Hazel Morse
Hazel Morse is the protagonist of the story, which narrates several decades of her life. Though she is not married at the story’s opening and divorces before its halfway point, she is referred to throughout as Mrs. Morse. This suggests not so much that she is defined by her husband, who exerts no more particular influence on her than any other man, but that she is defined by the social roles available to her as a woman. She relies on the status of a married woman to superficially mask her position as a “kept woman” or mistress, and this role occupies all of her energy and imagination.