Gabriel Syme
Gabriel Syme, the protagonist and title character of The Man Who Was Thursday, is a passionate but practical poet-detective who attempts to infiltrate and undermine a vast anarchist conspiracy. After growing up in a…
read analysis of Gabriel Syme
The President/The Police Chief/Sunday
The President of the Central Anarchist Committee, who uses the nickname “Sunday,” is the driving force behind the novel’s entire plot. He is a quintessential criminal mastermind: he’s ruthless, fearless, and full of evil schemes…
read analysis of The President/The Police Chief/Sunday
The Secretary/Monday
“Monday,” whom Gabriel Syme knows as “The Secretary,” is Sunday’s right-hand man and the last Central Anarchist Committee member to be unmasked as an undercover detective. He’s also the first one Syme meets: after…
read analysis of The Secretary/Monday
Gogol/Tuesday
Gogol, or “Tuesday,” is an unkempt, sullen anarchist who looks absurd in formal dress clothes (and whom Gabriel Syme compares to an overdressed, scruffy dog). At the end of the Central Anarchist Committee meeting, Sunday…
read analysis of Gogol/Tuesday
The Marquis de St. Eustache/Inspector Ratcliffe/Wednesday
The anarchist nicknamed “Wednesday” is supposedly the Marquis de St. Eustache, a wealthy and sophisticated French nobleman who shares the aristocracy’s disdain for democratic government. But, like Gogol and the Professor, he really turns…
read analysis of The Marquis de St. Eustache/Inspector Ratcliffe/Wednesday
Get the entire The Man Who Was Thursday LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Professor de Worms/Wilks/Friday
The Central Anarchist Committee member nicknamed “Friday” appears to be the elderly German nihilist philosopher Professor de Worms. When Gabriel Syme first meets him, he is so old and senile that he can barely get…
read analysis of The Professor de Worms/Wilks/Friday
Dr. Bull/Saturday
Dr. Bull (nicknamed “Saturday”) is one of the seven members of the Central Anarchist Committee. Like the rest, he turns out to be an undercover detective. Compared to the other men on the Council, he…
read analysis of Dr. Bull/Saturday
The Narrator
Chesterton’s narrator is omniscient and speaks in the third person, but mostly presents the story through the lens of Gabriel Syme’s thoughts, actions, and feelings. For instance, the narrator never reveals any of the…
read analysis of The Narrator
Lucian Gregory
Lucian Gregory is the charming, flamboyant anarchist poet who unwittingly helps Gabriel Syme infiltrate the Central Anarchist Council in the novel’s first two chapters. In the first chapter, Gregory and Syme argue about whether poetry…
read analysis of Lucian Gregory
Rosamond Gregory
Rosamond Gregory is Lucian Gregory’s sister. At the beginning of the novel, Gabriel Syme notices her beautiful red hair and chats with her for several minutes about poetry and her brother’s anarchism. He thinks…
read analysis of Rosamond Gregory
Colonel Ducroix
Colonel Ducroix is a French soldier and member of the prestigious Legion of Honour who serves as one of the Marquis’s “seconds” (official attendants) during his trip to France. He officiates the duel between…
read analysis of Colonel Ducroix
The French Peasant
The peasant is the suntanned farmer who helps Gabriel Syme, the Professor, Dr. Bull, the Marquis (Inspector Ratcliffe), and Colonel Ducroix escape the Secretary’s black-clad army after Syme’s duel with…
read analysis of The French Peasant
The Elderly Innkeeper
The innkeeper is an elderly French man and friend of Colonel Ducroix who runs the country inn “Le Soleil d’Or.” He helps Ducroix and the detectives (Gabriel Syme, the Professor, Dr. Bull…
read analysis of The Elderly Innkeeper
Dr. Renard
Dr. Renard is a respected doctor and friend of Colonel Ducroix who lives in the fictional French town of Lancy. The only honest rich man in town, Ducroix helps the detectives (Gabriel Syme…
read analysis of Dr. Renard
Minor Characters
The Previous Thursday
According to Lucian Gregory, the last man who served as Thursday before the events of the novel was an eccentric who accidentally poisoned himself by drinking chalky water instead of milk.
Comrade Buttons
Comrade Buttons is the chair of the local anarchist meeting that elects Gabriel Syme as Thursday (over Lucian Gregory).
The Philosophical Policeman
The philosophical policeman is the mysterious officer who approached Gabriel Syme one day on the banks of the Thames and convinced him to join the anti-anarchist detective unit.