The Dead Woman is the central subject of the poem, draped in a flowing toga with bare feet that suggest she has finished a long, physical journey. She embodies a sense of classical perfection and finality, having achieved a victory through her passing. She views her fate as a necessary conclusion, withdrawing from the hostile garden of life by physically retracting her children into herself.

The Speaker is the anonymous voice narrating the poem and appraising the dead body. They view the woman like a classical sculpture or mythological figure, noting her physical details and assessing her aesthetic value. They maintain an elusive, declarative tone, pointing out the woman's perfection while hinting at the underlying illusion of her situation.

The Moon serves as a cold, detached witness to the woman's tragedy. Personified as an unyielding, witch-like entity, she wears a hood made of bone and drags the night forward. She finds nothing remarkable or sorrowful about the woman's situation. She treats it as an ordinary, everyday occurrence in a harsh universe.

Sylvia Plath is a Boston-born poet who authors intensely personal, autobiographical poetry. She faces severe mental illness and struggles with feelings of lost identity. The intense pressures of literary ambition weigh heavily on her, though her personal letters reveal a writer fighting to rebuild her independence. She uses poetry to process personal anguish into confessional art.

Ted Hughes is an up-and-coming English poet whose marriage to Plath becomes a heavily scrutinized public literary drama. He holds significant sway over Plath's personal identity and serves as a major focus of her anxieties. Following their separation, he moves in with a new partner. This fuels the tension that shapes Plath's final poetry collection.

The Two Children are positioned beside the mother, appearing coiled like white serpents around her. They act as physical extensions of the mother's fate, folded away from the sensual and chaotic garden of life. Their presence adds a surreal, classical weight to the scene.

Assia Wevill is a writer and advertising professional who becomes Ted Hughes's romantic partner. Her relationship with Hughes makes her a target of Plath's intense criticism. Plath heavily lambastes Wevill in her private correspondence following the marital separation.

Frieda is the daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. She grows up to become a writer and artist who actively defends her parents' humanity against public speculation. She reminds readers that they are real people with flaws rather than mere literary characters.

Nicholas is the son of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. He pursues a career entirely away from the literary spotlight, eventually working as a marine biologist.

Aurelia is Sylvia Plath's mother, an academic who steps in to support her two young children following the early death of her husband. She maintains an active correspondence with Sylvia. She occasionally questions the violent elements appearing in her daughter's poetry.

Otto is Sylvia Plath's father, a German-born academic who specializes in the study of bees. His premature passing when Sylvia is a young girl leaves a lasting psychological impact that surfaces repeatedly in her later writing.

Warren is Sylvia Plath's younger brother. He grows up in Boston alongside his sister, supported financially and emotionally by their mother after their father passes away.

Anne Sexton is a fellow poet who audits a creative writing seminar with Plath at Boston University. She writes openly about mental health and personal struggles, though Plath privately considers her poetic structure to be somewhat loose.

Robert Lowell is an established poet who teaches a creative writing seminar at Boston University. His work documents his own experiences with psychiatric care, heavily influencing the writers who study under him.