Who is Marilla Cuthbert?

Marilla Cuthbert is Anne's guardian, who took her in four years prior to the start of the novel, and she is mistress of Green Gables. Marilla is grounded and practical, and has little use for Anne's poetical flights of fancy (though over the years she has grown to love Anne and accepts her for all her quirks). When Anne sinks into a despairing funk, Marilla is the first to advocate for an even temper, urging Anne to see life with a bit more perspective rather than letting herself get worked up over day-to-day events that will soon be forgotten. Marilla is bound by a Christian sense of duty, which guides her to take in the Keith twins, who are only distantly related to her, when they have no other family to turn to. She is acutely aware of the sacrifice Anne made so that she, Marilla, could stay at Green Gables, and she actively seeks a way to give Anne another opportunity to further her education. Though down-to-earth and unflappable, Marilla finds herself more drawn to people like Anne and Davy Keith, the more trouble-making of the twins, rather than his sister Dora, who is a quiet, obedient, and consequently dull little girl, a state of events that surprises even Marilla herself. She recognizes that Anne and Davy add a spice to life with their curiosity and imaginations that is lacking in someone like Dora, who cannot deviate from the straight path set out before her.