In Glass of Water,
the focus on who the protagonist is seems pretty equally divided. However, due
to the dramatic form the script takes, I have to side with Bolingbroke as the
play’s “protagonist.” As we’ve defined several times in class, a protagonist is
the person who moves the plot along. The person who strives for a goal and
intends to see it through, which causes the play to move as a result.
Throughout the course of the play, Bolingbroke manipulates the other characters
in the play in order to climb closer to his super-objective of protecting his
country and improving it, and most times this is what spurs their actions and
interactions to take place. Masham and Abigail’s plots would have ground to a
halt without Bolingbroke moving them around and forcing them to run into each
other. In that way, Bolingbroke contributes more to the plot’s advancement than
any other character.
If you think about it as an integral protagonist/antagonist relationship, Bolingbroke wins there too. Unlike Abigail or Masham, who are often regarded equally as “protagonists,” there are surprisingly few things standing in their way, and they accomplish their goals with relative ease. Bolingbroke, however, has to constantly juggle all the other characters in the play in order to guarantee his plans will succeed. In a way, every character functions as his antagonist, which gives more credence to his idea of being the protagonist.
The only facet which works against him, according to the prompt, is who Scribe wants us to root for, because that seems pretty solidly Abigail. But in class we talked about how protagonists don’t have to be likeable. You don’t have to want them to succeed. They merely have to advance the plot. So boo on you, wishy-washy people who can’t decide. Bolingbroke is very clearly our protagonist here!
If you think about it as an integral protagonist/antagonist relationship, Bolingbroke wins there too. Unlike Abigail or Masham, who are often regarded equally as “protagonists,” there are surprisingly few things standing in their way, and they accomplish their goals with relative ease. Bolingbroke, however, has to constantly juggle all the other characters in the play in order to guarantee his plans will succeed. In a way, every character functions as his antagonist, which gives more credence to his idea of being the protagonist.
The only facet which works against him, according to the prompt, is who Scribe wants us to root for, because that seems pretty solidly Abigail. But in class we talked about how protagonists don’t have to be likeable. You don’t have to want them to succeed. They merely have to advance the plot. So boo on you, wishy-washy people who can’t decide. Bolingbroke is very clearly our protagonist here!
Corey, I really enjoyed reading your post. I chose Abigail as the protagonist but I definitely see why you chose Bolingbroke. You argued your opinion very well. Particularly the last paragraph when you said, "boo on you, wishy-washy people.." jk. haha Particularly in the last paragraph when you talked about likability vs. influence.
ReplyDeleteThis is refreshing to see someone else that chose Bolingbroke as the protagonist. It's obvious that you want Abigail and Masham to succeed but they only do so because of Bolingbroke's help. He does this because he wants to help them but he also realizes that their struggle can also be used as a catalyst to achieve his goals.
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