The Speaker
The speaker in the poem is a man that loves his domestic partner, presumably his wife. He does his best to demonstrate and express his love to her. However, he is haunted by a gray figure that appears to him when he is sleeping beside the woman. He struggles to comfort and protect her. His tone is characterized by an earnest emotionality and relatively straightforward word choice. He is highly observant of sensory details relating to touch and light.
The Speaker's Wife
The speaker’s wife is the secondary character of the poem. She appears to be discomforted at the beginning before drifting off to sleep. She seems to be feeling a certain degree of unspoken tension in the relationship. The speaker sees her brother's ghost, implying that she is suffering from lingering pain over the loss.
The Gray Figure
The gray figure is the speaker's dead brother-in-law and seems to believe that the speaker is an intruder in his sister's life. The figure hovers over the speaker during the night, making him feel uneasy and unsafe.
