Character Analysis – Picnic at Hanging Rock

Character Chapter Quotation Thematic Link Analysis

Mrs Appleyard Ch1 ‘With her high-piled Repression and This description, which introduces Mrs Appleyard, establishes her main
greying pompadour and control characteristics: her air of grandeur and authority, her respectability and,
ample bosom, as rigidly therefore, suitability in the parents’ eyes. However, it also shows her
controlled and disciplined continuing love for Arthur and, more hidden, her unwavering
as her private ambitions, Colonialism determination and confidence that she will succeed in her venture.
the cameo portrait of her
late husband on her Wealth and social  Obsessed with accruing wealth and social status and controlling
respectable chest, the class students
stately stranger looked  Her strait-laced demeanour and her often callous treatment of
precisely what parents her students suggest she is straining toward upward mobility
expected of an English perhaps escaping from a dark past.
Headmistress  Preoccupied with instilling a regimented sense of order, grace,
and compliance in both her pupils+staff.
 Mrs Appleyard’s mental state deteriorates visibly as the months
pass
 Desperate for control, she develops a fixation with breaking the
spirit of the orphan Sarah Waybourne
 Mrs Appleyard seems to blame her descent into madness on the
rock's looking shadow over her life.
 Her death represents failure of colonial society’s oppressive
organization, the decline of the Victorian era.

Mike Ch5 ‘What was her name, the Mystery and the Mike was struck at first sight by Miranda, fascinated by her other-worldly
tall pale girl with straight unknown beauty and grace. The imagery of a white swan is repeated throughout
yellow hair, who had gone the novel, reminding Mike of Miranda and, perhaps, serving as a
skimming over the water comparison to Irma’s dark beauty.
like one of the white Nature
swans on his uncle’s  A young Englishman visiting his wealthy aunt and uncle in Lake
lake?’ View for the summer
 Witnesses Miranda, Marion, Irma and Edith hopping over the
creek starting in the trail up the rock
 Captivate by Miranda's beauty, he finds himself personally
invested and deeply worried when he learns that the girls have
gone missing
 Mike undertakes his own investigation with the help of his
coachman Albert Crundall.
 Mike never stops yearning for Miranda and appears to wish
 Character Analysis – Picnic at Hanging Rock
privately that she, not Irma had been the one recovered from the
rock.
 Mike is a gentleman, but he has the spirit of an adventurer and
his experiences on hanging rock inspire to push himself out of
his comfort zone and undertake an exploration of the Australian
outback
 Mike is sensitive, restless, brave and occasionally hardheaded

Ch3 “Mike remembered Mystery and the Mike refers to Edith as “a fat one” compared to the other boarders which
Edith afterwards how she had unknown are described with ultimate beauty. This shows that Edith has a lack of
stopped and called back stereotypical qualities and is repeated portrayed as the one that
Social class
over her shoulder to the complains/irritates the other girls or even slows them down. She also
little fat one trudging depicts a mysterious theme as she lost her memory after the incident.
behind.”
 Class dunce at Appleyard college
 Receives vicious treatment form her classmates
 Hangs out with three seniors in hope to become popular
 Tries to fit in with the rest of the girls
 Never is compared to a painting or something beautiful
 Described as a chubby kid
 Gets terrified of the red cloud and runs down the mountain

Ch2 “It’s a free country as far Wealth and class Albert is local to Aussie, and he knows what is right and wrong to do.
as I know. What’s the Whereas Mike finds it rude to be whistling at girls because he is from
harm in a whistle?”
Albert abroad and where he comes from doesn't allow that type of behaviour.
Albert is from an orphanage which usually implies lower class whereas
Mike is from abroad and has excellent manners which portrays he is
from an upper-class family.

