History Characters / Matilda

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In the book, she's fairly mean to Matilda and Lavender, though she does warn them about the Trunchbull. In the film, she is friendly and protective of them.

** In the book, he tears apart Matilda's library book simply out of envy, whereas in the film, he did it because he thought she was reading pornography.[[note]]For context, the book Matilda was reading in the film was ''Literature/MobyDick'', and not ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' like in the book.[[/note]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/MaraWilson (6.5 years old); Katelyn and Zoey Rosen (newborn, uncredited); Kayla and Kelsey Fredericks (nine months); Caitlin and Amanda Fein (2 years old), Sara Magdalin (4 years old); Cleo Demetriou (original cast, West End musical)

* ChildrenDoTheHousework: She had to pretty much raise herself because her parents are so neglectful that they repeatedly forget she even exists. By age of 5, she had already taught herself how to cook.

->'''Played by:''' Jimmy Karz; Jake Bailey (original cast, West End musical)

->'''Played by:''' Creator/MaraWilson (6.5 years old); Katelyn and Zoey Rosen(uncredited) (newborn); Kayla and Kelsey Fredericks (nine months); Caitlin and Amanda Fein(2 years old), Sara Magdalin (4 years old); Cleo Demetriou (original cast, West End musical)

* AdaptationalJerkass: In the book, he's a "normal boy" who has a neutral to positive relationship with his sister(even waving to her at the end); in the film, he becomes an obnoxious FatBastard like his father as well as a BigBrotherBully.

* AdaptationalJerkass: In the book, he's a "normal boy" who has a neutral to positive relationship with his sister; in the film, he becomes an obnoxious FatBastard like his father as well as a BigBrotherBully.

->'''Played by:''' Creator/MaraWilson (6 years old); Alissa and Amanda Graham & Trevor and James Gallagher (newborn); Kayla and Kelsey Fredericks (nine months); Sara Magdalin (4 years old); Cleo Demetriou (original cast, West End musical)

The title character and main protagonist.

Matilda's dishonest father.

Matilda's kindly teacher.

* AbledInTheAdaptation: Wears glasses in the book, but not in the movie.

Matilda's best friend.

Matilda's older friend.

!!Crunchem Hall Elementary School
[[folder:Jennifer Honey]]
[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms_honey_5.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/EmbethDavidtz; Amanda and Kristyn Summers (2 years old); Phoebe Pearl (5 years old), Lauren Ward (original cast, West End musical)

Matilda's kindly teacher.

[[folder:Michael Wormwood]]
->'''Played by:''' Brian Levinson; Nicholas Cox (6 years old), Peter Howe (original cast, West End musical)
Matilda's older brother.

* AdaptationalDumbass: In the book, he's not particularly bright but not exactly stupid either. In the musical, he's a KindheartedSimpleton who completely lacks his parents' nastiness but is much too stupid to be of any use.
* AdaptationalJerkass: In the book, he's a "normal boy" who has a neutral to positive relationship with his sister; in the film, he becomes an obnoxious FatBastard like his father as well as a BigBrotherBully.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: ...While in the ''musical'', he's become a KindheartedSimpleton who seems genuinely fond of his sister but is simply too stupid to realize when their parents are mistreating her.
* AdaptationalUgliness: In the book, he was of a normal weight. His movie counterpart is significantly chubbier.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Given that Michael is something of a FlatCharacter who is barely mentioned in the book, it makes sense that any adaptation would want to expand his personality in different ways, depending on the media.
* AdaptedOut: He was barely in the musical and the 2022 movie omitted him completely.
* AgeLift: In the book and movie, he's ten years old. In the musical, he's a teenager played by an adult actor.
* BigBrotherBully: In the movie, he joins his family in being wretched to his sister. Averted in the book as they don't interact that much. Given how he did wave good-bye to his sister when his and the Wormwoods were fleeing the country, it's implied that they had at least a mildly decent relationship.
* ChildishOlderSibling: In the movie adaptation, he's much more immature than his younger sister [[WiseBeyondTheirYears Matilda]]. This is also present in the book, though it's [[DownplayedTrope to a much lesser degree]] and mainly in relative terms; he doesn't seem particularly immature for his age, but he still comes off as fairly childish compared to his [[WiseBeyondTheirYears very precocious]] younger sister.
* FatBastard: In the film, he's like his dad. He throws objects and insults at Matilda when they're alone. He's also physically big, being overweight.
* FatIdiot: In the movie, where in addition to being a mean-spirited BigBrotherBully to Matilda, he isn't shown to be very smart either.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: A mild example since we know little about Michael, but Michael is the comparably Foolish generic brother to Matilda's precocious and Responsible sister. Played very straight in the movie and the musical, due to Michael's portrayal as a BigBrotherBully in the former and a KindheartedSimpleton in the latter.
* TheGenericGuy: The first chapter describes him as a "perfectly normal boy" and he never gets much characterization. The entire point of him is to compare Matilda in terms of being extraordinary when compared to him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Implied in the book. While he inherited his father's "love of crookery", he seems to have a fairly good relationship with his sister and waves goodbye to her when their parents take him with them out of the country; at least one audio drama adaptation has Matilda say that he's the only family member she'll actually miss. We say "implied" because he doesn't have much characterization.
* KindheartedSimpleton: The musical's depiction of him. He's not a bad person, but he is about as stupid as Matilda is intelligent. Most of his dialogue consists of repeating the last word the person before him spoke, in a dopey voice.
[[/folder]]

!!Crunchem Hall Elementary School
[[folder:Jennifer Honey]]
[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms_honey_5.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/EmbethDavidtz; Amanda and Kristyn Summers (2 years old); Phoebe Pearl (5 years old), Lauren Ward (original cast, West End musical)

Matilda's kindly teacher.
----

* AdaptationalComicRelief: In the book, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood are just AbusiveParents to Matilda and Michael is a FlatCharacter who remains OutOfFocus. In the 1996 movie, their antics are PlayedForLaughs and they act much sillier and goofier than their book counterparts.

