The hero of the "Trilogy of Desire" Cowperwood Frank. Character features, quotes and interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Cowperwood Frank is the protagonist of the famous "Trilogy of Desire" by the famous American writer T. Dreiser. The first part of this work was published in 1912 and immediately attracted the attention of the reading public with the topical problems of the modern society writer, which were very talented and vitally described by him in the novel. In his book, the author showed how big business breaks not only the physical, but also the moral life of a person.

The character of the hero in the first part of the trilogy

Cowperwood Frank first appears in The Financier. He comes from a family of small bank clerk who lives in Philadelphia. The author emphasizes that his character is an outstanding nature: he is smart, has an iron will, determination, patience and resourcefulness, which helps him quickly get comfortable in financial circles. Cowperwood Frank marries, has children, starts his own brokerage office on one of the city's most prestigious streets. However, the young man is excessively ambitious and cannot be content with simple family happiness and prosperity. The hero is drawn to money and other women. He is knocked out in people, acting on the principle voiced in the following quote: One strong manalways respects the other.”

Adventure

The character seeks to cash in on money speculation. To achieve his goal, he embarks on risky monetary fraud, which did not go in vain for him. At the first failure in the work of his company, the hero began to have financial difficulties. It turned out that he owed the city treasury a huge amount of money. However, Cowperwood Frank faces other serious problems. Having struck up an affair with the daughter of a local financial tycoon, he incurs the wrath of her father. He and his family are threatened. To top it off, a young man is jailed for wasting public funds.

Hero Evolution

The first novel in the trilogy shows the character's personality changing as his career grows. In the final part of the work, the reader observes the complete rebirth of the financier. Early out of prison, he again embarks on a risky adventure, playing on stock speculation, and succeeds. But the worst thing is that towards the end of the book, Frank Cowperwood shows himself from the most unseemly side in relation to his wife and children. He leaves his wife on a rather modest allowance and leaves Philadelphia in the hope of subsequently marrying his new lover Eileen. Thus, the author showed how a talented, gifted young man, who had all the makings to become an outstanding personality in every respect, turned into an immoral person, ready to neglect moral principles in order to achieveyour goal.

Character Development in The Titan Novel

This work is the second part of the famous trilogy. It appeared in 1914 and was met with eloquent silence, indicating that it was not to the liking of the critics. Following this, attacks began on the protagonist for his immorality and immorality. Indeed, Frank Cowperwood has evolved for the worse. After moving to Chicago, he married Eileen and again engaged in speculation. He began publishing a newspaper, became rich, and then got involved in the affairs of city government, bribing members of the municipality, politicians and officials. Then the hero took up the monopolization of the city's transport system and thus set the local businessmen against himself. The following quote characterizes him best of all: “Life is war, and especially the life of a financier.” In this case, an interesting fact is the fact that the writer chose a real big businessman as a prototype for his hero. This allows you to better understand the idea of the author, who wanted to show the consequences of the realization of the American dream.

Personal change

Frank Algernon Cowperwood in the second part turned into a completely immoral person. He almost abandoned his wife and took several mistresses. After a while, his attention is attracted by a pretty young girl, Berenice, whose mother secretly kept an elite brothel. The hero begins to patronize the hostess in the hope of getting closer to her daughter. After a while he woo herreciprocity, and his wife, learning about this betrayal, almost commits suicide. Frank Cowperwood himself, the hero of the Trilogy of Desire, turns into a completely immoral person. He spends all his charisma and charm on cheap secular life, and his natural mind, charm, quick wit - on illegal machinations, which, although they bring him we alth, do not provide moral satisfaction.

The personality of the hero in the third part of the trilogy

The last novel "Stoick" was published after the death of the writer in 1947. An interesting fact is that the author has long postponed the creation of a continuation of the fate of his hero: the character turned out to be so complex and ambiguous. In the book, the author sums up the character's life. Frank Algernon Cowperwood, whose prototype was also a major financial businessman and millionaire (C. Yerkes was a prominent American businessman who played a large role in the development of the Chicago transport system), moves to London in the last book, where he decides to build a subway. To do this, he makes new acquaintances with the capital's high society. In this part of the trilogy, the hero is not so much evolving psychologically as he is experiencing the terrible consequences of his immoral behavior in previous years. If earlier he retained some chance to quit a depraved lifestyle, now he is literally living out his days not only physically, but also morally.

Positive features

The best change in the character of the herocan be observed in his behavior with women. At first, he saw in Eileen the woman of his dreams, but after a while she ceased to interest him. The author masterfully draws how an unleashed secular lifestyle, greed and easy success in high society turned his head and made him an insensitive businessman. However, Dreiser, as a true master of psychological analysis, shows that at first the environment in which he found himself did not completely spoil him.

So, at the beginning of his career, Frank has not yet lost the ability to appreciate simple family happiness. He sincerely loved his first wife, adored children and built bright dreams about the future. This is evidenced by the following statement, which is very revealing for understanding his inner world: “Life is love, and not just money and money!”. After some time, the hero falls in love a second time, but this time the young man is again romantically inclined and still continues to believe that he can be truly happy.

Lifestyle

The description of Frank Cowperwood's house shows how sensitive this character was to everything beautiful. He built himself a luxurious mansion, which he furnished to his liking. But the main feature of his dwelling was that in it he collected a large number of priceless works of art. Of course, for this successful businessman, this was largely a matter of prestige. However, the fact that Frank always tried to set himself up to think about the need to do good to people is indicative. No wonder itcharacterizes the following phrase: "The fall cannot last forever!".

He periodically thinks that with the help of this meeting you can help the sick, build charitable institutions. However, the hero is already too involved in his former way of life and cannot leave him. He is not shy about the means to achieve his goal, indulges in any deception to carry out his plans. As a result, he ruins not only his own life, but also the fate of those people who are dear to him. At the end of life, there is not a single person who would pity him. Frank causes envy and anger among local businessmen, those women whom he once loved leave him, and the hero himself actually dies alone.