The hero of the "Trilogy of Desire" Cowperwood Frank. Features of the character, quotes and interesting facts

Cowperwood Frank - the main character of the famous "Trilogy of Desire" of 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 to the burning problems of the contemporary writer of the society, who were very talented and vitally described 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.

Character of the hero in the first part of the trilogy

Cowperwood Frank first appears in the novel "The Financier". He comes from a family of a small bank employee who lives in Philadelphia. The author emphasizes that his character is an extraordinary kind: he is intelligent, has an iron will, purposefulness, patience and resourcefulness, which helps him to quickly learn in the financial community. Cowperwood Frank marries, he has children, he starts his own brokerage cantor in one of the most prestigious streets of the city. However, the young man is unreasonably ambitious and can not be satisfied with simple family happiness and well-being. The hero is drawn to money and other women. He breaks out into people, acting on the principle voiced in the following quote: "One strong person always respects the other."

Adventures

The character seeks to cash in on monetary speculation. To achieve his goal, he embarks on risky monetary fraud, which has not passed for him in vain. At the first failure in the work of his company, the hero began financial difficulties. It turned out that he owed the city treasury a huge amount of money. However, Cowperwood Frank faces other serious problems. After tying an affair with the daughter of a local financial tycoon, he brings on the wrath of her father. He and his family are beginning to be threatened. To top it all off, the young man is imprisoned for squandering public funds.

Evolution of the hero

The first novel of the trilogy shows the change in the personality of the character during the growth of his career. In the final part of the work the reader observes the complete degeneration of the financier. Early on leaving prison, he again embarks on a risky adventure, playing on stock speculations, and achieves success. But worst of all, in the near the end of the book, Frank Cowperwood reveals himself from the most unseemly side of his wife and children. He leaves his wife on rather modest maintenance and leaves Philadelphia in the calculation to subsequently marry his new lover Eileen. Thus, the author showed how a talented, gifted youth who had all the makings to become in every way an outstanding personality turned into a wicked man, willing to disregard moral principles to achieve his goal.

The development of the character in the novel "Titan"

This work is the second part of the famous trilogy. It was published in 1914 and was greeted with eloquent silence, indicating that it was not to the liking of critics. After that, attacks on the main character began for his immorality and immorality. Indeed, Frank Cowperwood evolved for the worse. Moving to Chicago, he married Eileen and again engaged in speculation. He began to produce a newspaper, got rich, and then got involved in the affairs of the city government, bribing members of the municipality, politicians and officials. Then the hero began to monopolize the transport system of the city and thus set up local dealers against himself. It is best characterized by such a quote: "Life is war, and especially the life of a financier." In this case, an interesting fact is that the writer chose the prototype for his hero of a real big businessman. This allows you to better understand the idea of the author, who wanted to show the consequences of the implementation of the American dream.

Change of personality

Frank Algernon Cowperwood in the second part turned into a completely immoral person. He almost abandoned his wife and got himself a few 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 achieves her reciprocity, and his wife, upon learning of this treason, almost commits suicide. Frank Cowperwood himself, the hero of the "Trilogy of Desire," turns into a completely immoral person. All his charisma and charm he squanders into a cheap social life, and the natural mind, charm, ingenuity - to illegal frauds, which, although they bring him wealth, but do not bring moral satisfaction.

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

The last novel "Stoic" was published after the death of the writer in 1947. An interesting fact is that the author long delayed the creation of the continuation of the fate of his hero: so complex and ambiguous was the character. In the book, the author sums up the life of the character. Frank Algernon Cowperwood, whose prototype was also a major financier and millionaire (Charles Yerkes was a prominent American businessman who played a major role in the development of the Chicago transport system), in the latter book moves to London, where he decides to build a subway. To do this, he makes new acquaintances with the capital's highest light. 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 abandon his depraved lifestyle, now he literally lives out his days not only physically, but also morally.

Positive features

The best way to change the character of the hero can be observed in his behavior with women. At first, he saw the woman of her dreams in Eileen, but after a while she ceased to interest him. The author paints painfully how the unleashed secular way of life, greed for profit and easy success in high society have 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 spoil him completely.

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, loved children and built bright dreams of the future. This is evidenced by the following statement, which is very revealing for understanding his inner world: "Life is love, not just money and money!". After a while the hero falls in love for the second time, but this time the young man is again romantic and still believes that he can be really happy.

Lifestyle

Description of the house of Frank Cowperwood shows how this character was sensitive to everything beautiful. He built himself a luxurious mansion, which he furnished to his own taste. But the main feature of his housing was that in it he collected a large number of priceless works of art. Of course, for this successful businessman this was largely a question of prestige. However, the fact that Frank always tried to set himself up on the idea of doing good to people is revealing. No wonder it is characterized by the following phrase: "The fall can not last without end!".

He is periodically visited by the thought that with the help of this meeting it is possible to help patients, to build charitable institutions. However, the hero has already become too involved in his former way of life and can not abandon him. He does not hesitate in the means to achieve this goal, he embarks on any deception to realize his plans. As a result, he ruins not only his life, but also the destinies of those people who value him. At the end of life there is not a single person who would regret it. In local businessmen, Frank causes envy and anger, those women whom he once loved, leave him, and the hero himself dies virtually alone.