Angels in America characters

Appears from the start

A gay New Yorker living with AIDS in 1985. He faces worsening illness with wit and theatrical self-awareness, but he is frightened by what his body is doing and by signs that his suffering may have acquired a supernatural meaning.

Appears from the start

Prior's Jewish boyfriend, a word processor at the federal courthouse. He loves Prior but is terrified by illness, death, and the demands of caregiving. His political idealism and instinct to escape painful obligations repeatedly pull him in opposite directions.

Appears from the start

A Mormon law clerk working at the federal courthouse in New York. Married to Harper and offered a powerful position in Washington by Roy Cohn, he tries to preserve a conventional life while struggling with desires and doubts he cannot reconcile with it.

Appears from the start

Joe's wife, an intelligent Mormon woman isolated in their Brooklyn apartment. She suffers from anxiety, takes too much Valium, and retreats into vivid imagined journeys, yet her altered perceptions often expose truths that the people around her are avoiding.

Appears from the start

A powerful, combative New York lawyer and conservative political operator. He offers Joe patronage and a Washington post, measuring relationships by influence and loyalty. When his doctor tells him that he has AIDS, Roy rejects the identity attached to the diagnosis and insists that power defines him more than private conduct does.

Also known as Norman Arriaga

First appears in chapter 2

Prior's close friend and former lover, a gay Black nurse whose professional skill and direct judgment make him a steady presence during the illness. He refuses self-pity and is equally willing to offer care or an unwelcome truth.

First appears in chapter 3

Joe's devout Mormon mother, living alone in Salt Lake City when he telephones her in distress. Practical and emotionally guarded, she responds to his crisis by selling her home and traveling to New York.

Also known as The Continental Principality of America

First appears in chapter 3

A supernatural messenger who descends to Prior and declares him a prophet. Majestic, frightening, and physically overwhelming, the Angel brings a sacred assignment whose meaning Prior has not chosen and does not yet understand.

Appears from the start

A travel agent produced by Harper's imagination whenever she needs escape. He guides her through emotional and imagined landscapes with the calm manner of someone arranging a difficult journey.

First appears in chapter 2

Roy's physician, who tells him that his symptoms and test results establish an AIDS diagnosis. He advises Roy to use his connections to obtain experimental medication that is unavailable to most patients.

First appears in chapter 4

The dead woman whose prosecution and execution helped establish Roy Cohn's public career. She appears at his hospital bedside as an adversarial ghost, observing his decline with the patience of someone who has waited decades to see it.

First appears in chapter 2

A nurse caring for Prior during his hospital stays. She handles the practical demands of his illness and witnesses episodes that do not fit ordinary medical explanations.