The Paris AtlasCharting the artists, works, and places worth returning to.
Illustrated portrait of Father Crompton

A character in The End of the Affair

Father Crompton

The Catholic priest who takes Sarah's spiritual movement seriously.

What they want

To honor Sarah's expressed religious intention after her death.

The book

Cover of The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
The End of the AffairGraham Greene, 1951

A wartime affair ends without explanation, and jealousy turns the search for an answer into a struggle with belief.

View the book

At a glance

Role
Catholic priest
Conflict
Sarah's funeral arrangements

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Father Crompton is the priest connected to Sarah's late religious inquiry. He is severe and direct rather than conventionally comforting.

He gives institutional form to the belief Bendrix wants to treat as a private enemy and insists that Sarah's stated intentions matter.

How Father Crompton Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • Plain authorityHis dress and manner avoid theatrical mystery.
  • Direct speechHe does not soften Catholic claims.
  • Institutional memoryHe carries knowledge of instruction and burial practice.
  • Unsentimental concernSeverity can obscure that he argues for Sarah's choice.
The funeral disputeHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Crompton argues for Catholic burial. Henry and Bendrix proceed with cremation.

If you like The End of the Affair

Four books that share themes, tone, or setting with this one.

If you like Graham Greene

Explore authors with a similar voice, perspective, and influence.

  • Illustrated portrait of Louis-Ferdinand Céline

    Louis-Ferdinand Céline

    The doctor of the Paris slums who wrote the century's blackest, funniest novel — and changed the sound of French prose.

    View author
  • Illustrated portrait of Paul Bowles

    Paul Bowles

    American novelist and composer whose expatriate fiction explores dislocation, unstable intimacy, fatalism, and North Africa.

    View author
  • Illustrated portrait of Kurt Vonnegut

    Kurt Vonnegut

    American novelist whose fiction combines satire, science fiction, and the experience of surviving the bombing of Dresden.

    View author
Back to The End of the Affair