Character Relationship Map: Stonehearst Asylum

Characters

• Eliza Graves (played by Kate Beckinsale) — protagonist

  Eliza Graves is a patient at Stonehearst who insists that she is sane despite being publicly diagnosed with hysteria. She recognizes the danger surrounding Edward Newgate, urges him to escape, later h...

• Edward Newgate (played by Jim Sturgess) — protagonist

  Edward Newgate arrives at Stonehearst claiming to be a doctor from Oxford, but he is eventually revealed to be an escaped mental patient with pseudologia fantastica. He becomes devoted to Eliza Graves...

• Mickey Finn (played by David Thewlis) — supporting

  Mickey Finn is the armed leader controlling Stonehearst alongside Silas Lamb. He admits to killing his mother and sister, hunts down escaping staff members, murders a female patient, and tries to seiz...

• Arthur Timbs (played by Guillaume Delaunay) — supporting

  Arthur Timbs is a volatile Stonehearst patient whose family sold him to a sideshow. Silas Lamb orders Edward Newgate to calm him without sedatives, and Newgate succeeds by using his name. Timbs later...

• Silas Lamb (played by Ben Kingsley) — supporting

  Silas Lamb is Stonehearst's superintendent and an unorthodox doctor who rejects routine drugging and confinement. He helped overthrow the original staff with Mickey Finn, forces Newgate to shock Dr. S...

• Farmer's Daughter (played by Ciara Flynn) — minor
• Farmer (played by Yordan Zahariev) — minor
• Mrs. Pike (played by Sinéad Cusack) — supporting

  Mrs. Pike is a member of Stonehearst's original staff who is locked in the boiler room after the patients' revolt. She warns Edward Newgate about Lamb and Finn, later tells visitors that Eliza Graves...

• Swanwick (played by Jason Flemyng) — supporting

  Swanwick is a member of Stonehearst's original staff who is imprisoned in the boiler room after Silas Lamb and Mickey Finn seize control. He escapes with Paxton, but Finn leads a posse that tracks bot...

• Paxton (played by Christopher Fulford) — supporting

  Paxton is a member of Stonehearst's original staff who becomes trapped in the boiler room after the revolt. He escapes with Swanwick, but their attempt to flee is discovered by Mickey Finn, whose arme...

Canonical Relationships

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

• Farmer's Daughter → Farmer (daughter)
• Arthur Timbs → Edward Newgate (Professional Patient And Examiner) — Their encounter becomes Newgate's first practical success at Stonehearst.

  Newgate calms Timbs by addressing him by name after seeing the name scrawled on the cell walls.

• Silas Lamb → Arthur Timbs (Power Controller) — Lamb places Timbs within his experimental regime.

  Lamb orders Newgate to examine volatile Timbs without sedatives, treating the patient's behavior as part of his unorthodox system.

• Silas Lamb → Edward Newgate (Professional Superintendent) — Lamb initially functions as Newgate's institutional superior.

  Newgate introduces himself to Lamb as Dr. Edward Newgate from Oxford, and Lamb directs his work inside the asylum.

Story Dynamics

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

• Eliza Graves → Arthur Timbs (Alliance Evacuation Leader) — Eliza assumes responsibility for the patients' survival.

  After Finn's death causes a fire, Graves leads the patients out of the building, including Timbs, who had carried away a murdered patient.

• Swanwick → Paxton (Alliance Escape Companions) — They share the staff's escape attempt.

  The plot states that staff members Paxton and Swanwick escape from the asylum before Finn's posse hunts them down.

• Paxton → Mickey Finn (Conflict Pursued Escapee) — Paxton's attempted escape is crushed by Finn.

  Paxton escapes with the actual staff but is hunted down and slain by a posse led by Finn.

• Swanwick → Mickey Finn (Conflict Pursued Escapee) — Swanwick becomes a victim of Finn's enforcement campaign.

  Swanwick escapes from the asylum staff's confinement but is hunted down and slain by a posse led by Finn.

• Mrs. Pike → Mickey Finn (Conflict Revolt Victim) — Finn's uprising places Pike in direct opposition and danger.

  Mrs. Pike is among the actual asylum staff locked in the boiler room after Lamb and Finn drug the staff and lead a revolt.

• Mrs. Pike → Silas Lamb (Conflict Institutional Opponent) — Pike opposes Lamb's takeover of Stonehearst.

  After being locked in the boiler room, Mrs. Pike describes Lamb as a dangerous madman and warns Newgate against him.

• Mrs. Pike → Edward Newgate (Narrative Warning Informant) — Pike supplies Newgate with crucial information about Lamb.

  Mrs. Pike warns Newgate that Lamb is dangerous and explains the violent history behind the asylum revolt.

• Eliza Graves → Silas Lamb (Conflict Institutional Opponent) — Eliza distrusts the institution controlled by Lamb.

  Graves refuses Newgate's recruitment and tells him about abuses connected with the asylum's staff and regime.

• Arthur Timbs → Mickey Finn (Conflict Killer) — Timbs directly ends Finn's violent rule.

  Timbs electrocutes Finn during the revolt, causing Finn to burst into flames.

• Edward Newgate → Mickey Finn (Conflict Adversary) — Their distrust escalates into direct opposition.

  Newgate and Finn argue during the Christmas Eve feast, and Finn later catches Newgate attempting to drug the champagne.

• Eliza Graves → Mickey Finn (Conflict Opponent) — Eliza resists Finn's violent authority.

  Graves quietly tells Newgate to flee the asylum, and later helps lead the revolt against Finn.

Story Analysis

A story about institutional power, constructed sanity, violence, and an unconventional bond formed inside an asylum.

Plot Progression

1. A Doctor Enters Stonehearst — Newgate arrives at Stonehearst after witnessing Graves at Oxford. Lamb's unconventional methods and the asylum's apparent order draw Newgate deeper into the institution.
2. The Revolt Behind The Walls — Graves warns Newgate to leave, but he stays. He discovers the actual staff imprisoned and learns that Lamb and Finn seized control through a revolt.
3. Violence Takes Command — The escaped staff are hunted down, Lamb forces Newgate into shock treatment, and Finn's violence becomes increasingly open. Newgate begins planning resistance during the New Year's celebration.
4. Fire And Liberation — Newgate's identity is challenged through the portrait, while Graves and Newgate organize the patients against Finn. Timbs kills Finn, and the resulting fire enables the patients' escape.
5. The Strange Happy Ending — Lamb's wartime guilt is revealed, and the Oxford professor exposes the false Newgate as an escaped patient. Eliza and the imposter Newgate are finally shown living together in Tuscany.