As the protagonist of The Lifted Veil, Latimer writes the story of his life and his mystical experiences with a quite literal double consciousness: He speaks in the first person but has the powers of an omniscient narrator. These powers of insight and foresight, first appearing after a dangerous illness in Geneva, reveal the base and often hateful thoughts of the people closest to him and push him into a life of ever greater solitude. Latimer composes the narrative of his life because he has no work, family, or friends to serve as mementos of his life when he dies. Despite his unique insight into others, there is reason to suspect that Latimer may be an unreliable narrator; at the very least, he does not reflect on the way his own biases influence his interpretation of others’ inner characters or on the way his own behavior might contribute to the “shrinking, half-contemptuous pity” he castigates those around him for (33).

As a member of upper-class English Victorian society, Latimer grows up on his family’s estate. His mother dies when he is still young, and he never feels fully accepted by his father, who prefers his older brother, Alfred.