The Remains of the Day Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Stevens

The butler of Darlington Hall, a man who built his entire self on dignity, duty and never abandoning the professional being he inhabits. He drives to Cornwall chasing a second chance and discovers he traded love, family and moral judgment for service to a misguided master.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Letter and the Excuse; Part 2: Dignity, and What It Cost; Part 3: The Master's Mistakes, the Servant's Silence; Part 4: Little Compton, and the Evening
Themes:: Dignity as self-erasure; Loyalty without judgment; The unreliable self-narrator; Englishness and restraint; Regret and the remains of the day

Miss Kenton / Mrs Benn

The former housekeeper, sharp and opinionated, the one person who could reach Stevens — and the one he kept at arm's length. She married Mr Benn, raised a family, and tells Stevens she is content, though she admits to imagining the life she might have had with him.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Letter and the Excuse; Part 2: Dignity, and What It Cost; Part 3: The Master's Mistakes, the Servant's Silence; Part 4: Little Compton, and the Evening
Themes:: Dignity as self-erasure; The unreliable self-narrator

Lord Darlington

Stevens's employer for decades, an honourable but misguided gentleman who tried to rehabilitate Germany between the wars, hosted fascists, and dismissed two Jewish maids. His postwar libel suit destroyed his reputation, and his mistakes become the mirror in which Stevens finally sees his own.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Letter and the Excuse; Part 2: Dignity, and What It Cost; Part 3: The Master's Mistakes, the Servant's Silence; Part 4: Little Compton, and the Evening
Themes:: Loyalty without judgment

Mr Farraday

The American who bought Darlington Hall and kept Stevens on with a reduced staff. His fondness for bantering exposes exactly what Stevens lacks — easy human warmth — and his generosity with the Ford sets the whole journey in motion.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Letter and the Excuse; Part 4: Little Compton, and the Evening
Themes:: Englishness and restraint

William Stevens

Stevens's father, an under-butler whose icy composure — serving the general who caused his son's death — became his son's model of dignity. He dies of a stroke during the 1923 conference while his son stays downstairs serving port.

Appears in:: Part 2: Dignity, and What It Cost

How they are connected

Key relationships

Stevens Lord Darlington
The butler of Darlington Hall, a man who built his entire self on dignity, duty and never abandoning the professional being he inhabits.
Miss Kenton / Mrs Benn Stevens
The former housekeeper, sharp and opinionated, the one person who could reach Stevens — and the one he kept at arm's length.
Mr Farraday Stevens
The American who bought Darlington Hall and kept Stevens on with a reduced staff.
Mr Farraday Lord Darlington
The American who bought Darlington Hall and kept Stevens on with a reduced staff.
William Stevens Stevens
Stevens's father, an under-butler whose icy composure — serving the general who caused his son's death — became his son's model of dignity.

Go deeper

The Remains of the Day themes & symbols

Dignity as self-erasure · Loyalty without judgment · The unreliable self-narrator · Englishness and restraint

Themes explained

Read the full The Remains of the Day summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

Open the summary