Christopher Chen was inspired by A Passage to India and many of the Passage characters have counterparts in the novel. Some of the details of their novel counterparts are irrelevant to or changed significantly in play, but it can still be informative to consider what choices Chen made.

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Dr. Aziz (B)

Dr. Aziz is an amiable, sensitive, and intelligent young Muslim doctor in Chandrapore, India. Ignored and snubbed by the English colony, he nevertheless becomes friendly with three English newcomers to India - Mr. Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Miss Quested. When he takes them on a tour of the sinister Marabar Caves, Miss Quested becomes separated from the party, and later she accuses him of attempted rape. Jailed and humiliated, he becomes markedly anti-British. After Miss Quested withdraws her charge at his trial, he wants to collect damages, but Fielding dissuades him. Suspicious of Fielding’s motives, he breaks off the friendship. Two years later, the two men meet again, and each realizes that any true communion between them is impossible because of their racial allegiances.

His feelings are genuine and his loyalty to his friends is unquestioned. His response to Mrs. Moore is one of quick affection that remains constant even after he death. Although he refuses to read Fielding’s letters, his deep sense of betrayal is caused by his great love, which he feels has been offended. Aziz’s quick response to Mrs. Moore and Fielding is a part of the secret of the “understanding heart” which Forster emphasizes as the key to understanding among men.

 

Cecil Fielding (F)

The principal of the Government College, a middle-aged maverick intellectual who resists the herd instinct of his fellow Englishmen. He has Indian friends; he defends Aziz against the English bigots, and when Miss Quested is ostracized after the trial, he offers her the protection of his home. Tired of the whole situation, he takes a trip to England, marries, and then returns to India, where he finds Aziz less cordial than before.

Cyril Fielding is a man of the world. He has not only associated with many people, but he has learned to judge them on the basis of merit alone. He is intellectual, kind, and committed to helping anyone in need. 

In A Passage to India, Fielding is much more connected to the British than F is to Country Y and more time passes between events.

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Mrs. Moore (F)

Ronald Heaslop’s mother, a lovely, sensitive old woman who accompanies Miss Quested to India. She has great regard for D. Aziz, but at the Marabar Caves, she has a strange psychic experience, an unhappy intuition that life is worthless. When she irritably defends Dr. Aziz to her son, he sends her home, and she dies on the way.

F is represented by Mrs. Moore in the way that they meet B at the temple, have a stressful past experience at the caves, and die from illness. Mrs. Moore and Miss Quested also come to India in the same way that F and Q come to Country X together.

Mrs. Moore, endowed by nature with an understanding heart, is steeped in Christian tradition. Apparently it has served her well in England. In India, where the problems are more complex, she finds it inadequate for her: While Professor Godbole (G) withdraws peacefully into himself from human turmoil, Mrs. Moore’s own withdrawal is far from peaceful. Therefore she may be somewhat disappointing to the reader; she brings to India everything that is needed - kindness and the “understanding heart” - but she turns morose and peevish. She refuses to become involved in helping Adela Quested (Q)  and Aziz in their time of need. 

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Adela Quested (Q)

A priggish young woman who goes to India to marry Ronald Heaslop; she announces that she is eager to see the real India. Her trip to the Marabar Caves proves disastrous. Thinking that she has been the victim of an attempted attack, she accuses Aziz; however, she shows courage by retracting the charge at his trial. The scandal ruins her prospective marriage and causes her to be avoided by almost everyone. She returns to England alone.

She is presented as a plain young woman whose best qualities are her innate honesty and a kind of courageous decency. Her approach to life is completely intellectual. She is sensible, but not sensitive. She serves as an antithesis to Mrs. Moore (F), who is ruled by emotional intuition. This difference in personality affects their understanding of each other, and of others.

Her passionless disposition makes her unfit for marriage and her frank objectivity helps her to realize it. It is this guileless attitude that wins Fielding’s grudging admiration.

Her response to India is one of reason, but since India, with its highly complex problems, cannot be approached through intellect alone, she can never comprehend it. However, she is appalled at the smug and snobbish ways of the British in India. Her cold honesty is admirable but not endearing. Her lack of sensitivity is pointed out when Fielding has to suggest that perhaps she should apologize to Aziz. She is willing to make amends, but she does not have the compassion to do it without being told. Her remorse is of the head, not the heart; her primary feeling is one of guilt for having been the cause of so much trouble to everyone.

Many characters question whether she will actually be married to Ronny or not.

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Ronald Heaslop (R)

The self-righteous city magistrate, a man coarsened by life in India. Wishing his mother and fiancee to have nothing to do with the Indians, he finds himself in a position where he must reject both to preserve his own standards and vanity.

Ronny Heaslop is pictured as the “rubber-stamp” product Forster had so much contempt for. He is the typical follower, influenced by power, prestige, and a set pattern of behavior. These traits make it easy for him to be led into the English expat camp, for they represent to Ronny the peak of social and political prestige. Ronny is the epitome of the class-conscious Englishman. He does not judge on the basis of merit, but rather by position on the social ladder. As a result of his training, he cannot understand anyone who questions these standards. That’s why Adela Quested (Q) is unsuitable for him and why he cannot be reached by his mother’s (F) arguments.

Ronald Heaslop’s relationship with his mother (F) in A Passage to India give a sense that R may have connections in Country X that mean they already have a significantly larger community than Q. There is also a connection between F and R in the book.

Many characters question whether he will actually be married to Adela Quested or not.

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Professor Godbole (G)

A gentle old teacher at the college, a friend of Dr. Aziz and Fielding. “He represents the Hindu mystical aspects of India as opposed to the narrower nationalisms of the Muslims and British.”

Although the reasoning about Hinduism and Islam are outdated, in A Passage to India, Godbole is a character that does a ton of observing and is somewhat separated from a lot of the direct conflict.

Although Forster seems to hold Godbole, and Hinduism, in esteem, it should be realized that he is not advocating Hinduism as a panacea for all evils, even though he admires some of its tenets and practices; Forster is not a preacher. Godbole cannot be effective in promoting universal understanding so long as he holds himself aloof from the mainstream of life.

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Hamidullah (H, M)

Dr. Aziz’s well-to-do, Anglophobic uncle, a Cambridge barrister who conducts his nephew’s defense. Hamidullah is Cambridge-educated and spent time in England as a student. He tries to reconcile his Indian friends to a more charitable attitude toward the English officials in Chandrapore. He is fair-minded and willing to work for amiable relations between nationalities until his nephew Aziz is falsely accused and unfairly treated by the English. 

In A Passage to India, there is a significant age difference between Hamidullah and Aziz, and they are related. Hamidullah begins the book with positive attitudes and experiences with English and ends feeling extremely bitter. In the first H and M scene, it’s possible that H is based on Hamidullah later on and M is informed by Hamidullah at the beginning of the book.

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Mahmoud Ali (H, M)

A family friend of Hamidullah and Dr. Aziz. Cynical and embittered toward the English, he makes an emotional, histrionic defense of Dr. Aziz at the trial.

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Major Callendar (D)

The civil surgeon, Dr. Aziz’s brutal superior, who believes that “white is right.”

Similar to the scene where B comes into work and D tells them they’re not needed anymore, Major Callendar calls a meeting with Dr. Aziz and then leaves before Aziz gets there.

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Mr. McBryde (J)

The chief of police, an intelligent man who treats Dr. Aziz decently but at the same time supervises the prosecution. He is provincial in his attitudes.

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Background Indian Characters (S)
S stands in for many of the characters in the background who do not have high status or wealth but see and experience British colonization. These characters often try to be as accommodating as possible to survive and are not allowed to share their opinions freely.