Obadiah Slope

Ambitious, ever-plotting, slimy, the calculating curate who sends shockwaves of unease. Slope has an instantly unsettling physical presence. “His hair is lank, and of a dull, reddish hue, lumpy masses, cemented with much grease.” He is “saucer-eyed”. “His face is not unlike beef of a bad quality. A cold, clammy perspiration always exudes him, the small drops are ever to be seen standing on his brow, and his friendly grasp is unpleasant.” But such things are only skin deep. It is Slope’s methods that cause greatest recoil. Ruthlessly fawning, constantly trying to wriggle his way into favour with the rich and powerful, and entirely self-promoting, but portrays all his actions with a veil of religious virtue embroidered with psychopathic confidence. Using a cruel moral high ground propelled by a waspish, bullying hypocrisy