Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Antonio and the Duchess

If you have any heart, you were rooting for these two until the bitter, strangled-on-purpose and accidentally-stabby end. While there is a sense in which the Duchess is fighting the system by marrying Antonio, she's not written as some sort of progressive, feminist rebel—she's just a woman who wants to marry the man she loves, and doesn't see why she shouldn't be able to.

In fact, as she points out several times, it's totally within not just the law but convention for her to remarry. Even if #TeamAntonioandtheDuchess are breaking some rules with their relationship, they come across as such relentlessly decent people that their own values end up looking a whole lot better than the ones they're undermining.

Bosola

Yeah, yeah, "But Bosola brings down our OTP! How can he be a protagonist?"

We hear you, but think about this: how much time do you spend with Bosola?

A lot.

Think about the sheer amount of lines Webster spends showing us the world through Bosola's eyes. In addition to the fact that Bosola ultimately takes it upon himself to Do The Right Thing and avenge the Duchess, there's also reason to believe that he's the real dramatic center of this play.

From scene to scene, Webster catalogs the way in which Bosola's totally disillusioned about the world he lives in but wants a place in it anyway. In fact, you could easily argue that the Duchess's death is the big turning point in the play not because our heroine's kaput, but because it catalyzes Bosola's transformation from assassin to avenger.