeping Mrs. Molloy away from Vandergelder. During dinner with Vandergelder, Mrs. Levi subtly suggests he marry her, making it seem like his own idea. Her plan succeeds, partly because Vandergelder is eager to believe it, as evidenced when he declares she has agreed to marry him. She prompts him to change his announcement to say she has "finally agreed," implying he has been pursuing her for some time.

Irene Molloy

At the start of the play, Vandergelder plans to wed Mrs. Molloy. Although she harbors no personal affection for him, she sees marriage as an escape from the hat business. She explains to her assistant that society views women in the millinery trade as immoral, forcing her to restrict her social activities to maintain respectability. She avoids restaurants, balls, and theaters to protect her reputation, and the only men she encounters are feather merchants. Additionally, she is interested in Vandergelder because she believes he would be a strong protector, a quality she finds appealing in a husband.

When Cornelius hides in her shop from Vandergelder, he falls for her instantly, and she is equally drawn to him. Her attraction partly stems from his pretense of being a wealthy gentleman, a ruse that Dolly Levi later embellishes by claiming he is the renowned Cornelius Hackl, a millionaire rogue famous in high society. At the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, she learns the truth, but by then, her love for Cornelius is so deep that it no longer matters, and they become engaged.

Rudolph

Rudolph, the head waiter at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, is a condescending character who strives to maintain his composure amidst the chaos caused by the play's main characters. He speaks with a German accent.

Joe Scanlon

Joe is the barber who prepares Vandergelder for his wedding in the first act. As a professional, Joe holds strong ethical standards. When Vandergelder offers him fifty cents to enhance his appearance, Joe is appalled, interpreting it as a bribe for something unethical. He clarifies, "All I know is fifteen cents’ worth, like usual, Mr. Vandergelder," adding, "and that includes everything that’s decent to do to a man." The supposed bribe Joe declines turns out to be for dyeing Vandergelder's hair.

Malachi Stack

Malachi arrives at the Yonkers store with numerous letters of recommendation from various employers, including one from Joshua Van Tuyl, a friend of Vandergelder's. Vandergelder hires him and dispatches him to New York on an immediate train, ensuring he doesn't meet the other clerks. Consequently, when Malachi encounters Cornelius and Barnaby at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, he is unfamiliar with them and hands Cornelius a wallet he finds on the floor, which belongs to Vandergelder. Malachi justifies his honesty by explaining he used to be a thief but turned to drinking, realizing one can only manage one vice well, so he drinks but refrains from stealing. Later, under the influence of alcohol, he mistakenly abducts Cornelius and Barnaby with the Cabman instead of Ermengarde and Ambrose.

Barnaby Tucker

At seventeen, Barnaby is the junior clerk at Vandergelder's store. His innocence about the world makes him eager to follow Cornelius, even when it leads to trouble. At the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, Mrs. Molloy kisses Barnaby for his sweetness, leaving him so overwhelmed by his first kiss that he collapses.

To avoid being seen by Vandergelder at the Harmonia Gardens, Barnaby disguises himself in a woman's hat and coat, leading to him being mistaken for Ermengarde, a disguise he maintains throughout the fourth act.

By the play's conclusion, when harmony is restored and everyone is content, Dolly Levi addresses the audience, saying, "I think the youngest person here ought to tell us what the moral of the play is." Barnaby then speaks about the importance of having "just the right amount of adventure in life."

Flora Van Huysen

A longtime acquaintance of Ermengarde's late mother, Miss Van Huysen is an elderly spinster residing with her servants at 8 Jackson Street, New York. Vandergelder sends Ermengarde to live with her to prevent her from marrying Ambrose. However, they follow Miss Levi's suggestion and head to the restaurant instead, leaving Miss Van Huysen waiting fruitlessly all day for Ermengarde's arrival. When they finally show up, it becomes clear that Miss Van Huysen has no intention of keeping them separated. She sees herself as ‘‘a friend of all young lovers,’’ hinting that her own romantic life was thwarted by ‘‘obstacles and disappointments.’’ Although easily confused and tricked into believing Barnaby is Ermengarde, her good intentions are crucial to everything turning out well in the end.

Horace Vandergelder

Vandergelder is the main character of the play. At sixty, the stage notes describe him as ‘‘choleric, vain, and sly.’’ He is miserly with money and rude to everyone he encounters. He is dissatisfied with nearly everything around him. Disapproving of the man his twenty-four-year-old niece wants to marry, he sends her away to sabotage the engagement. He dislikes the clerks at his hay, feed, and provisions store, believing they should work more than fifteen hours a day, six days a week.

A widower, Vandergelder plans to remarry, reasoning in a soliloquy that a woman who joins a household through marriage will manage it better than a hired one. Initially, he intends to marry Mrs. Molloy, but his interest is so weak that he delays his proposal when Dolly Levi mentions another woman is interested in him.

Throughout the play, other characters either try to avoid Vandergelder due to his intimidating temper or scheme to access his wealth, accumulated through his frugal lifestyle. Ultimately, however, he becomes a more amiable person. Dolly Levi cleverly persuades him to marry her, to which he agrees with good humor; he consents to Ermengarde and Ambrose's marriage, which he had strongly opposed in the first scene; and he decides to make Barnaby a partner in his business. This sudden change suggests that Vandergelder was inherently good-natured but didn't know how to express his gentler side.