Elyot Chase

Elyot Chase, a handsome, thirtyish man. When the play begins, he is honeymooning at Deauville, France, with his second wife. Five years earlier, he had divorced Amanda, to whom he had been married for three tumultuous years, and then traveled around the world. When he sees Amanda again, he realizes that she is his true love. Together, they flee to Paris. Despite their bickering and fisticuffs, they remain reunited. Elyot, first performed by the playwright himself, represents the witty, irreverent, sophisticated Englishman that the playwright admired and saw himself as exemplifying.

Amanda Prynne

Amanda Prynne, Elyot’s first wife, newly married to Victor Prynne. She, too, is honeymooning at Deauville as the play opens. She is the most vivacious character in the work. She is not only beautiful but also spirited, independent, and unconventional—a fit partner for Elyot.

Sibyl Chase

Sibyl Chase, Elyot’s blond, attractive, twenty-three-year-old bride. Conventional, unimaginative, and innocent, she is Amanda’s antithesis and suggests the playwright’s dim view of the “nice” English girl. She implies to Elyot that she will tailor life to suit his whims.

Victor Prynne

Victor Prynne, a handsome man a few years older than Elyot. Stuffy and stodgy, he lacks a sense of humor. Like Sibyl, he is shocked by the elopement of Elyot and Amanda; when he and Sibyl catch up with the other couple, he chivalrously offers to divorce Amanda even though he deeply loves her. He wants to make over someone’s life and takes it upon himself to do so for his new wife. This drives her back into the arms of Elyot. Sibyl is his true soul mate, and their fierce quarreling at the end of the play, mirroring the battles between Amanda and Elyot, indicates that the conventional Victor will end up paired with her.

Louise

Louise, Amanda’s French-speaking maid. She makes a brief appearance in the third act. Her inability to speak English and her incomprehension of the bizarre occurrences in the apartment provide a number of laughs.

Elyot Chase
Elyot Chase, the sharp-witted and cynical male lead, is central to the love/hate dynamic with Amanda in Private Lives. While his profession remains a mystery, he is affluent, stylish, and accustomed to a life of luxury and self-indulgence. Elyot's conversations are marked by a tendency to be "flippant" and to mock societal norms. His philosophy, if any, is a steadfast refusal to take life seriously, challenging "all the futile moralists who try to make life unbearable." He subscribes to no universal truths, viewing everything as "nonsense" in the grand scheme. Nothing is eternal, and the wise approach is to live in the moment, enjoying life's pleasures while being "superficial and pitying the poor philosophers" who seek deeper meanings and moral truths.

Despite his articulate defiance, Elyot harbors insecurities and is not entirely unaffected by societal expectations. At the play's start, he has willingly entered into a conventional marriage, even though it seems doomed and unfulfilling. Before reuniting with Amanda, he is resigned to playing the shallow role of a husband. When confronted by Victor in Act III, Elyot does not defend his actions, instead admitting he is entirely in the wrong and that his flippancy masks "a very real embarrassment." Although aware of society's hypocrisies, Elyot is not immune to its pressures—nor to his attraction to Amanda, despite the turbulent history and intense jealousies in their relationship.

Sibyl Chase
Sibyl, Elyot's second wife, is seven years his junior. Although she is the newlywed "Mrs. Chase," she soon finds herself aligned with Victor Prynne due to their shared predicament....