Matilda

Research on the characters in Maltilda the musical.

Matilda

Matilda is a girl who is exceptionally good at reading and math, and teaches herself to do complicated problems in her head, as well as how to read. She is smart and humble, she is also fair. Matilda hates being blamed for things she didn't do. Likes playing tricks on those who bug her. Likes her nice teacher and uses her telekinetic powers to do the right thing.

Miss Honey

Miss Jennifer Honey was a mild and quiet person who never raised her voice and was seldom seen to smile, but there is no doubt she possessed that rare gift for being adored by every small child under her care. Miss Honey is kind, sweet, and gentle, and she understands kids. Miss Honey is a determined person who's set on doing the right thing. Miss Honey is like a grown-up version of Matilda. But Miss Honey has gone through too much abuse. She's been broken. She's a victim of abuse, sure, but with Matilda's help, she is able to create the life she always wanted.

The Trunchbull

She might be the scariest Headmistress we're ever likely to come across. The Trunchbull also keeps talking about how much she hates kids. Actually, the Trunchbull terrifies everybody not just students and parents. Nobody's safe from her, and that keeps her safe. No one wants to challenge her, that is, until Matilda comes along.

Mr Wormwood

Mr. Wormwood who is Maltilda’s father, who's so vivid and slimy, Mr. Wormwood is tacky and totally self-absorbed. Despite the fact that others see a pretty sleazy guy when they look at him, Mr. Wormwood thinks he looks downright sharp. Mr Wormwood is a bookie, or a gambling man. The bottom line is that Mr. Wormwood is a cheat and a liar. As a second-hand car salesman, he only sells used cars, which gives him the opportunity to mess with each one, and lie about his products. To top it all off, he's a hypocrite. Mr. Wormwood also thinks he's the most important person in the family, so he likes to make a grand entrance every now and then.

Lavender

Lavender is another of the students in Miss Honey's class, one of the few who can read and spell a little already when the school year starts. Lavender might be the class's shining star. But because Matilda is there, Lavender isn't the smartest. Although the two become really good friends, it seems like Lavender really wants to get some glory on her own terms. According to Lavender, playing tricks is what makes a heroine. It's all about coming up with brilliant plots and pulling them off with daring secrecy.

Mrs Phelps

Mrs. Phelps at the library! Finally, a sane adult who doesn't treat Matilda as though she's a total nuisance. Unlike the other grown-ups in Matilda's life, Mrs. Phelps addresses Matilda with kindness and sympathy. Mrs. Phelps puts together a thoughtful reading list for Matilda, complete with Dickens and Hemingway and Kipling. And to top it all off, she gives Matilda important advice about reading, too. Mrs. Phelps gives Matilda the tools to go through the books and understand them as best she can, which is what really counts. Although Mrs. Phelps helps Matilda a great deal in the library, she doesn't help her as much out of it. The fact that Mrs. Phelps stays out of it makes her an important, but minor character in Matilda's life.

Mrs Wormwood

Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's mother, Mrs. Wormwood is a bad mother, but she's not as bad a parent as Mr. Wormwood is. She's awful. But her worst quality is that she just doesn't give a hoot about her own daughter. Mrs. Wormwood also values outsides more than insides. Naturally, like her vain husband, she thinks her own appearance is the ideal one. Mrs. Wormwood has a warped worldview. She's either too lazy or too stupid to think straight.

Hortensia

Hortensia is the older girl that Matilda and Lavender meet during one of their first recess periods at Crunchem Hall. She's about twice their age, already ten, and a veteran of battles with the Trunchbull. Hortensia's actually a lot like Matilda (without being another prodigy, that is). She uses her brain and wits to figure out pranks to play on the authority figures that mess with her. At the end of the day though, Hortensia doesn't care one bit whether she gets caught or not. She's too cool to worry about that because, frankly, she's got swagger. She doesn't just walk, she saunters. She's also got a sense of humour.

Bruce Bogtrotter

Poor Bruce. He's the slightly older boy who steals some of the Trunchbull's cake and is punished by her in front of an entire assembly. Except, it doesn't turn out too bad for the kid, and in the end, Bruce comes out on top. He stands up to the Trunchbull, and makes her punishment lose effect. Her plan fails in spectacular fashion. Bruce rises to the challenge, showing he has hidden depths at least, as a competitive eater. Once he gets going, he keeps going. And going. And going.

Michael Wormwood (Mike)

Matilda's brother is, well, barely there. We meet him, and then we forget him. In fact, we probably forget about him in the same type of way that Matilda's parents forget about her. He's ordinary. Next to his genius sister, he looks really dull. His parents favour him—and that's one of the ways we know what great judges of character they are. He's not mean to his sister. When it comes to intelligence, though, he seems to take after his dad, only he's even slower at doing calculations. Mike is a true Wormwood, and in that way, he represents what Matilda is most definitely not.

Amanda Thrip

Amanda is in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong hairstyle. She appears in just one scene, but it's an important one—it's the moment when Lavender and Matilda see the Trunchbull in the flesh for the first time, and learn what the monstrous headmistress is really capable of. Amanda makes the mistake of wearing pretty braids that show off her hair to school. The Trunchbull finds braids gross. So when the Trunchbull sees Amanda's hairstyle, she goes bananas. The Trunchbull spots Amanda on the playground and charges at her. It ends pretty badly for Amanda. After telling the girl she has to chop off all her hair before she comes back to school, the Trunchbull picks her up by the hair, whizzes her around at great speed, and throws her across the grounds, where she lands in a field.

Nigel, Rupert, Eric, and Wilfred

Despite the Trunchbull's comment that small girls are more evil than small boys, a bad girl is a far more dangerous creature than a bad boy. It seems like the Trunchbull picks on male students more than she picks on the girls, overall. Nigel, Rupert, Eric, and Wilfred each have the bad luck to come to her attention. Nigel, the smart and brave little boy who's the one to spell "cat" on the first day. Rupert comes to the Trunchbull's attention because he has very nice, long blonde hair. The next little boy to come forward, though, Eric, is pretty brave. And the Trunchbull catches Wilfred the following week. The Trunchbull is in the middle of waving him around the room—by an ankle—when the chalk starts writing on the blackboard, all by itself.

Fred

Fred is Matilda's neighbour and friend, a boy about her own age. He's primarily important in Matilda because he has a parrot for a pet. Matilda borrows the parrot to play a prank on her family, and Fred is all too happy to loan it to her—once Matilda gives him her allowance in exchange, that is.

Mr. Trilby, Miss Plimsoll and Matron

A few other teachers play minor parts in Matilda. Mr. Trilby is basically the vice principal, and he has the job of checking in on the Trunchbull after she skips town. Miss Plimsoll teaches the highest level class at Crunchem. We don't learn much about her but she seems like a challenging and fair teacher, who recognizes Matilda's abilities when Matilda's finally bumped up to an appropriate class. And the Matron is like the school nurse, who takes care of students and teachers when they're sick, and comes to look in on the Trunchbull after her fainting fit.