The Instrumentality of Fringe Characterisation in Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh

Abstract

Character construction in the novel presupposes the imaginative contemplativeness of the author as it is vital in the appraisal of its form, nay, the totality of the author’s intentions – a trajectory towards apprehending the ideological platform on which the novel is mounted. The worlds of characters may converge, diverge or even intertwine depending on the conceptual vision of the author. Roundness or flatness of characters, the protagonist-antagonist, hero-foil cleavages, etc. may, therefore, become inconsequential in the writer’s creative reflections. The primary concern, as far as widening or thinning out the ideological horizons of the plot is concerned, could be the degree of relationship between the major and minor characters as it impinges on the philosophical construct of the work .The aim of the paper is, in the light of this, an attempt to reveal how Salman Rushdie dispersed character relevance to build the plot of The Moor’s Last Sigh. Rushdie, due to his pursuit of regeneration through deconstructionist interconnectivity, the theoretical device that was used in this critique, is not unmindful of the foundational importance of fringe characters in the predominance of the key dramatis personae, especially in coming to grips with the ideological conflict, duplicity and ambivalence that the novel valorizes. This paper is an attempt to validate the strength of the fringe characters towards putting in perspective their indispensability in cutting the Gordian knot that the novel’s turbulent interpersonal relationships present. Historical relevance of some characters and the contextual influence factor that throws up others are importantly explained to have served as the substructure of the plot of The Moor’s Last Sigh.