Cora Seaborne

Cora is the main protagonist of the novel. She is described as being paradoxical, having different personalities for each occasion, being moody, eating a lot, having a "masculine intelligence" (56) (i.e. being tall and not thin. In other words, the exact opposite of what every Victorian society woman is supposed to be.)

Readers meet Cora at the death of her husband and learn of her hard life with him and his abusive tendencies. He has "filled her wounds with gold" (18) as her husband told her, meaning that he gave her wealth but also broke her and remade her in ways that she did not consent to. She married Michael young and she did not understand his need to reform her into a civilized society woman, because she was iron clad with the armor of youth. Young Cora seemed invincible as opposed to the man who was trying...