Why We Love Antiheroes?

This article is study the concept of Antihero, in context with And Then There Were None a novel by Agatha Christie and further explores how the character of an antihero affects the story and finally checks if Philip Lombard fits the title of “Antihero”.   

 

Antiheroes are a quintessential element of Modernism, postmodernism and existentialism. Although the breed of anti heroes came into focus and entered the main stream of literature in large numbers roughly during and after the period of Modernism, the concept was present even before. A hero is a main character of a literary work that perform great deeds for the common good, whereas an antihero is someone with some of the qualities of a villain, up to and including brutality, cynicism, and ruthlessness, but with the soul or motivations of a more conventional Hero. The spice of a story, the element that makes it more than a simple traditional story of heroes and villains, lies within the character of the Antihero. In simple words antihero is a character in a story that lacks the characteristics that would make him hero. They are mostly the smartest character in the story with few villainous traits, but because success wouldn’t be possible without their help, they are still considered to be good. The fact that antiheroes are the smartest and mean characters and hence won’t do anything helpful unless they get something in retune, which leads to twist in the story.   This flaw of antiheros makes them more interesting, as there is always a horrible past which has resulted in them acting so selfishly and not entirely pure. They can be working for the side of evil, but with hidden noble intention or other underlying complexities Common traits of antihero are that they are neither hundred percent good nor are hundred percent bad; rather they are obsessed with their tragic past and by their past deeds. Antiheros acts according to their own set of rules and values but at time are seen acting against the self.

They lack true identity, and in some cases they are disillusioned with life, lack strong ideals and goals, but this does not motivate them to act against or act for any character and are mostly fighting the present circumstances.  

The origin of the antiheros as a literary device is marked in the 18th century, but there have been some scholars who believe that the concept of an antihero existed well before that. Currently the usage of antiheroes has increased and became a boarder that ever. Now we there are thousands of shows, movies, and books portraying such characters, which are widely admired by audiences.

The majority of television shows these days portray dark characters. The most celebrated TV shows have anti-heroes who seem to possess both positive and negative traits. Many have successfully explored and impressively depicted the darkest aspects of a human life. 

 

Anti-hero can serve a great purpose if used skilfully. An anti-hero brings the spice and flavour to a script that an ordinary hero-villain format cannot. The more secular approach to the idea of using anti-hero shows that it has much more potential as compared to the conventional style. It can be used to represent many things at the same time, such as social flaws, human frailties, and political culture. An anti-hero is usually given the most prominent role after the protagonist, and is represented as an amalgamation of both good and evil. Instead of having two different people to represent two extremes, an anti-hero combines both into one person, and thus shows the real nature of humanity. Moreover, in modern society when we are presented with a character that is overly righteous and upright, we find it too good to be true. As suffering and sorrow are a part of human life, so we relate better to a character that has suffered through life, and who has both good and bad sides, than a character that is only shown doing good.

The best example of the anti-hero archetype is in the T.V. show “And Then There Were None, (Damon) The Vampire Diaries series, (Emily Thorne) Revenge, Dexter and in movies like Sholay (Gabbar), and the other superhero series. Now speaking about the novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, where seven guests, a newly hired personal secretary and two staff are gathered for a weekend on an isolated island by the hosts the Owens who are delayed. At dinner a record is played and the host's message alleges that all the people present are guilty of murder and suddenly the first of them is dead, then the next - It seems that one of them is the murderer but the leading person is always the person who is murdered next and at last all are dead.

Philip Lombard, who comes to the island with a loaded revolver, as suggested by his invitation letter. Lombard is accused of causing the deaths of twenty-one men of East African tribesmen, after stealing their food and abandoning them to their deaths. Neither he nor Marston feels any remorse. He is the only one to theorize that U N Owen might be Wargrave, but the others reject this. He and Vera are the only victims not killed by Justice Wargrave. He was the eighth victim (the ninth according to the nursery), he was shot by Vera reflecting the ninth verse "One got frizzled up and then there were one".

Philip does have anyone on his side also he is not sorry for his past deed. When asked about the crimes he’s accused of, Lombard is the first one who readily admits that he did it while all the characters are still trying to lie about their pasts. But even while doing this he says: “Not quite the act of a pukka sahib, I’m afraid. But self-preservation’s a man’s first duty. And natives don’t mind dying, you know. They don’t feel about it as Europeans do.” (4.45) Further when things become worse, Lombard doesn’t panic and says “I’ve a pretty good imagination of my own. I’ve been in tight places before now and got out of them! I think—I won’t say more than that but I think I’ll get out of this one”  (11.136).

Even though he’s wrong and not sorry about it, Lombard remains a man of action. He’s the one who wants to search the whole island. He’s the one who wants to seek out Dr. Armstrong when he goes missing. He’s the one who isn’t afraid of running into trouble because he knows how to handle trouble. In fact, Lombard isn’t even afraid of the idea that there is someone tracking them down. When asked if he’s afraid of the dangerous murderer, he says: “Dangerous? Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? I’ll be dangerous when I get a hold of him!” (7.175).

Also he is the only one who is not pointing figures at other, and is always finding a way to get out from the Island, and he and Vera would have escape from the island if one she hadn’t shot him and had listens to Lombard. 
Finally if one compares the character of Philip Lombard with the characteristics of an antihero he fulfils most of the traits, that is Lombard is brave, strong, intelligent, even though he has villainous past he think himself as a hero and is the only one to accept the risk and is not guilty of his deeds.