to marry Nina until after the war. He dies soon after Nina leaves him.

Madeline Arnold

Madeline Arnold, the girl engaged to Gordon Evans. She resembles the young Nina.

Gordon Shaw

Gordon Shaw, the dead man with whom Nina was in love, killed while serving as a flier in World War I. Both Nina and Sam worship his memory.

Madeline Arnold

Madeline Arnold, who is engaged to Gordon Evans, is nineteen years old. She is attractive, tall, and athletic, with a straightforward nature. Confident and accustomed to achieving her goals, Madeline is also gracious in defeat. She is well-liked by both men and women. Although she feels frustrated by Nina's animosity, she later comes to respect the older woman for her dedication in caring for her husband after his stroke.

Edmund Darrell

Edmund Darrell is Nina's lover and the biological father of her son, Gordon. A neurologist, Darrell meets Nina at a hospital for World War I veterans where she is employed. He is taken aback by her promiscuity, attributing it to a martyrdom complex developed after the death of her fiancé, Gordon Shaw. Darrell proposes Nina marry Evans to help her regain a healthier state of mind.

Darrell approaches life with a scientific and impartial perspective. When Nina asks him to father her child, intending to raise it as Evans's, he agrees, believing it to be in the best interest of Nina and Evans. He also views it as an intriguing experiment. However, he does not anticipate falling in love with Nina during this process. Their passionate affair continues for years, and despite his desire to end it, he cannot. He loses enthusiasm for his career and eventually turns to biology as a pastime, establishing a research station in the West Indies. He is resentful that his son, Gordon Evans, is being raised by Sam Evans to emulate the deceased Gordon Shaw. This causes him to harbor negative feelings towards both, secretly wishing for Sam's demise and for Gordon to fail in the college race. After Sam Evans dies, Darrell realizes he no longer loves Nina but still proposes because Gordon, who suspects their past romance, expects it. Nina declines the proposal, as Darrell hoped she would. He then supports Nina's marriage to Marsden.

Mrs. Amos Evans

Mrs. Amos Evans, Sam Evans's mother, is a delicate, small woman around forty-five years old, although she appears much older. Upon discovering Nina's pregnancy, she advises her to have an abortion, citing a family history of insanity. She had married unaware of this history, and she and her husband had not intended to have children. Sam's father eventually succumbed to insanity, and Mrs. Evans believes the stress of raising Sam contributed to it. She suggests Nina conceive a child with another man and raise it as Sam's child.

Gordon Evans

Gordon Evans is Nina's son, raised as the child of Sam Evans, though his biological father is Darrell. Unaware of his true paternity, Gordon harbors a dislike for Darrell, whom he must call Uncle Ned. As he matures, Gordon becomes a robust, athletic, and competent young man, bearing a striking resemblance to Gordon Shaw, a young aviator who perished in World War I. Engaged to the charming Madeline Arnold, Gordon is on a promising path to success.

Sam Evans

Sam Evans is Nina's husband, introduced to her through their shared acquaintance, Edmund Darrell, when Sam is twenty-five. He is friendly but lacks maturity and accomplishments, maintaining the appearance and demeanor of a college student. Despite Nina not loving him, she marries Sam following Darrell's suggestion. Sam's career in advertising is initially unsteady, with frequent job changes and little financial success. Aware of Nina's lack of affection, Sam's life transforms when Nina gives birth to Gordon, whom he believes to be his son. This belief boosts his confidence and contentment, leading to greater business success. Ultimately, Sam earns a considerable income, with Marsden and Darrell benefiting from investments in him. He raises Gordon to emulate his old college friend, Gordon Shaw, and is pleased when his son meets these expectations. Sam suffers from high blood pressure and dies seven months after a stroke caused by his excitement at witnessing Gordon win a college rowing competition.

Professor Henry Leeds

Professor Henry Leeds, Nina's widowed father, is a shy, intellectual man who teaches Classics and often dwells on the past to avoid confronting present realities. He convinced Gordon Shaw to delay marrying Nina until after the war, as he was reluctant to lose his daughter and deemed Gordon unsuitable due to his lack of wealth and status. Leeds secretly felt relief when Gordon was killed. Nina eventually recognizes her father's negative influence on her relationship with Gordon and distances herself from him because of this realization.

Nina Leeds

Nina Leeds, the daughter of Professor Leeds, marries Sam Evans. She is a tall, athletic woman with straw-blond hair. During her youth, she fell deeply in love with Gordon Shaw, a fellow student and exceptional athlete. However, her father convinced Gordon to delay their marriage until after the war. Tragically, Gordon was killed during the war, leaving their love unfulfilled. Heartbroken by Gordon's death and resentful of their lost opportunity, which she attributes to her father's meddling, Nina suffers a mental breakdown. Upon recovering, she feels compelled to work as a nurse in a veterans' hospital. There, she engages in promiscuity with the patients as a means to compensate for the self-denial she and Gordon experienced. After her father's passing, she accepts Darrell's proposal to marry Sam Evans, despite not loving him, as she remains haunted by Gordon's memory.

While married and expecting Sam’s child, Nina agrees to an abortion after Sam’s mother reveals a family history of hereditary insanity. Subsequently, she intentionally conceives a child with Darrell, raising the child as if he were Sam's son. She does this to ensure Sam's happiness and prevent him from succumbing to the same madness that plagued his father. However, Nina falls in love with Darrell, and they engage in a long-standing affair that ultimately brings them no joy. At one time, Nina contemplates divorcing Sam to marry Darrell, but Darrell refuses. Eventually, the roles reverse, with Darrell desiring her to leave Sam for him, but he fails to convince her.

Nina finds a measure of happiness in raising her son, Gordon. Yet, she remains dissatisfied in her relationships with men, whether as a daughter, wife, lover, or mother. By the time she reaches forty-five, Nina is weary and dispirited. She has lost her true love, Gordon Shaw, and now her son Gordon has departed to marry Madeline. Turning to Marsden, a father figure she has known since childhood, she agrees to marry him. With her passion for life extinguished, she anticipates only a tranquil existence for her remaining years.

Charles Marsden

Charles Marsden, a tall and slender bachelor, is thirty-five years old at the start of the play. He possesses a gentle charm, always willing to listen and show empathy, and he desires both to like others and be liked in return. As a successful novelist, he specializes in writing comedies of manners. Marsden is always impeccably dressed and has a somewhat feminine aura. He might be a latent homosexual or bisexual, but he has avoided the physical side of love since a troubling encounter with a prostitute at the age of sixteen. This fear of life makes him less effective than he could be, leading to a lack of respect from Darrell, Sam, and later Gordon Evans. Marsden lives with his mother, to whom he is deeply attached, and he is heartbroken when she passes away from cancer.

Marsden is a friend and former pupil of Professor Leeds and has known Nina since her childhood. He loves her, and she holds affection for him, but only in a manner similar to how one might love an uncle. Marsden feels envious of Darrell, suspecting that Nina loves him, yet over the years, he patiently waits for her, always ready to offer friendship. Eventually, Nina seeks his protective companionship, the only type of relationship he can provide, and they marry. Marsden decides they will return to Nina's childhood home to live out their remaining years in peace.