Enemy of the People

Character Analysis & Reflection of the Play "An Enemy of the People"

Character Analyses

Tom Stockmann -- This part is essentially the role of the scientist. Dr. Stockman is an idealist, secure in his scientific world that the right thing, as he defines it, will be done. Tom Stockman is rational if not pragmatic. He underestimates the power that money has over common sense, good sense, and sometimes any sense at all. Stockman's world view is that of medicine, a paradigm that demands its practitioners do no harm. While money from tourism would certainly be nice, Dr. Stockman is unable to accept the idea that there are citizens in the town who would trade good health -- perhaps even their own good health -- for money. Further, he doesn't understand why the authorities don't respond to his discovery and move forward with making the corrections to...
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