The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Character Analysis

Miss Jean Brodie

Miss Brodie, with her dark Roman profile, is a charismatic but unorthodox teacher at the Blaine Junior school. She doesn’t instruct her girls in history and arithmetic, say, so much as she shares with them… read analysis of Miss Jean Brodie

Sandy Stranger

A small-eyed member of the Brodie set, Miss Brodie’s favorite and most intimate confidant, Sandy is highly imaginative and deeply interested in analyzing human behavior—she has “got insight,” as Miss Brodie tells her. She… read analysis of Sandy Stranger

Rose Stanley

Rose is a member of the Brodie set, an appealing blonde “famous for sex” in her later years at the Marcia Blaine School even though has no curiosity about sex whatsoever, never talks about sex… read analysis of Rose Stanley

Mary Macgregor

Though she is a member of the Brodie set, Mary is considered by everyone at Blaine, from Miss Lockhart to Miss Brodie herself, to be rather stupid and disagreeable. She is Miss Brodie’s scapegoat, the… read analysis of Mary Macgregor

Jenny Gray

A member of the Brodie set famous for her beauty and grace, Jenny is also Sandy’s best friend when the girls are young; together, the two write a fictionalized love correspondence between Miss Brodie… read analysis of Jenny Gray

Eunice Gardiner

A member of the Brodie set famous for “her spritely gymnastics and glamorous swimming,” Eunice is at first quiet, and so it is strange that she joins the Brodie set at all; but she soon… read analysis of Eunice Gardiner

Mr. Teddy Lloyd

The art teacher at Blaine, Mr. Lloyd is handsome and sophisticated, half Welsh and half English, with red and gold hair. He lost his left arm during World War I. While they are colleagues together… read analysis of Mr. Teddy Lloyd

Mr. Gordon Lowther

The singing teacher at Blaine, Mr. Lowther resembles Mr. Lloyd but is less attractive, long-bodied and short-legged; he owns a rich estate in Cramond. After Miss Brodie renounces her love for Mr. Lloyd, she becomes… read analysis of Mr. Gordon Lowther

Miss Mackay

The headmistress of the Marcia Blaine School, Miss Mackay strongly disapproves of Miss Brodie’s educational methods, attempting to pump the Brodie girls for incriminating information about their teacher throughout their student years. When Sandy… read analysis of Miss Mackay

Miss Lockhart

The Senior science teacher at Blaine, Miss Lockhart is, in contrast to Miss Brodie, a teacher dedicated to nothing more than teaching her subject rigorously and well. She does not regard the girls in… read analysis of Miss Lockhart

Joyce Emily Hammond

A rich and delinquent girl sent to Blaine as a last resort, Joyce Emily very much wants to attach herself to the Brodie set, but the other girls resist her. Nonetheless, Miss Brodie makes time… read analysis of Joyce Emily Hammond

Miss Ellen and Alison Kerr

The two sewing teachers at Blaine, the Kerr sisters are meek Calvinists who begin housekeeping for Mr. Lowther, and it seems as though one might even marry him. However, Miss Brodie crushes their prospects… read analysis of Miss Ellen and Alison Kerr

Miss Gaunt

A gaunt woman, and the sister of a Calvinist minister, Miss Gaunt substitutes for Miss Brodie at Blaine in the autumn of 1931. Unlike Miss Brodie’s influence on the classroom, Miss Gaunt’s presence in the… read analysis of Miss Gaunt

Hugh

Miss Brodie’s lover who died in World War I. Miss Brodie tells her young students about her relationship with Hugh, which so excites Sandy and Jenny that as young girls they write a sexually… read analysis of Hugh

Minor Characters

Monica Douglas

A member of the Brodie set famous for her mathematical ability and violent anger. After graduating from Blaine, Monica goes into science and marries a man who later demands a separation from her, after she throws a live coal at his sister.

Deirdre Lloyd

Mr. Teddy Lloyd’s wife, Deirdre has many children with her husband, in accordance with Roman Catholic custom. She dresses fashionably like a peasant, which Sandy imitates in seducing Mr. Lloyd.

The Three Andrews

Boys with whom some members of the Brodie set converse in the opening scene of the novel, the three Andrews, along with their fellows, are soon shooed away by Miss Brodie.