Usbek
The author or recipient of most of the Letters, Usbek is a middle-aged Persian courtier from Isfahan. He has to flee the country due to some decisions that made him very unpopular, and travels to France where he encounters customs that are foreign to him but that also make him question some of his own cultural assumptions.
Usbek has several wives whom he leaves behind in a "seraglio", which is a luxurious compound of buildings where their needs are met by slaves. A man of deep religious conviction, Usbek values wisdom and respects authority. However one of his character flaws is that he does not understand his own wives. He takes them for granted and does not love them in any romantic sense.
Rica
A young man from Isfahan, Rica is the second Persian in the story. He travels with Usbek out of a desire for adventure. He is unmarried, but his friends and family miss him when he is gone. The tone of Rica's letters suggests that he is playful, sarcastic, good-looking and witty. He is the more outgoing of the two Persians.
Ibben
Ibben is a friend and business associate of Usbek. He is living in Smyrna, a port city through which the Persians passed. The details of his personality cannot be easily determined, but Usbek shares with him insights about Parisian life and society, particularly political commentary. Rica writes to him about the differences between Persian and French society in terms of women's roles.
Rhedi
Rhedi is a philosopher living in Venice, with whom Rica and Usbek correspond.
Roxana
Roxana is the youngest of Usbek's wives. He believes she is the most virtuous, and he trusts her more than his other wives, but she is the one who eventually betrays him (having despised him since the day of their marriage).
Solim
Solim, who takes over from the aging Chief Eunuch, is nominally in charge of the seraglio. In theory he is a slave who lives only to serve the women of the seraglio. In practice he is responsible for guarding their "purity" by ensuring they never come into contact with, or are seen by, men besides Usbek. He is unable to keep the seraglio from collapsing into anarchy after Usbek's years of absence.
As a eunuch, Solim cannot have physical relations with women, and he has developed a conflicted attitude toward them, alternately hating and desiring Zelis, Roxana, and the others. When he finally complains to Usbek enough to get permission to punish people, he tortures two of the white eunuchs and savagely beats both Zelis and Zachi. He confines all the women to their rooms and indirectly causes Roxana's final rebellion.
Zelis
Zelis is the wife who writes to Usbek the most frequently. She passes along family news from home, particularly a story about a daughter of a man named Soliman. She is the mother of Usbek's daughter, but one day on the way to the mosque she accidentally lets her veil slip and her face was visible to the public for a moment. Because someone was caught smuggling in a letter, Usbek orders one of his eunuchs to beat Zelis. This destroys the respect and love she previously had for him. Zelis is completely innocent: the letter was for someone else.
Zachi
The first wife to write to Usbek, Zachi professes her passionate love for him and describes her emotional pain at not being near him. Usbek reprimands her for having been caught alone with the eunuch Nadir, and she nurses a hatred for the Chief Eunuch. She is rebuked by her husband for Zephis's indiscretion; this inspires her to decide that if she's going to be punished for the offense she might as well commit it. Late in the novel, she is beaten by one of the eunuchs on Usbek's orders. Unlike Zelis, Zachi does not stop loving Usbek. She only wants him to return to her.
Zephis
Early in the novel, Zephis (Usbek's wife) is caught in what appears to be a lesbian relationship with one of her slave women, which is offensive to Usbek.
Fatme
One of Usbek's wives, Fatme misses him and loves him passionately.
