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From "The Woman in White" by Collins, Wilkie
Walter Hartright
Drawing master and narrator, who becomes entangled in a mystery.
Core Belief
"Honesty and integrity are paramount, even in the face of adversity. He also believes in the power of love to inspire and guide."
Worldview
Walter sees the world as a place where good and evil are in constant conflict, and where individuals have a moral obligation to fight for what is right, even at great personal cost.
Personality
Honest, earnest, and somewhat naive, Walter is a man of strong principles and deep emotions, particularly regarding Laura Fairlie. He's initially passive, but grows more resolute and resourceful as the story progresses, demonstrating courage and loyalty.
In Their Own Words
"This is the story of what a Woman’s patience can endure, and what a Man’s resolution can achieve."
"If I had not dived for Professor Pesca when he lay under water on his shingle bed, I should in all human probability never have been connected with the story which these pages will relate—I should never, perhaps, have heard even the name of the woman who has lived in all my thoughts, who has possessed herself of all my energies, who has become the one guiding influence that now directs the purpose of my life."
"The loneliness and helplessness of the woman touched me. The natural impulse to assist her and to spare her got the better of the judgment, the caution, the worldly tact, which an older, wiser, and colder man might have summoned to help him in this strange emergency."
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