Roald Dahl
Setting
Protagonist
The main character is Richard Pratt as he is mostly described than any other character in the story. Richard is a famous gourmet and president of a small society who organises dinners with exceptional dishes and wines. He also takes particular pleasure in elaborately describing and discussing various wines, giving him a scholarly reputation.
The narrator with extreme detail describes how Richard looks like.
"...something distinctly disturbing about the man's face, that shadow of intentness between the eyes..."
"...the full wet lips of the professional gourmet... a pendulous, permanently open taster's lip..."
Because of Richard's misleading knowledge he acquired a pompous attitude and excess arrogance that is evident throughout the story.
First Impressions of Supporting Characters
Our first impressions of the supporting characters do not differ except for the maid. The maid throughout the course of the story quietly serves the guests, and is rarely mentioned. She is described as a minor figure that stands in the shadow, being unimportant of the main occasion so we as the readers do not think much of her, just a minor character who will prove to be insignificant in the story. But perhaps Roald Dahl did this intentionally because when the maid finally reveals herself but in a reserved manner at the end about what Richard has done, the first impression of Richard Pratt worsens into the readers thinking of him as just a plain phony. For what we think as a talent that Richard possesses, simply does not exist anymore due to the maid revealing but not literally saying it that he has cheated. And so in the end we change our impression of the maid as being a witty and significant character as she has changed the expected ending of the story.