Martha Leigh Character Traits

In the gothic novel Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt the main character, Martha Leigh, travels to Cornwall, England to be a governess at a wealthy estate. At Mount Mellyn she becomes embroiled in the mystery of the former mistress's death as she tries to better the lives of the children in her care. Her interactions with other character shows the reader her personality. Martha Leigh is a thoughtful, caring character who works to improve the lives of those she loves. Martha Leigh is very modest about her personality description. For example, she is a very realistic individual. One instance that shows how realistic she is would be her belief that she would be a governess for the rest of her life. Another example of when Martha was realistic
Martha meets a nice young man traveling on the same train as her, his name is Peter. He makes it very clear that he has feelings for Martha but also that he has feelings for a lot of other woman. Through Peter’s actions, we can infer that he thinks of her as a very intelligent and prudent woman. Also through Peter’s words and actions we can see that Martha is very modest about her position. When Peter tries to give Martha a horse, she declines the gift because she knows that it is not moral for someone in her position to accept. Another character that helps us to learn a great deal more about Martha is Connan, the Lord or the manor. Connan expresses that he believes that Martha is capable of turning Avlean into what society requests from her, which is to be a respectable and well-mannered lady. Connan also sees Martha as an individual that is very confident and can easily stand her ground. An example of when he realizes this is when Martha rightfully trumps Celestine. A final character that helps the reader to understand and to learn about Martha is Avlean, the young girl she is the governess of. One aspect of Martha that we learn about through Avlean is how authoritative Martha is. She has rules that are set in stone to help Avlean grow to her fullest potential. Another aspect is that Martha is an ally for Avlean. She is always there for her and always will be through falls and triumphs. The final aspect of Martha that we see is an aspect that has been missing throughout most of Avlean’s life which is the motherly figure. From the other characters around her, we can derive that Martha is a hard but kind individual who can help wherever she