Character Analysis of Douglas Beechey - Assignment Example

Character Analysis- Douglas Beechey Alan Ayckbourn’s play “Man of the Moment” is rich in its character portrayal. Here we find a wide range of characterization from the charismatic bad guy (Vic Parks), the guilty subconscious (Trudy), the exploitative, hungry for a story media woman (Jill Rillington), and the good man (Douglas Beechey). Of all of them Douglas Beechey seems like the most important character as he has got many hidden layers. He is unlike others who appear what they are at the surface itself. Douglas is more than a contended serene man who has apparently no worries at heart. He seems to have a split personality- one moment a good, law fearing, humble man while the other moment an aggressive hero who can do anything to undo the evil. Beechey is a forgotten hero. He is also a situational hero. One cannot find any heroic traits in him unless the situation desires. He has done only one heroic deed in his life- that is foiling the robbery attempt by Trudy Parks at the bank where he worked as a teller. It had occurred 17 years ago. This is a fifteen minute period of fame for Beechey which he secretly desired to be longer. This reveals that Beechey also loves fame and attention but is not hungry for them. Seeking fame is quite a human quality but a level headed man does not run after it. Another trait in Douglas is that he hates evil. This is evident from his dialogue with Jill- Jill: Well, perhaps you ought to tell me something you do feel strongly about and we‘ll try and include that in the programme. Kenny: Jill, come on… Jill: Illegal parking on double yellow lines? Any good? Dogs fouling footpaths? Free double glazing for senior citizens? Douglas: (thoughtfully) I suppose evil, really. Jill: Evil? Douglas: Yes. I feel strongly about that, Jill: That‘s it? Just evil? Douglas: Yes. Only, it‘s often hard to recognise. But there‘s a lot of it about, you know. This dialogue shows that Douglas has a deep disregard for evil and this hatred of evil makes him do the heroic deeds which we cannot expect from him under the ordinary situations. Douglas’ strong belief in injustice makes him shed the mask of an ordinary man and don the garb of a hero. Yet another revelation is that Douglas is very unimaginative and poor at his responses. He has to be coaxed for his views. He is also a good and honest man who speaks straight from his heart and not for the purpose of making a good public appearance on the television. Douglas hates “just evil” and not the evil doer. But to get rid of the evil he may go to extreme steps forgetting him in that instance. Douglas cannot be goaded to say anything. He is a cheerful and dignified man who is quite content with his life. There are elements of hero worship and idolization in Douglas. He is Vic Parks greatest fan and is quite influenced by his charismatic personality. Vic Parks is dangerous, witty and filled with alluring charm and that makes Douglas a basically boring man by contrast. This is the reason why Vic, the villain got so much adulation from his fans while Douglas the hero was totally ignored. It is because of the efforts of a television reporter, Jill Rillington that they are united again. Jill wants a reunion show for her audience hence she has reunited Douglas with Vic in the hope of getting a juicy interview. But, Douglas proves to be a totally boring and uninspired interviewee who fails to give any bit of juice to the interview. Yet, his dialogues which are uttered with utter sincerely spark a humorous response from the audience. He talks quite respectfully with his culprit even on personal issues of injury. Vic says, "It was a miracle, with the gun that close, she didnt lose an eye. A miracle. I thank God for that, at least." After a momentary respectful pause Douglas breaks the silence: "She did lose her ear, though". Thus, Douglas unwitting utterance about his wife being maim and its circumstance is quite hilarious to the audience. This dialogue between Douglas and Vic reveals that Douglas is respectful of his offender. He holds no grudges against him for maiming his wife. He is at peace with his life and is even happy with a maimed wife. This shows a weakness in him as he should be rightly angry with his culprit, but instead he is idol worshipping him. But, we also find that Douglas is very impressed by Vic. He is not at all jealous or envious of his success and has no trace of bitterness in him. He greatly values his words and agrees on almost everything that is said by the latter. Vic: (He drinks) No, Ill tell you something about interviews and being inter-viewed. The first thing youve got to remember is that, generally speaking, if you are the one being interviewed and feeling nervous, then the person interviewing you - nine times out of ten - hes even more nervous than you are. Because if it all goes wrong, if you cock the whole thing up, all you stand to do is make a fool of yourself-whereas for him - well, its his job on the line, isnt it? Know what I mean? Douglas: Yes, I see. That hadnt occurred to me, I must say. Yet, he has got a lot more imagination than he had got credit for and shows his power of grasping of situation when he says that he disagree with Vic and believes that it takes a lot of things to produce a good interview. Douglas: Theres a lot more to it than you imagine, isnt there? In a Freudian slip of the tongue we notice that all is not well with this contended hero. There are layers of unrest and misery in his life. When asked why he had agreed to the interview, Douglas replied that he had done so to “exorcise” his ghost. Hence, we see that Douglas wants to put behind the incident that brought sorrow and discontentment in his life. In the end we again see Douglas rising up to his heroic status when he sees another exploitation taking place. When he saw his hero, Vic brutalizing his wife then he tries to stop him and in the process becomes the catalyst to his death. Thus, Douglas once again proves that he can be a hero when needs be and can kill the evil without a thought for the consequences. Hence, we find a lot of traits in the character of Douglas. He is simple, straight forward, speaks from his heart, believes in truth and hates evil. He is always ready to help people and protect the victims. He marries the maimed girl Nerys and protects Trudy from her husband’s assaults. He is accepting and forgiving in nature. He is free of bitterness and only harbors good feelings close to idol worship towards his offender. He is a boring personality in contrast to the villain Vic yet his dialogues are humorous to the audience. Thus, Douglas has a rather flat personality with many hidden traits. Work Cited Alan Ayckbourn. Man of the Moment. Read More