Professor Craft Character Analysis

Professor Craft is the only female professor at Babel. She ultimately joins Robin and Victoire when they take over Babel. Early in the novel, because Craft is a woman in a field dominated by men, Letty seeks her out, hoping to find solidarity and a possible mentor. Instead of supporting Letty, though, Professor Craft treats her coldly and tells her that there is no discrimination against women at Oxford—women just need to be talented and work hard, in Craft’s view. That response suggests that Craft has little time for conversations about equity and gender parity and may be shortsighted about the realities of gender discrimination at Oxford. It is perhaps surprising, then, that she embraces the revolutionary positions of the Hermes Society later on. However, the novel suggests that while Craft may have rebuffed Letty and been shortsighted about gender discrimination, she is also genuinely fair-minded and motivated by a desire for justice. Professor Craft is then contrasted with characters like Letty, Professor Playfair, and Professor Lovell. While each of those characters is confronted with the truth about the British Empire, only Professor Craft genuinely grapples with her own complicity in that injustice and feels compelled to address that complicity.