The full name of the title character in Charles Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer is John Melmoth. The novel also opens with another John Melmoth, a student in Dublin who investigates his family’s disturbing history.
The older Melmoth is John’s mysterious ancestor, a scholar who made a pact with the Devil. In exchange for an extended life—traditionally described as 150 years—he must persuade another person to take over his bargain and damn their own soul. He travels across Europe, appearing in stories involving imprisonment, poverty, religious persecution, madness, and despair.
Maturin reveals Melmoth’s identity gradually through nested narratives, including the stories of Stanton, Alonzo Monçada, and Immalee, later called Isidora. This structure makes the novel feel like a chain of testimonies surrounding one supernatural figure.
A common mix-up is treating the title as if “the Wanderer” were a separate character or assuming the protagonist is simply named Melmoth. John Melmoth is the canonical full name associated with the novel’s central cursed figure, while the younger John is the frame-story character who uncovers his legacy.