Senhor Jose
Senhor Jose is the protagonist of the novel and the novel chronicles his boring and uneventful (or at least portrayed to be so in the novel) life and work as a registry clerk, as well as his later obsession with the unknown woman. It is also important to note that he is the only character in the whole novel to be given a name and this bears a certain level of significance in relation to the theme of Identity as well as that of Society.
Unknown Woman
The Unknown Woman is a unique character in the sense that she is one of the only characters to be singled out by the protagonist throughout the novel. She is the object of Senhor Jose's obsession and later search.
The Registrar
The Registrar is one of the only other individuals to be uniquely identified by Senhor Jose throughout the novel apart from the Unknown Woman. The Registrar is portrayed in the novel to be one of the central figures of authority and is representative of the Central Registry Senhor Jose at which Senhor Jose works and consequently the State.
Unidentified Individuals
The bulk of the novel has the reader referred to individuals who are identified merely by a single characteristic or feature about them that stands out to Senhor Jose. In this manner, the author masterfully tells his story with a very small host of characters. The unidentified individuals in the novel include a wide spectrum of people, ranging from Senhor Jose's fellow clerks at the Central Registry to his very neighbors.
