She has just turned sixteen and has begun working as a nurse at "Mulberry House Lunatic Asylum," she has gained the job through her father who is the owner of the establishment. She is portrayed as innocent and the aim is for the audience to side with and feel sympathy for her. This is caused early on through the attack which she becomes victim to. She walks into a patients room to administer their medication and he sexually assaults her, resulting in a pregnancy. When the pregnancy becomes obvious, her father refuses to believe that she was raped, and is convinced that Cecilia became pregnant through her relationship outside of the asylum (a sin as she is not married.) It is ambiguous as to whether he really disbelieves her behaviour, or whether he cannot face the fact that his daughter was attacked in the asylum which he is responsible for, and he ultimately failed at being responsible for her safety. She is consequently sent away to a nunnery after the baby is born, forced to leave her father to raise the child.
Sean:
Begins life raised by his grandfather (Cecilia's father&head of the asylum.) The head of the asylum soon becomes obsessive however, their residence is in a slightly separate building but on the main site next to Mulberry House so that he can always be on hand for emergencies. His Grandfather begins to question Sean's sanity, and insists on him becoming home schooled. Sean regularly wanders over to the wards as his Grandfather is often absent. The Head of the Asylum begins to contemplate that if Sean really was conceived out of rape, then he was borne out of evil. If this is the case Sean may also have the same mental illness that his father suffered, and so The Head of the Asylum becomes convinced after witnessing what he perceives to be "evil behaviour" that Sean is mentally ill, and begins to treat him as a patient. After Sean spends time in the same environment as the patients he becomes unstable, although he is not actually a bad person. The audience also see good and likeable traits in him.
Head of the Asylum:
The Head is an inherently evil character from the start. His dominating character seems to have an obsession with control and his treatment to patients in the Asylum is appalling. He is presented as a sinister character whom is the cause for Sean's mentality and is heartless for sending his own daughter away after she was raped. He is fiercely invested in Catholicism , and uses the Bible to justify his warped view of how people should behave. He believes that he is actually helping the patients by keeping them from committing crimes.
War Veteran Patient:
This title refers to the patient in the wheelchair wearing the gas mask. His story is that he has been affected by post traumatic stress disorder after the second world war. He wears the gas mask continuously as a "safety" mechanism, as he still has flashbacks to being in the war and often is convinced that its still happening. When the psychiatrist reveals to Sean that he has found his mother, and reveals that his father is unknown because he attacked her, Sean becomes obsessed with tracking down who it is, convinced that his father is still somewhere in the asylum. The War Veteran patient is one of Sean's key suspects, hence why he eventually murders him.
Psychiatrist:
The character of the psychiatrist is the "hero" of the story. He genuinely has good intentions and is shocked by the treatment of the patients at Mulberry House, his disgust is evident through the trailer and there is a clear portrayal of concern in his expression. He is paired to work with Sean as the head of the asylum fears that his behaviour is worsening , its a desperate attempt to try and get Sean to integrate normally. The psychiatrist disobeys the head of the asylum by looking into his patient history , discovering that Sean's mother is actually known to the establishment. This causes a major conflict as the psychiatrist feels that it is key for Sean to reunite with his real mother, and that this is the only way to save him. The Head of the asylum however fears that the psychiatrist is willing to release his mistreatment of patients to the outside world and so soon identifies him as a threat. Consequently , there are numerous arguments which arise, eventually resorting to physical violence. In the trailer montage, the audience is shown a gun being picked up, but it is not revealed who plans to use it.
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