Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Butch, Vincent, Jules

Nothing's easy about Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino's making our job in this section way harder than usual. There are three main story lines, and Tarantino arranges the film so that each story has a different protagonist. All the protagonists are antiheroes. The director's genius is that he makes the thugs all so darn likable and gets us to shift our sympathies from story to story.

Let's start with Butch. The story of his double-cross of Marsellus and his eventual escape, chase, and ordeal all flow from his point of view. For instance, his killing of Vincent is a revenge he gets on Vincent's back talk at the bar. He double-crosses Marsellus because Marsellus is showing him no respect by asking him to throw the fight; he tells Butch he's washed up. During the kidnap/torture sequence, we're rooting for Butch to get revenge on Maynard and Zed. He's the protagonist of the story.

Vincent's story is the date with Mia Wallace. We're looking at Mia through his eyes, and we get to watch his attempt to talk himself into keeping his hands off her. We panic during the overdose scene when he has to rush to save Mia (and probably his own) life. We're as relieved as he is when she comes back to life. He's our protagonist here.

Finally we have Jules who acts as a co-protagonist with Vincent during the Bonnie Situation, but takes center stage in the final diner scene where he confronts both Ringo and his own past as a violent man. It's his story, and it's a story of transformation. We respond to the part of Jules that wants to be a better man.