The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Main Characters and Their Development

• Arturo Ui — a charismatic and ruthless opportunist, his personality seemingly carved from the stone of the city’s underworld; his journey is a metamorphosis from petty criminal to merciless dictator, with every gesture and tone growing more commanding and menacing, while his inner emptiness fills with a hunger for power and fear.
• Roma — Ui’s loyal companion, a blend of naive devotion and predatory instinct; his development is a tragic evolution from simple henchman to fanatical follower, willing to do anything for his leader.
• Dogsborough — an aging politician whose weariness and cynicism provide fertile ground for Ui’s rise; his inner conflict between conscience and self-interest is revealed in subtle shades, and his gradual downfall is marked by silent acquiescence to the new order.
• Giri — a businessman in whom greed and fear are tightly intertwined; his path is that of a man who, yielding to pressure, loses the last shreds of dignity and becomes a pawn in someone else’s game.
• Givola — a figure balancing between cunning and cowardice; his development is the story of how fear of power turns a man into a will-less executor of another’s will.
• Butcherfield — a representative of the old world, in whom a hope for justice still flickers; his tragedy lies in his inability to resist the encroaching darkness, and his development is a gradual realization of his own helplessness.