If I had to pick a protagonist for The Glass of Water I would choose Bolingbroke. He is the pursuer of the action of the
play. Bolingbroke strives for opposition
of the Duchess and these conflicts appear to be the main driving force for the
play. These two figures constantly
strive for the upper hand of their quarrels.
Bolingbroke seeming strives for the good of the English people as a
whole and the Duchess seemingly for her own selfish intentions. These actions signify Bolingbroke as one of
the more important characters of this play, and between him and the Duchess
Bolingbroke appears to have more characteristics of a protagonist in effects of
driving the plot of the play. Bolingbroke
pushes the action in his pursuit of revealing the wicked intentions of the
Duchess and attempts to help England attain peace with France through the
admittance of the Marquis to the Queen’s court.
Bolingbroke attempts to sneak the Marquis into the Queen’s audience
through Marsham and later Abigail. The
Duchess thwarts both of his attempts; however Bolingbroke is successful in
forcing the Duchess to admit Abigail into the Queen’s court through blackmail
through her secret infatuation and constant promotion of Marsham. Bolingbroke is able to use this weakness in
the Duchess to fulfill his goals of attaining an audience with the Queen for
the Marquis. Both Bolingbroke and the
Duchess strive for control of the Queen and both make successful strikes
against each other through the Queen.
The Duchess controls the Queen through pure fear while Bolingbroke
controls her through her emotions for Marsham.
Bolingbroke is the force that resolves obstacles for other characters
such as manipulating situations so that Abigail and Marsham’s troubled love is
reconciled at the end, he removes the Duchess’s malicious power from the Queen’s
court, he secures signed papers from the Queen to ensure peace between England
and France, and it seems that he has found a new ensign for the Queen to dote
on in place of Marsham. Bolingbroke’s immense
time on stage and influential actions are a powerful force that credit him as
the protagonist of Eugene Scribe’s The
Glass of Water.
i agree and think that Bolingbroke is a good choice for the main character.. esp in his actions with the Dutchess. def drives the play forward with his actions by affecting the other characters, which is the key component for any protagonist, he def does it the most i feel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Bolingbroke is the protagonist. I liked your specific examples of when he seems to control his own fate. He definitely is the driving force and moves the play forward. One way to determine who the main character is to see who has the most stage time, as you pointed out. This argument alone definitely lead one to believe that he is the protagonist.
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