 Albert is the Fitzherbert's coachman

 Not much older than mike, Albert is crass yet funny, common
yet gentle, and ruddy faced yet handsome
 He is a stark contrast to the pampered inhabitants of lake view
and Appleyard college
 Albert is a deeply practical man who is aware of his relatively
 Character Analysis – Picnic at Hanging Rock

low social status yet never wishes to change it

 He endured a terrible childhood i an orphanage- and had a
traumatic separation from his sister.
 He is grateful for small pleasures of daily life, for the company
pf his beloved horses, and for the sense of possibility and
adventure in the landscape all around him
 After Mike’s search for the girl’s, Albert is the one to rescue
both Mike and Irma Leopold in two separate acts of great
bravery
 He reserves an offer for a banking job form Irma’s father and a
$1,000 cheque
 Albert is given the chance to change his life- and yet decides ti
put the money away and trave; the outback with mike
 Pragmatic, humorous and loyal, Abert represents the hope for
change from the grounds up within Australian society

Marion “Whether Edith likes it or Gossip and scandal Marion is a geek (know-it-all) who incessantly bullies and teases Edith
not,” Marion pointed out, as she is easy to pick on and is portrayed dumb. This makes Marion
that fat little body of hers seem like an egoistic and callous student who may be an academic
is made up of millions and achiever but speaks extremely negatively which degrades her as a
millions of cells.” person.

 Popular, self-assured
 Very good friends with Miranda and Irma
 Very good at mathematics
 Wanted to take measurements of the base of Hanging rock
Sara Ch3 “Sara scowled her Stubborn/ Sara is the youngest boarder in this college and is given sympathy by
disbelief of Mrs Hemans’ disobedient everyone except the principal (Mrs Appleyard) due to her social
genius. An obstinate Wealth and Class standing and lack of wealth. She is shown as innocent as she is an
difficult child. ‘I know Innocence orphan, so she must face society without any knowledge. For example,
another bit of poetry by Repression instead of doing the work her principal has set, she wrote her own
heart.” “I didn’t find it. I Unique/Individuality poetry and attempted to present that and disobey the other work. This
wrote it.” Societal difficulties shows her unexpected courage to face the head of the school which
 Character Analysis – Picnic at Hanging Rock

“Strange as it may seem, I shows her individuality. Later we learn that Sara is not coping well with
prefer Mrs Hemans. Give pressure in school and has suicidal thoughts.
me your book and
proceed to recite to me as  Orphan and youngest boarder at Appleyard college
far as you’ve gone.” “I tell  Gets terrible treatment from Mrs Appleyard
you; I can’t learn that silly  May be small but makes it up with her attitude
stuff if I sit here for a  With Miranda gone, sara struggles to fit in with the students
week.”  Is found behind the school face planted in a hydrangea bush
crushed beyond recognition
 Sara’s death is a mystery as we don’t know if she was pushed by
Mrs Appleyard or took her own life

Irma Leopold Wealth and Social  A popular and wealthy senior at Appleyard college
Class  Mysteriously disappears at the hanging rock along with marion,
Gossip and scandal miranda and miss mccraqw
 Is found a few days later at the rock but has no memories
beyond the picnic
 Irma soon joins her parents back home in Europe
 The novel reveals that she soon becomes a countess but never
recovers the dreadful memories of the disappearance at the
hanging rock

Mademoiselle  The French and dance teacher at apple yard college

 The most popular and beloved teacher and governess
 Is gentle, kind, thoughtful and most of all cares about her
students and their incentives.
 Genuine affection towards girls
 Inspires the envy and dislike of her colleagues, Miss Lumley and
Mrs Appleyard yet she refuses to let herself be roped into their
petty plays for power
 Towards the end of the novel mademoiselles begins to suspect
that dark forces are at work at Appleyard college
 Character Analysis – Picnic at Hanging Rock

 Had sympathy for Sara Waybourne

 Informs constable bumper that something isn’t right at
Appleyard college
leaves Appleyard college to marry a watchmaker in town

Miranda Wealth and Social  Most popular and beloved senior at Appleyard college
Class  Angelic beauty
Beauty  Has a special favour towards the orphan Sara Waybourne
 Very protective of Edith Horton
 Has a special affinity for nature and is the only one of her
classmates to express any real feelings

Greta McCraw  Math teacher and governess at Appleyard college
 Last seen at the rock in her underwear where Edith is the last
one to see her
 Body was never found at the rock at the hanging rock
 The rock had a mysterious effect on her which caused her to be
left in her undies

Themes: Colonialism, mystery and the unknown, wealth and class, nature, repression, gossip and scandal