The Way of the World Characters & Character Analysis

The Way of the World Characters

Fainall

Fainall is a faithless husband who depends on his wife's inheritance for his ease and livelihood. His "Wit and outward fair Behaviour," as his friendly acquaintance and rival, Mirabell, remarks, has allowed him to enjoy a good reputation "with the Town," but his true nature is greedy, false, and profligate. While he is carrying on an affair with Mrs. Marwood, his wife's friend and confidante, he is plotting to wrest full control of both his wife's and his mother-in-law's estates. As his name implies, he is a pretender, but one whose talent for getting along serves him well in society. It is, in fact, this tractability that makes him a suitable man to be "sacrificed" to "Arabella Languish" (Mrs. Fainall's name by her first, deceased husband) when this widow is in need of an inoffensive second husband.

Mrs. Fainall

Mrs. Fainall is daughter to Lady Wishfort and heir to her fortune....
(read more)