Characters

From Wikousta

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	== Group 1 – The Characters ==		== Group 1 – The Characters ==

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Revision as of 17:19, 13 June 2020

Contents 1 Group 1 – The Characters 2 Major Characters

Group 1 – The Characters

Divide the characters between major and minor characters and provide a quick biographical sketch of the major characters. List the minor characters with a key detail (job, plot function, etc) to identify them. Prepare a family tree to help visually identify the relations between the characters.

Major Characters

Wacousta / Reginald Morton

Wacousta is the created name for Reginald Morton, who started his life as a British soldier. He was friends with Colonel Charles de Haldimar while he was a soldier. During this time, Reginald came across a young woman named Clara while out hunting and promptly fell in love with her and devoted himself to their union. He took Clara with him, leaving her family and life behind so they could marry and be together. During their escape, Reginald was called into battle and left Clara in the care of Colonel Charles de Haldimar claiming her to be Reginald’s cousin. Reginald returns from battle to find Charles has married Clara, he is charged for neglect of duty and cowardice, and has been rejected by his friends. Fueled by heartbreak, betrayal, and hatred, Reginald rebels against the English, fighting alongside the French and eventually aligning himself with the Indigenous group led by Ponteac, adopting the name and persona of Wacousta. The remainder of Wacousta’s life is dedicated to the revenge of Charles, and his new “savage” persona allows him to play out a violent revenge that would have otherwise not been possible in the English way of life. Wacousta aids in fulfilling Ellen Halloway’s prophecy of the destruction of the de Haldimar name, resulting in the deaths of Colonel Charles and two of his three children Charles Jr. and Clara. Wacousta dies in the process of his revenge, killed by Ouacanasta’s brother.

Governor/Colonel Charles de Haldimar

Governor/Colonel Charles de Haldimar is the man in charge of the Detroit Fort and the father to two sons, Charles (Jr.) and Frederick, and a daughter Clara, who is named after his late wife. He is a power-hungry and a not well liked soldier, who was friends with Reginald Morton (now Wacousta) early in his career. When Reginald was ordered into battle, he left his lover (Clara) with Charles saying she was his cousin. Charles then married Clara and had three children, initiating the heartbreak and betrayal felt by Reginald, and as such creating much of the conflict within the novel. Charles continued exploiting his power as leader of his fort, killing an innocent man through the justice system. The wrongdoings of Charles ultimately lead to the death of himself and most of his children, as prophesied by Ellen Halloway.

Frederick de Haldimar

The oldest and most successful of the de Haldimar children, married to his cousin Madeline de Halidmar and is the pride of the garrison. Frederick de Haldimar, accompanied by his servant, Harry Donellan, sneak out from the Detroit fort with the aid of Frank Halloway in order to meet an Indigenous woman, Oucanasta. With her guidance he is able to overhear the conversation between Ponteac and the other chiefs and their plans to deceive the British soldiers and attack Fort Michilimackinac. He is caught during his escape by Wacousta but is freed by Ouacanasta’s brother, to which he heads to the fort in order to save his sister Clara, and his wife Madeline de Haldimar. During their escape from the ruins of Fort Michilimackinac their ship is intervened by Wacousta and he is taken prisoner. He manages to escape, alongside his wife, Miss de Haldimar, Francois, and Oucanasta, and eventually becomes colonel of the regiment and a father.

Charles de Haldimar

The youngest brother of the de Haldimar lineage, described as a soft hearted individual who worries for his brother and sister and emotionally expresses many of the traumas that take place in the novel. As such, he is perceived as weak by his father and many of the other soldiers. He supports and aids the union of his sister, Clara, and his good friend Sir Everard Vallentort. Charles inadvertently discovered the complicated past of his mother when he saw the letter from her while in his father’s room, one of the first moments in the novel that begins to reveal the true conflict between Wacousta and Colonel de Haldimar.

Clara de Haldimar

The daughter of Governor de Haldimar whose appearance is similar to her late mother. Described as a feminine and beautiful young woman with a close relationship to her brother Charles de Haldimar. Clara is stationed at fort Michilimackinac with her cousin Madeline de Haldimar until it is attacked and then promptly saved by Captain Middleton. She is the object of great interest for Sir Everard Vallentort, whose love is supported by her brother Charles. Clara is then captured by Wacousta who initially demands that she become his wife, and subjects her to listening to his history of the relationship between her mother and himself. Clara and Vallentort attempt to escape together, but are then killed by Wacousta.

Sir Everard Vallentort

Sir Everard Vallentort is a soldier within the Detroit Fort and a good friend to Charles de Haldimar. In the beginning of the novel, he shot Frederick de Haldimar’s servant Harry Donellan thinking he was an Indigenous enemy (Harry Donellan was dressed up to appear as one) entering the fort. He expresses a great desire to meet and be with the sister of the de Haldimar brothers, Clara, of whom he heard about extensively from Charles. Vallentort goes to save Clara when she is kidnapped by Wacousta, but both of them end up being killed by Wacousta in their efforts to escape.

Frank Halloway

Frank Halloway is a soldier in the English garrison of Détroit working under the authority of Colonel de Haldimar who at one point saved his son, Frederick’s, life. While he was guarding the gate at night he was asked by Captain de Haldimar to allow them passage, he eventually gave in, under the assumption that Captain de Haldimar and his servant, Harry Donellan, would return. Due to the disappearance of Captain de Halidmar and his servant, he is charged and sentenced to death by firing squad. His death sentence is momentarily interrupted by the appearance of Wacousta, to which Halloway pleads for the Governor to wait, but his plea is unheard and he is shot to death multiple times. Colonel de Haldimar’s decision to order Frank’s death despite his righteous and seemingly pure motivations is what leads his wife Ellen to state the prophecy that will lead to the de Haldimar’s downfall.

Ellen Halloway

Ellen Halloway is the wife of Frank Halloway, and begs Charles de Haldimar at his bedside to have mercy upon her husband. When this is refused, she disguises herself as a drummer boy in the death march of Frank Halloway and reveals herself briefly to talk to her husband. Upon his death she appears wild and places a curse upon the Governor that all descendants of the de Halidmar lineage will have the same fate and unjust death as her late husband. She is then taken by Wacousta and is made his wife, but preceding the final battle between Wacousta and the British she is never found again.