The protagonist is an ordinary person in the extraordinary circumstances like Wilder in the book Double Indemnity. Or, on the other hand, an extraordinary person in the criminal circumstances like Marlowe and his crime-solving skills. He is always a “loner, often utilizing the skills of violence in an extralegal fashion”, is hard-boiled and life-beaten (Porter 413). Originating from the western tradition, he distracts himself from pleasures and attractions that might confuse or bring him to peril. Moreover, the noir literature includes a femme fatale like Lola or Phyllis. The genre treats women “specifically” and it implys the dualism of the human nature – dark and light. The world is represented as keenly “patriarchic”, that gives two possible roles for a woman, an innocent “damsel in distress” or an “evil queen” who follows the steps of Lady Macbeth. Both of them give little contribution to the plot development, though they serve a suggestive motive to the male characters, either too weak to follow their instructions, or honest enough to protect them (Ewing 77). When the first archetype is a traditional love interest, the second one either brings the protagonist to ruin or changes his life
The protagonist is an ordinary person in the extraordinary circumstances like Wilder in the book Double Indemnity. Or, on the other hand, an extraordinary person in the criminal circumstances like Marlowe and his crime-solving skills. He is always a “loner, often utilizing the skills of violence in an extralegal fashion”, is hard-boiled and life-beaten (Porter 413). Originating from the western tradition, he distracts himself from pleasures and attractions that might confuse or bring him to peril. Moreover, the noir literature includes a femme fatale like Lola or Phyllis. The genre treats women “specifically” and it implys the dualism of the human nature – dark and light. The world is represented as keenly “patriarchic”, that gives two possible roles for a woman, an innocent “damsel in distress” or an “evil queen” who follows the steps of Lady Macbeth. Both of them give little contribution to the plot development, though they serve a suggestive motive to the male characters, either too weak to follow their instructions, or honest enough to protect them (Ewing 77). When the first archetype is a traditional love interest, the second one either brings the protagonist to ruin or changes his life