The Old Man Character Analysis in My Kinsman, Major Molineux

The first person with whom Robin speaks when he arrives in Massachusetts Bay. He is a brusque old man “with a full periwig of gray hair, a wide-skirted coat of dark cloth, and silk stockings.” Walking with the help of a cane that strikes the cobblestones as he walks, his voice, punctuated by a cough or quirk that sounds like “hem,” is described as “sepulchral,” meaning reminiscent of the grave. Robin bows before him, grasps the edge of his garment, and inquires after Major Molineux, only to be loudly rebuffed and threatened with the stocks, much to the amusement of the patrons of a nearby barber shop. Robin thinks to himself that the old man must be “some country representative […] who has never seen the inside of my kinsman’s door, and lacks the breeding to answer a stranger civilly.” The next time Robin hears the old man approaching—due to his unabating cough and the sounds of his walking stick on the pavement—he quickly makes himself scarce to avoid a repeat of their previous meeting. Though he denies knowing the Major, the old man is watching from a balcony and laughing uproariously when the parade passes by with a tarred-and-feathered Molineux in tow.

The Old Man Character Timeline in My Kinsman, Major Molineux

The timeline below shows where the character The Old Man appears in My Kinsman, Major Molineux. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...has come to see lives, since it is not “worthy” of him. He stops an old man walking ahead of him who is carrying a long cane and repeatedly clearing his throat... (full context)

The men in the barbershop laugh as Robin lets go of the old man and continues to wander the meandering “crooked and narrow streets,” smelling tar in the air.... (full context)

...fortune.” Rebuked by the elders that Robin briefly waylays, he hears the sound of the old man ’s cane and “sepulchral hems” striking the pavement. Hoping to avoid a repeat of his... (full context)

...while fixing him with her “saucy eye”; the innkeeper passes on his tiptoes; and the old man , wearing a nightcap, laughs from a balcony with the same “sepulchral hems” as before,... (full context)