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Who are the central characters in Miss Sara Sampson?
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Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Lessing, detail of an oil painting by Georg May, 1768; in the Gleimhaus, Halberstadt, Germany.
The central characters in Miss Sara Sampson, a landmark domestic tragedy by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, are:
- Sara Sampson: An innocent and sensitive heroine from a bourgeois family who becomes the victim of a tragic fate.
- Mellefont: A weak man who vacillates between two women but ultimately atones for his guilt through his death.
- Lady Marwood: Mellefontās rival in love, described as a vampirelike figure who disregards all restraints and inhibitions.