The Honorary Consul: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Honorary Consul" is a novel that delves into the complex lives of its major characters set against a backdrop of political turmoil in South America. Dr. Eduardo Plarr is a disillusioned physician whose turbulent upbringing and longing for connection drive him into a web of illicit affairs and revolutionary plots. His illicit relationship with Clara Fortnum, a young woman caught between her elderly husband Charley and Plarr, adds layers to the narrative as Clara becomes a symbol of innocence amid the chaos. Charley Fortnum, the titular honorary consul, represents the decline of British influence, his character shrouded in both vulnerability and irony as he is mistaken for a more significant figure during a botched kidnapping. Meanwhile, Father León Rivas and his friend Aquino reflect the struggles of intellectuals grappling with their ideals in a corrupt socio-political landscape, each embodying different responses to oppression and disillusionment. Colonel Perez, the relentless chief of police, epitomizes the authoritarian mindset prevalent in the region, while Doctor Jorge Julio Saavedra offers a glimpse into the romantic past, contrasting with the novel's overarching themes of absurdity and the search for truth. Together, these characters illustrate the interplay of personal and political crises, providing a rich, multifaceted exploration of identity and morality within a turbulent society.
The Honorary Consul: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Graham Greene
First published: 1973
Genre: Novel
Locale: Argentina
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The early 1970's
Doctor Eduardo Plarr, a physician. This lonely, cynical, unhappy man in his mid-thirties is the product of a turbulent childhood. His father was born in England; his mother is South American of Spanish descent. Plarr fled Paraguay with his mother as a child because of political unrest. After completing medical school in Buenos Aires, he chose to establish a practice in a far northern province of Argentina, because this was as close as he could get to his father, who has been languishing in a Paraguayan prison for more than twenty years. Plarr has maintained contact with Paraguayan revolutionaries in hopes that they can help his father escape. They involve him in the kidnapping of Charley Fortnum, with whose wife the doctor has been carrying on an illicit affair.
Charley Fortnum, an English-born maté planter and an honorary consul (an extremely insignificant official of the British government in Argentina). This sixty-year-old alcoholic embarrassed his superiors by marrying a prostitute. Fortnum provides the focus of this black comedy by getting kidnapped by Plarr's revolutionary acquaintances, who mistake him for the American ambassador. Fortnum symbolizes the decline of British prestige vis-à-vis the United States in the postwar world. When he is wounded attempting to escape, his captors are forced to call in Dr. Plarr, who thereby becomes hopelessly entangled in the terrorist plot.
Clara Fortnum, a former prostitute, now Charley Fortnum's wife and Plarr's mistress. This pretty nineteen-year-old of pure Indian extraction is like an innocent child. She is amused by baubles and passively allows herself to be used by both Fortnum and Plarr. Her elderly husband dotes on her and looks forward to the birth of the child he believes to be his. Plarr, who is the real father, has taken Clara as his secret mistress for complex reasons: He envies Fortnum's happiness and is trying to share in the genuine love Fortnum is experiencing. It is because of Clara and their unborn child that Plarr eventually sacrifices his life to save her husband.
Father León Rivas (leh-OHN RREE-vahs), a Catholic priest turned revolutionary. A friend and boyhood school-mate of Dr. Plarr, he became disillusioned with religion as a means of helping the oppressed people of South America. He is in charge of the bungling band of Paraguayans who kidnap Fortnum. Rivas represents the modern concerned intellectual, particularly the Catholic intellectual, torn between religious precepts and radical socialism. At the climax of the novel, he is emotionally racked when it comes time to carry out his ultimatum that he will kill the honorary consul unless his demands for the release of Paraguayan political prisoners are met.
Aquino (ah-KEE-noh), a poet and terrorist. He also became a friend of Plarr at school in Paraguay. He was arrested after publishing an article critical of American machinations in Paraguay. He is now a follower of Father Rivas and writes only short poems, because he finds it difficult to write longer works after having had three fingers cut off by torturers. He represents another type of South American intellectual who is driven into the Marxist camp by the inflexibility of the feudal establishment and heavy-handed American interference in internal affairs.
Colonel Perez (PEH-rehs), the chief of police. He is shrewd, relentless, and cruel but affects the formal good manners of the upper class. He represents the oligarchical police-state mentality that is widespread in South America. It is Perez who tracks down the kidnappers and orders Plarr, Rivas, and Aquino shot.
Doctor Jorge Julio Saavedra (HOHR-heh HEW-lee-oh sah-VEH-drah), an elderly, rather old-fashioned writer of romantic novels emphasizing fatalistic courage. This sincere but comically pathetic man not only represents the South American mentality of the past but also serves as an antithesis to the author's thesis that life essentially is absurd because only God can see the truth, and that humans therefore should be humble and love one another.