The Father

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1887

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Summary

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Character Analysis

The Captain

The Captain is a former military man who has turned to science in the later stages of his life. Though his family is struggling financially, he is still determined to act as the head of the household and retain his authority over its women. The Captain's military past lingers in his personality: He retains his rank and responsibilities and sees the world in stark, combative terms. The Captain is convinced that all of life is war, so everyone he meets is either an enemy or an ally. As a military man, he seeks to win by any means necessary—even against his own family. It is significant that the Captain has no other name—he is only an empty shell of a man, defined solely by rank and ideology.

The Captain is swept up in a power struggle against Laura and the other women he perceives as enemies. As the Captain and Laura debate what is best for Bertha's future, he asks Bertha what she would like to do with her life—but her instant acquiescence to what he wants suggests that he is not really interested in her opinion. He has already planned her future and disdains the idea that she could have wants unaligned with his own.

The Captain loathes women. He develops a paranoid belief that every woman is against him but believes that he will triumph because (as a man) he is naturally smarter and more capable. The Captain's deep-seated misogyny is of a piece with his misogynistic society, which writes laws that favor men over women. As the Captain's paranoia overwhelms him, his mental health collapses. Shocked that Laura has completely outwitted him, the Captain suffers a completely breaks mental and physical breakdown.

Laura

Laura is a manipulative and scheming woman who goes to war against her husband. Living in a deeply misogynistic household and society, she has no other recourse to combat a husband who considers women inherently inferior and evil. Ironically, Laura's situation forces her to become the villain her husband stereotypes all women as being: She can only rid herself of her husband and take over the house and the family's finances by driving him to the point of mental instability.

Laura's battle against her husband is an all-consuming ideological conflict. As a result, she struggles to provide support for her daughter. The Captain and Laura fight over Bertha's future, but Laura rarely talks to her daughter. Laura sacrifices her duties as a parent to make the world a better place for all women, including Bertha. As a result, Laura may not be a sympathetic character—but the play's final line indicates to the audience that she is Bertha's only true parent.

Bertha

Bertha is the daughter of a once-wealthy family who finds herself caught in a fierce battle between her parents. While the Captain and Laura no longer love one another, Bertha still loves both her mother and her father. She speaks to them with care and kindness, trying to please everyone. She is an innocent figure who will be most affected by the conclusion of the power struggle around her.

Bertha is notably absent for most of the play. Laura and the Captain argue about her future, but she only appears in a few scenes. Bertha is now only a symbol to her parents—whoever controls her, wins. Her absence is most notable in the final scenes of the play, when she flees her father's attempt to shoot her rather than allow Laura to win.

Margret

Margret, a nurse who has been with the family for a long time, cared for the Captain when he was a young boy and still feels a motherly urge to protect him. A purely good figure in the play, Margret genuinely cares about other people and tries not to take sides even when the Captain accuses her of being his enemy. Her actions at the end are telling: At first, she refuses to get the Captain into the straitjacket, which seems like a cruel imprisonment; however, when she sees the extent of the Captain's illness, she agrees to help as someone who loves him. She puts the straitjacket on the Captain as an act of kindness to someone who is suffering. Throughout the play, Margret retains her capacity for love.