Blog 6: Glass of Water

In my opinion, the protagonist in Scribe’s Glass of Water is Miss Abigail.  From the beginning of the show to the end we sort of feel for her.  She is introduced as a working class girl so automatically we know that she’s not high and mighty and she is not superficial/self centered.  Whereas, the Duchess and the Queen are willing to sort of let go of the fact that a guy murdered someone so they can continue to fall in love with him.  I see Abigail as a Cinderella character. She’s a normal girl who gets a chance with a high-class man.  Her “evil stepmother and stepsister” control what she does without really knowing that her and Masham want to be together. But in the end they get to live happily ever after.

            However, Masham seems to be the character around which the plot is centered.  The three female characters love him. The glass of water itself has to do with his rendezvous.  He killed Bolingbroke’s cousin.  The action follows him and character choices do as well. Therefore, his conflicts and triumphs are more emphasized.  The duel is talked about often and ends up biting him in the butt but also works out well for Bolingbroke.  And his triumph with Abigail ends the play on a happy note. We want that happily ever after ending with him and the girl he actually loves.

            Although there might be a lot of protagonists and it can be argued that Masham or Bolingbroke could be as well, I used a process of elimination when picking my choice. I clearly thought that the Queen and the Duchess were too self centered and high and mighty for us to want them to succeed.  They’re already successful so why do they want more than what they already have? They don’t deserve Masham. Bolingbroke wasn’t the main focus on the love part of the plot, which is the main source of pathos to the audience. Finally, Masham comes in a close second to protagonist.  It’s mainly their love that I wanted to triumph in the end.