Character Relationship Map: Citizen Kane

Characters

• Charles Foster Kane (played by Orson Welles) — protagonist

  An enormously wealthy newspaper publisher and industrial magnate whose life forms the film’s central mystery. Kane builds a media empire, enters politics, marries Emily Norton Kane, forces Susan Alexa...

• Jedediah Leland (played by Joseph Cotten) — protagonist

  Kane’s estranged best friend and former associate, who remembers Kane’s rise and personal decline. He discusses Kane’s failing marriage to Emily Norton Kane, his affair with Susan Alexander Kane, and...

• Susan Alexander Kane (played by Dorothy Comingore) — supporting

  Kane’s second wife, an amateur singer whom he meets during his campaign for Governor of New York. Although she lacks both talent and ambition for opera, Kane forces her to perform and builds an opera...

• Jim W. Gettys (played by Ray Collins) — supporting

  Kane’s corrupt political opponent during Kane’s campaign for Governor of New York. Gettys discovers Kane’s affair with Susan Alexander Kane and uses the evidence to pressure Susan into writing to Emil...

• Mr. Bernstein (played by Everett Sloane) — supporting

  Kane’s personal business manager and one of the people Thompson interviews about Kane’s career. Bernstein recalls how Kane recruited the best journalists to expand the New York Inquirer’s circulation...

• Walter Parks Thatcher (played by George Coulouris) — supporting

  A banker appointed by Mary Kane to establish a trust for Charles Foster Kane and assume guardianship of him. His memoirs reveal Kane’s childhood separation from his parents, financial rise, and later...

• Jim Kane (played by Harry Shannon) — minor
• Mary Kane (played by Agnes Moorehead) — supporting

  Kane’s mother, whose mining deed becomes the source of the family fortune after gold is discovered. Concerned about protecting her son from his brutal father, she hires Walter Parks Thatcher to create...

• Emily Norton Kane (played by Ruth Warrick) — supporting

  Kane’s first wife and the niece of the President of the United States. Her marriage to Kane deteriorates despite their having a son, and Kane’s affair with Susan Alexander Kane becomes public when Jim...

• Raymond (played by Paul Stewart) — supporting

  Kane’s butler at Xanadu who recounts the aftermath of Susan Alexander Kane’s departure. He explains that Kane violently destroyed the contents of Susan’s former bedroom, then calmed and wept after fin...

• Charles Foster Kane III (played by Sonny Bupp) — minor
• Jerry Thompson/Narrator (played by William Alland) — supporting

  A reporter assigned to investigate the meaning of Kane’s final word, “Rosebud.” Thompson interviews Kane’s associates, including Susan Alexander Kane, Walter Parks Thatcher’s archive, Jedediah Leland,...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Susan Alexander Kane → Charles Foster Kane (spouse)
• Raymond → Charles Foster Kane (Professional Butler And Employer) — Raymond witnesses Kane destroy the contents of Susan's former bedroom and then calm down after finding a snow globe.

  Raymond is Kane's butler at Xanadu and recounts Kane's behavior after Susan leaves.

• Jerry Thompson/Narrator → Mr. Bernstein (Professional Interviewer And Interviewee) — Bernstein recounts Kane's recruitment of journalists and efforts to expand the Inquirer's circulation.

  Thompson interviews Kane's personal business manager, Bernstein, about Kane's career.

• Jerry Thompson/Narrator → Jedediah Leland (Professional Interviewer And Interviewee) — Leland's recollections provide Thompson with an account of Kane's marriage, affair, political scandal, and conflict over Susan's opera career.

  Thompson interviews Leland in a retirement home about Kane's life and relationships.

• Jerry Thompson/Narrator → Susan Alexander Kane (Professional Interviewer And Interviewee) — Susan eventually tells Thompson about her opera career, attempted suicide, and departure from Kane.

  Thompson first tries to approach Susan, who refuses to speak, and later she consents to an interview.

• Charles Foster Kane → Mr. Bernstein (Professional Employer And Manager) — Bernstein serves Kane's business operation and later recounts Kane's methods of building the newspaper's circulation.

  Bernstein is identified as Kane's personal business manager and recalls that Kane hired top journalists for the Inquirer.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Jedediah Leland → Jim W. Gettys (related)
• Susan Alexander Kane → Jim W. Gettys (related)
• Jim W. Gettys → Jedediah Leland (related)
• Charles Foster Kane → Jim W. Gettys (related)
• Jim W. Gettys → Susan Alexander Kane (related)
• Raymond → Susan Alexander Kane (Narrative Witness To Her Departure) — Raymond reports the aftermath of Susan's decision to leave, including Kane's destruction of her former bedroom.

  Raymond recounts that Susan moved out of Xanadu and describes Kane's reaction afterward.

• Jerry Thompson/Narrator → Walter Parks Thatcher (Narrative Investigator Of Memoirs) — Thatcher's memoirs give Thompson an account of Kane's childhood separation and financial rise.

  Thompson visits Thatcher's private archive and learns about Kane through Thatcher's written memoirs.

• Charles Foster Kane → Jerry Thompson/Narrator (Narrative Subject Of Investigation) — Thompson reconstructs Kane's life from others' accounts but cannot determine the meaning of the final word.

  After Kane dies, Thompson is assigned to discover the meaning of Kane's last word, 'Rosebud,' and interviews people connected to him.

• Jim W. Gettys → Susan Alexander Kane (Conflict Political Coercion) — Gettys uses Susan's relationship with Kane to expose the affair and damage Kane's campaign.

  Gettys forces Susan to write to Emily about her affair with Kane.

Story Analysis

A reporter investigates Kane's last word through the stories of his rise, fractured relationships, and lost childhood, while the final answer remains hidden from the characters.

Plot Progression

1. The Last Word — Kane dies at Xanadu after saying “Rosebud,” and a newsreel turns his final word into a public mystery. Thompson begins interviewing people who knew him, but Susan initially refuses to speak.
2. A Childhood Taken Away — Thatcher's memoirs reveal that Mary Kane's mining deed became the source of the family fortune. To protect her son, Mary arranges Thatcher's guardianship, and young Kane resists being taken from his h...
3. The Newspaper Empire — Kane gains control of his trust and takes over the New York Inquirer, using aggressive journalism to build its circulation. His growing public influence brings wealth, political ambition, and marriage...
4. Scandal and Opera — Kane's affair with Susan is exposed by Gettys, ending Kane's political ambitions. Kane later marries Susan and forces her toward opera, while the failed debut deepens the damage to his friendship with...
5. The Word Revealed — After years of unhappiness, Susan leaves Kane, and he reacts by destroying her former bedroom. Thompson cannot solve the mystery, but the audience sees Kane's childhood sled marked “Rosebud” discarded...