Badass Bookworm: Beatrice is an intelligent book lover, but she also competes with men in ice-skating and horse-riding, assists in a surgery and calls the villains out on their atrocities.
Break the Cutie / Trauma Conga Line: Beatrice might be smart, competent, and tough, but life has been really hard on her. Not only did she lose her mother when she was only six years old and her father when she was only fourteen years old, but she also has to live with her tyrannical uncle, who abuses her for five long years, forcing her into a marriage with a man who's about forty years older than her and treats women like dirt under his shoes. Beatrice's relationship with Seth is also complicated to say the least. And just when she thought that things would turn out good between them, cue Edvard ruining everything! She was brutally raped and almost killed on her wedding night...
Denied Food as Punishment: Beatrice is locked into her room for a week by her Evil Uncle. She's not given any food during this time and is near starvation when her aunt comes home and is allowed to give her some soup.
Ditzy Genius: Beatrice is a very intelligent young woman, when it comes to academical and intellectual pursuits. But, man, does she make some lousy decisions! When she's bullied into the engagement with Rosenschiöld, she never asks for help from anybody who might actually want to and be able to help her. She also gets drunk at Sofia's engagement party (which could have ended much worse than it did), trusts the sociopathic Edvard (she shouldn't have), and tries to seduce Seth when she has just fallen off a horse and gotten injured (not the right time)!
The Dog Bites Back: This story has a downplayed example where Beatrice gets a small revenge on her uncle. Not only does Beatrice claim the right to "his" house, which he basically had stolen from her despite that she had inherited it from her grandmother. (What makes it even more awesome is that she sells the house to use the money for education for girls.) Beatrice also reminds him that his daughter wants nothing more to do with him and that even his wife has left him...
I Can Still Fight!: Beatrice falls off a horse and gets injured, but she wants to get up despite being advised not to do so by Seth.
The McCoy: Beatrice is both impulsive and passionate, and she is never afraid to break the rules of high society or speak her mind. But she also cares a lot about the welfare of other people like, for example, the poor children and women from a far less privileged background than her own. And when it comes to helping her personal friends, her willingness to sacrifice herself for them ends with a disaster for her...
Red Heads Are Uncool: Beatrice belongs to the fiery category. She's both an intelligent book lover and a plucky tomboy, AND a proto-feminist, which turns a lot of people away from her. She's described as not conventionally beautiful, with too many freckles and too wide a mouth, and she also seems to often wear unflattering clothes.
Sex as Rite-of-Passage: We get a Rare Female Example of this when Beatrice has sex for the first time with Seth. Despite how she has to keep this a secret, because of the uptight culture of the 1880s in general and her family situation in particular, this is clearly a big turning point in her life.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Beatrice might be intelligent, competent and tough, but still, she doesn't have a good life as a girl or as a young woman. Sometimes though, she does get some nice moments in life. She has two good friends in Sofia and Mary, and she also gets a third friend (Vivienne). Beatrice's relationship with Seth is complicated to say the least, but still, it gives her some moments of joy, so that she doesn't think sex always is bad after she gets raped. And in the end, she and Seth can get married.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: The ladette-like Beatrice might compete with men in ice-skating and horse-riding. But she also tries to follow the fashion of the era and can be seen wearing fancy dresses, make-up, and high heels.
Turn Out Like His Father: Or in this case, "turn out like her grandmother". Beatrice reminds her uncle Wilhelm too much of his mother, who had left her family to study abroad. His treatment of his niece goes downhill from there.
Fallback Marriage Pact: Seth has one of these with Lily Tremaine. They're friends rather than lovers but still decide to get engaged. In the end, they break it up when Seth is reunited with Beatrice and Lily finds true love with Alexandre (with whom Beatrice had a similar relationship).
Knight in Sour Armor: Seth is a very cynical man who does many stupid things. But still, he never stops believing that you should always do the right thing.
Nouveau Riche: Yet again, Seth becomes a reconstruction. Many people think that he's an irritating upstart who spends an insane amount of money on women, and the Old Money generally despise him. And it does not help that he can be unnecessarily mean and proud. But it soon becomes clear to the reader that there is more depth to him than that, and in the end, he becomes happily married.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: It has been several years since Seth was in war, but he can still have nightmares about it.
Wilhelm Löwenström
Abusive Parents: He beat his children until Edvard became just as evil as him, and his daughter became a weak-willed woman.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite his abuse of them, he does appear to love his children in his own way. He isn't happy in the end when his son ends up hospitalized and his daughter disowns him.
Evil Uncle: To his niece Beatrice. He regularly beats her and even denies her food at times.
Freudian Excuse: He hates women because his mother abandoned him and his brother. He hates Beatrice because she reminds him of her.
Hate Sink: He is written to be despised, being a misogynistic family abusing monster. While he does have a Freudian Excuse and does appear to love his children, the novel intentionally keeps these traits from being enough to redeem him.
Jerkass: A misogynistic family abuser who is as unpleasant as possible.
Lack of Empathy: Even when his niece is nearly raped and killed on her wedding night, he still shows no remorse.
Laser-Guided Karma: At the end, his son is hospitalized, his daughter disowns him, and he loses the house. He loses everything other than his son and his life.
Politically Incorrect Villain: He despises women. Even by the times and values of the setting, he stands out in this. Even other men are disgusted by him.
Edvard Löwenström
Cain and Abel: The polar opposite of his kind sister.
Freudian Excuse: He was abused by his father until he became a monster.
Hate Sink: A misogynistic woman beater with no redeeming qualities, arguably worse than his father.
Jerkass: A cold, unfeeling woman abuser who hates his sister and cousin and wishes the former dead. He is also a statutory rapist.
Lack of Empathy: Shows no remorse for leaving a pregnant minor and shows no care when she dies during an abortion. Also feels no remorse when his cousin is nearly raped and killed.
Laser-Guided Karma: He ends up angering the wrong woman and getting hospitalized.
The Sociopath: He has no empathy, is cold and cruel, lacks any redeeming features, is incapable of feeling gratitude, and has no love for anyone.
Carl-Jan Rosenschiöld
Diabolus ex Nihilo: Wilhelm and Edvard have backstories, which can somewhat explain how they became what they are. But with Carl-Jan Rosenschiöld, we never get this. He's simply there to be evil. After he finally dies, he gets some backstory. We find out that he had murdered one wife and driven another wife into suicide. But we never find out how he could become so evil.
Dirty Old Man: He wants to marry Beatrice, who is 40 years younger than him, just because he wants a virgin.
Hate Sink: Out of all three villains, he gets this the most. He is a rapist and a murderer. Unlike Wilhelm and Edvard, he has no known Freudian Excuse.
Jerkass: A woman abusing rapist and murderer with no redeeming features who offers no apologies or justifications for his actions.
