Tristram Shandy Characters

Tom is Trim’s brother. He moved to Lisbon to find his fortune, married a Jewish man’s widow, and took over her sausage shop. Tom was soon arrested by the Inquisition, however, and his fate remains unknown.

The Jew’s widow is the wife of Trim’s brother Tom. She owns a sausage shop in Lisbon. Her fate after Tom’s arrest by the Inquisition is unknown.

The Black servant girl works for the Jewish man’s widow in Lisbon. Although the narration does not say so explicitly, readers can infer that she is enslaved. An innocent victim of a cruel system, her fate makes Toby and Trim wonder why there is such injustice in the world.

Little is known about Tristram’s great-grandfather except that he had “little or no nose,” a fact that Tristram’s great-grandmother used to extract an exorbitant jointure.

Tristram’s great-grandmother was a demanding woman who forced her husband, Tristram’s great-grandfather, to sign over a large jointure because he had “little or no nose.” Her son, Tristram’s grandfather, continued to pay this jointure for the 12 years she survived her husband.

Tristram’s grandfather and Walter’s father spent 12 years paying his mother, Tristram’s great-grandmother, an obscenely expensive jointure after the death of his own father (Tristram’s great-grandfather), all because his father had “little or no nose.”

Prignitz is a scholar of noses. He and Scroderus were among the leading authorities in the field before Slawkenbergius.

Scroderus is a scholar of noses. He and Prignitz were among the leading authorities in the field before Slawkenbergius.

Julia is Diego’s lover and Fernandez’s brother.

Fernandez is Julia’s brother who searches for Diego on her behalf.

Dick Johnson was a grenadier in Makay’s regiment who was whipped as punishment for a crime he did not commitment. His punishment was the greatest injustice Toby and Trim ever personally witnessed.

Ernulphus was a medieval bishop and master of cursing. Walter is a great enthusiast of Ernulphus’s curses and reads an excommunication Ernulphus issued to help Dr. Slop let off steam while cursing Obadiah.

The curate is Yorick’s assistant. Incompetent and inconsiderate, he misnames Tristram and fails to comfort Le Fever’s son.

Kysarcius is a priest and a guest at the dinner Yorick brings Walter and Toby to in order to discuss the possibility of re-christening Tristram.

Gastripheres is a priest and the cook at the dinner Yorick brings Walter and Toby to in order to discuss the possibility of re-christening Tristram. Gastripheres roasts the chestnuts that eventually burn Phutatorius’s genitals.

Didius is a fictional writer and lawyer whom Tristram uses to represent the legal profession and the philosophical and writerly attitudes it embodies.

Eugenius is a friend of Tristram and Yorick’s. Little is said about Eugenius himself, but he frequently offers the characters wise advice, as his Latin name would suggest.

Jenny is Tristram’s mistress but, as he strenuously if perhaps sarcastically argues, their relationship is pure and sentimental rather than lewd and sexual. Tristram frequently interrupts his narrative to cry out to Jenny.

Stevinus is an engineer who developed the sailing chariot and is one of Toby’s favorite authors.

Peireskius is a scholar and one of Toby’s favorite authors.

Cornelius Gallus was an ancient Roman politician who died while having sex.

Jonathan is the Shandy family’s coachman.

The scullion is the Shandy family’s cook.

John de la Casse was a bishop who spent 40 years composing a book that is only a few pages long. Walter greatly admires him and strives to write the Tristrapoedia in a similar manner.

Lady Baussiere is one of the ladies of the court of Navarre and is obsessed with whiskers.

Count Solmes was a general whose poor leadership caused the British and Dutch armies to lose the battle of Steenkirk to the French, for which Toby and Trim criticize him harshly.

Gymnast, along with Tripet, is one of the two acrobatic protagonists of a bizarre story Yorick tells to explain to Toby, unsuccessfully, what a “polemic divine” is.

Tripet, along with Gymnast, is one of the two acrobatic protagonists of a bizarre story Yorick tells to explain to Toby, unsuccessfully, what a “polemic divine” is.

Death, or the Grim Reaper, is the personification of death. He comes for Tristram at the beginning of Volume VII on account of Tristram’s poor health but is unable to keep up his pursuit when Tristram flees to the south of France.

Janatone is the beautiful daughter of the innkeeper in Montreuil, and meeting her is the only positive experience Tristram has in that town.

The abbess of Andoüillets is the leader of a nunnery who travels to the hot baths in Bourbon to cure her knee pain. Her novice, Margarita, accompanies her.

Margarita is a novice nun who travels to the hot baths in Bourbon with the abbess of Andoüillets to cure her swollen finger.

The gardener of the abbey of Andoüillets, who is also their muleteer, takes the abbess and Margarita to Bourbon, but he abandons them along the way after getting drunk.

The chaise undertaker is a French businessman who buys incredibly worn-out carriages and chaises. He purchases Tristram’s chaise when he arrives in Lyons. Unbeknownst to either the chaise undertaker or Tristram, Tristram’s beloved remarks are still in the carriage.

The commissary is a representative of the French post office who apprehends Tristram in Lyons with a bill from the king of France for the post-royal from Paris to Avignon.

François is Tristram’s French valet who accompanies him on his travels through southern France.