Adam

Adam, the first character described in the story is also the story's protagonist, or main character. The narrator's initial description of him is external: "he was dark, a strong and sturdy figure with fine eyes and hands; he limped a little on one leg," but it soon becomes clear that Adam is also keenly intelligent and well-traveled. Not only is he familiar with Roman and Danish mythology, but he is well-read in philosophy: from Aristotle's Poetics, which provides the structural background to his discussion of tragedy, to then-modem philosophical tracts, most notably Thomas Paine's (1737-1809) "The Rights of Man" (1791). He has "traveled and lived out of Denmark, in Rome and Paris," and is appointed to the Court of King George, the same King George from whom the American colonies won their independence in the Revolutionary War.

Anne-Marie Piil

It is Anne-Marie Pill who works herself to death in...