Dec 23, 2009

Lord Jim | Characters

The most important character is of course Jim, the protagonist and tragic hero. Although Jim's character is somewhat enigmatic, not only to Marlow but to himself, he is best described as a "romantic," which is the assessment of the worldly wise Stein. Nurtured by dreams of heroism as a boy and a youth, Jim longs for the reputation of a hero, but he is too self-conscious to be a natural man of action. As an incident in his training period demonstrates, Jim can become so mesmerized by his dreams of valor that he cannot rise to the occasion when it presents itself.

Consequently, Jim...