* KarmicButtMonkey: After mistreating his daughter, Matilda works out how to get even with him without being found out. His life turns into him suffering a series of painful mistakes that he's apparently the cause of.

* AdaptationalUgliness: Mr. Wormwood wasn't particularly attractive in the book, but he still looked better than Creator/DannyDeVito.

* HonestJohnsDealership: Provides the page image. His secondhand car business. Matilda's dad is the stereotypical sleazy car salesman, even putting sawdust in the oil so that the engine will burn out and they have to come back and buy a new car. The film even contains a scene in which Mr. Wormwood teaches Michael the tricks to making a lemon look better... long enough for the customer to get far away from the dealership before it breaks down, so they can't just walk back and complain. [[BrickJoke It eventually happens to Miss Trunchbull who figures him out too little too late.]]

* VillainousGlutton: [[ImpliedTrope Implied.]] In the movie, we see her eat a huge piece of chocolate cake, and she [[JabbaTableManners shoves half the thing into her mouth in one "bite"]].

* BookSmart: Matilda is only 6 but has exceptional reading and mathematical skills, to the point that she SurpassedTheTeacher at school.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: She says she likes to read just about anything. It's implied that the two reasons she wasn't in advanced placement (until the end) were because her parents don't believe in the value of education—and, of course, the Trunchbull's dislike of young children.

** Being accused of something she didn't do--and this is actually what triggers her PsychicPowers in the first place.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Matilda is one of the nicest children you could wish to meet--as long as you don't make her mad.

* GuileHero: Once she learns [[spoiler:Trunchbull's weakness--she's extremely superstitious]], she exploits it to her full advantage.

* TheUnfavorite: At least with her dad, who prefers Michael over her. Not much seen with their mother, though Matilda does seem a little closer to her mom. In the movie, Harry explicitly refers to Matilda as a "mistake" (when talking about his children with Miss Trunchbull he says, "I got a boy, Mikey, and one mistake, Matilda.")

* GreenEyedMonster: The narration implies or outright states several times that his frustration over Matilda's intelligence is a matter of envy, and that he, a grown man who prides himself on his (supposed) cleverness, can't stand being "shown up" by someone so much younger and smaller than himself; he is already in a bad temper coming home on one occasion, but seeing her ignoring the television to focus on reading her library book makes him downright furious, and he destroys it page by page in a fit of spite. Even when he's pleased with himself one evening after making a great deal of money, Matilda quickly figuring out in her head what the correct amount was--a long but rather simple sum that took him almost ten whole minutes to do and still got it wrong, ''on paper''--makes him feel like a complete idiot and spoils his mood for the rest of the night.

->'''Played by:''' Brian Levinson; Nicholas Cox (6-years-old), Peter Howe (original cast, West End musical)

* TheDreaded: Even upperclassmen like Hortensia--and adults, like Miss Honey--are afraid of her. [[spoiler:For most of the story, anyway.]]

* EvilPrincipal: She is a ChildHater and DeanBitterman taken to the extreme, sadistically punishing kids with wildly outlandish punishments like forcing them to eat a whole cake in one sitting, [[DestinationDefenestration chucking them out the window]] for eating during class, or, her favorite, making them stand in [[IronMaiden the Chokey]]. She isn't just [[SadistTeacher abusive to her students]], either--it's heavily implied that [[spoiler:she was involved in the death of Miss Honey's father]].

* BadassBystander: He mouths off to the Trunchbull, he bravely tries to stand up for Miss Honey--and when Trunchbull faints out of fear for the "ghost of Magnus", Nigel reacts by throwing a mug of water at her. In the musical, he's the first one to stand up against Trunchbull by deliberately misspelling the word "cat" and start the entire GoThroughMe scene.

* BookWorm: Loves reading more than watching TV.

* BullyHunter: Of the anti-SadistTeacher variety.

* CuteBookworm: Matilda loves reading more than anything else.

* HappilyAdopted: By Miss Honey, at the end.

* LadyAndAScholar: Matilda is a genuinely sweet-natured kid, and never thinks of herself as superior for her brains. If she's asked anything intellectual, she will respond in a polite fashion. She really only dislikes people who are annoying or rude to her. The book carefully emphasizes this. And even then, she tries to have some patience with her parents.

* CainAndAbel: With the strong implication that she killed her brother-in-law Magnus, she would the Cain to his Abel.

* {{Jerkass}}: His used-car company sells cars made from stolen parts--at outrageous prices--that only survive for a few miles. And then there's [[AbusiveParents how he acts]] [[ParentalNeglect around Matilda]]...

* {{Jerkass}}: A sadistic child abuser.