Laughter in the Dark: Analysis of Major Characters
"Laughter in the Dark" is a novel that delves into the complexities of love, betrayal, and the consequences of desire through its main characters. The story revolves around Albert Albinus, a wealthy German art collector who yearns for passion beyond his staid life. His infatuation with Margot Peters, a young usherette with a tumultuous background, leads him down a path of destruction, resulting in the loss of his family, wealth, and ultimately, his eyesight. Margot embodies a fierce ambition to escape her lower-class roots and achieve a glamorous life, revealing the superficial nature of beauty and desire. Axel Rex, a cunning painter, becomes a pivotal figure in Albinus's downfall, showcasing a duality where his external ugliness is matched by his ruthless character. Other characters, such as Albinus's brother-in-law Paul and wife Elizabeth, highlight the contrasts between loyalty, conventionality, and the fragility of family ties in the wake of infidelity. The narrative ultimately serves as a poignant exploration of the darker aspects of human relationships and the tragic outcomes that can ensue from misguided passions.
Laughter in the Dark: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
First published: Kamera Obskura, 1932 (Camera Obscura, 1936; revised as Laughter in the Dark, 1938)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Berlin, the south of France, and Switzerland
Plot: Love
Time: The late 1920's or early 1930's
Albert Albinus, an independently wealthy German art collector and art critic. This shy, scholarly, middle-aged family man lives a staid upper-middle-class existence but has always longed for a passionate love affair. He foolishly falls in love with a trollop half his age whose treachery causes him to lose his wife, his daughter, his eyesight, much money, and finally his life. He is a well-meaning, good-natured victim of his repressed libido. Most of the story is told through his point of view.
Margot Peters, an usherette who becomes Albinus' mistress. Although only eighteen years old and looking more like sixteen, she has grown up in a tough environment and has had considerable worldly experience. She has been a prostitute and a kept woman. She is beautiful and bursting with sex appeal, however, which is why she captivates Albinus. She has no affection for him but tries to get him to divorce his wife and marry her. Her fierce motivation to escape from her sordid lower-class background, to live in luxury, and to have a film career provides the main impetus for the action in the novel. She is the personification of the adage that beauty is only skin deep.
Axel Rex, a talented but improvident painter and cartoonist. He is about the same age as Albinus and shares his artistic tastes; otherwise, his character is diametrically opposite. He is ruthless and sadistic; however, he has the ability to charm most people, including Albinus. Although Rex is described as strikingly ugly, with hollow cheeks, thick lips, and dull white skin, he appeals to women like Margot because of his uninhibited animal nature. They are soulmates: His external ugliness mirrors her internal ugliness. Being more clever and daring than Margot, he provides leadership in duping Albinus and cheating him out of his money. When Albinus loses his eyesight in an auto accident, Rex takes malicious delight in moving into his home and making love to Margot in front of the blind man. This hateful but fascinating character provides a new twist to the old story of the infatuated middle-aged lover's downfall.
Paul, Albinus' brother-in-law, a fat, unimaginative, highly conventional man who is devoted to his sister and her family and is there for dinner practically every night. After Albinus deserts Elizabeth, he acts as her protector and adviser. He also tries to be a father to his young niece. He is infuriated by his brother-in-law's behavior but eventually rescues him from the clutches of the unscrupulous Margot and Axel Rex.
Elizabeth Albinus, Albinus' wife, a good homemaker and mother but cool, refined, and uninspiring as a sexual partner. She is the hapless victim of Albinus' infidelity; however, her bland personality makes it understandable that he might be drawn into an affair with a more passionate woman.
Irma Albinus, the eight-year-old daughter of Albert and Elizabeth. She dies of pneumonia indirectly as a result of her father's desertion. Although her death makes him feel consumed with guilt, he still cannot break free of Margot and return to his bereaved wife, as he knows he should.