A Clockwork Orange characters

Appears from the start

A teenage gang leader and the novel's narrator, who tells his story in an invented youth slang. Charismatic, articulate, and utterly without conscience, he revels in violence, theft, and cruelty by night, and by day nurses one incongruous passion: a genuine love of classical music, above all Beethoven. Clever and self-satisfied, he dominates his small gang and takes gleeful pride in his own wickedness.

Appears from the start

One of Alex's gang members, ambitious and resentful of Alex's leadership. Bolder than the others in challenging Alex, he angles for a larger share of the gang's spoils and a say in its plans.

Appears from the start

A slow-witted but powerfully strong member of Alex's gang, useful in a fight and quick to brutality. Coarse and easily led, he resents Alex's mockery of him and his contempt for the finer things Alex enjoys.

Appears from the start

The most level-headed and least aggressive member of Alex's gang, who goes along with the group's nightly violence without the others' relish. He is the quietest of Alex's companions.

Appears from the start

A weary state official assigned to keep watch over Alex as a known young offender and steer him away from crime. Ineffectual and exasperated, he warns Alex that he is heading for serious trouble.

Appears from the start

A writer whose home Alex's gang violently invades one night, and who is at work on a book protesting the mechanization of humanity. Idealistic and, after the assault, embittered against the authorities, he becomes an opponent of the government's methods.

Also known as The Charlie

Appears from the start

The chaplain at the prison where Alex is held, a well-meaning if fond-of-drink clergyman who takes an interest in him. He alone questions whether a treatment that removes a man's ability to choose evil truly makes him good.

Appears from the start

The doctor who directs an experimental conditioning program that Alex volunteers for in hopes of an early release. Clinical and detached, he oversees the aversion treatment designed to make its subjects incapable of violence.

Appears from the start

A hard-line government official eager to show results against crime and to fill the prisons with political troublemakers instead. Pragmatic and image-conscious, he champions the new conditioning technique and later must manage its fallout.