One out of three isn’t bad. In the definition shown above we learn that a protagonist is:
- the leading character
- a hero
- a heroine
In Steig Larsson’s popular trilogy the subject is Lisbeth Salander. Although she is not present on every page, the story is about her. She is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the titles of the three books in the trilogy. While Mikael Blumkvist is the male “lead” in the story, Lisbeth is always there, lurking in the shadows. Without her, there is no story. She is the leading character.
However, I’m not sure she is the hero/heroine. Those are strong words to describe her. I’m not sure anyone really loves Lisbeth. She is admired, pitied, respected, and even embraced. She gains the support of even her strongest critics, but is only cautiously trusted. Even Mikael, who is at times her sexual partner, is hard-pressed to describe her in terms that one would ordinarily ascribe to love. He already has a lover, and rushes back to her when the first episode is concluded.
There is much about Lisbeth Salander which deserves the attention she gets. She is a woman (I have a problem continuing to call her a “girl”) who is abused beyond a level which can be ignored. Her rights are abused; her name is abused; her mind is abused; she is continually abused physically; and … ultimately … she is sexually abused. Some people might say that to some extent she is “everywoman.“ That makes her an archetype, and archetypes are not typically loved. They are more likely to be studied.
There is a sense in which Lisbeth is a super-hero. I don’t want to give away the storyline in either of the books, but there is one moment in the trilogy when she is death-defying beyond that level at which a “normal” human being can function. A cigarette box saves her life. Her resistance to death is, perhaps, super-human. Again, super-heroes are praised and honored, but they are seldom loved.
I think the reader may love what Lisbeth stands for. She is a champion for abused women, and her mind is something more powerful than most other humans. She exceeds Mensa in her intellectual capabilities.
However, her lifestyle and her choices leave something to be desired. She engages in numerous criminal activities, one of which makes her financially independent. The case can be made for the fact that she deserves the rewards, but the truth is that she is a criminal. She surrounds herself with the “things” of a comfortable life but prefers to continue to live a spartan existence, even sparing her closest friend and sometime sexual partner the intimacy of knowing her.
So Lisbeth Salander is the protagonist of these three stories. But she is not really a heroine. It will be interesting to see what the screenwriters do to her in the films which are about to be shot. I suspect there will be some softening of her character and she may actually emerge with heroine qualities. That would be a shame. Her persona in the books is unique and worthy of preserving.
Dictionary Credit: Dictionary.com
