George Bernard Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple" : characters

When we are first introduced to Richard Dudgeon, at the reading of his

late father Timothy's will in his childhood home, we have already

learned of his character from the opinions of three other characters:

firstly, his mother, then from Anthony Anderson, the minister, and

finally, from Anderson's wife Judith. None of these accounts are in

Richard's favour, although Anthony Anderson is perhaps the least

against Richard of them all. Richard's mother considers Richard to be

the lowest of the low and a disgrace to his society; she believes that

there is nothing admirable about him at all. However, one could argue

that she is not much of an admirable woman herself, embittered by

having been forced to marry Timothy Dudgeon and not Timothy's late

brother Peter, for whom she really had feelings. We learn that Timothy

was the good and righteous brother, whereas Peter was not and was

therefore disgraced and cast into shame by his relatives and