2. • It is true that little actress Lisa is a tragic heroine and her life no less than a piece
of art . Her life life can very well be converted into an arty stuff. She is not very
impressed by her lifestyle but still she has to be in it. She goes to the front and comes
to know the reality of life. At this point starts the tragic web of the story which later
appears to be perfect art piece. Her attitude towards life changes and she comes to
know that life has another face as well. She accepts Doronin as her life and decided
to leave the art world. She desperately , calls herself a „weak woman‟,accepts her
love for doronin and she is not reciprocated duly, and this fact aggravated the feeling
of being a weakling. Then the story moves towards the the climax slowly but steadily
and finally the tragic heroine gets purged of her sorrowand assimilates all her
emotions and finally understands the meaning of her theatre utterances.
3. • The writer aptly projects the universal suffering of mankind and the need for
emotional and moral growth.In the times of crisis man looks for emotional and moral
security which leads to its growth. Universal suffering is shown in the form of a civil
war where are scared of losing their emotional baggage. Lisa understands her
responsibility and grows emotionally and morally.She takes it as her responsibility to
entertain the soldiers and do something for them. She wants to pick her gun and
avenge the innocent deaths, she gets emotionally stronger. Initially, she felt there was
no love in the world but later she found the world was full of love where there was
place for art.Lisa and doronin both grow emotionally and morally due to universal
suffering.Though doronin is very strong yet he succumbs to his emotional needs and
accepts in front of his landlady his love for Lisa.Lisa grew as an actress finally. She is
morally committed to her profession and her love . All this happened due to universal
suffering she saw due to the war and her separation from doronin due to his death.
4. Lisa was a “little actress” as she was an amateur who was not an established actress.
Though she was dedicated to her work yet she was not able to put her heart and soul
into the dialogues spoken by her. She could only understand when she fell in love
with Doronin, the only she could feel the world pulsating and throbbing. She could
understand the intensity of love only when she lost Doronin. She for the first time felt
the depth of her dialogue “If you love , the whole world is within you, and there is no
death”. For the first time the audience applauded her ecstatically. They watched her
acting with bated breath. That day every one felt that she had grown up and became
a real actress. Yes, she had finally grown up and “play-acting had become her
density”. She would never get away from it. Acting became the integral part of her life
as life in itself had become a play for her and she would be acting for her life. She
had finally become a real actress and no longer was a debutante. She understood
the futility of war where people come closer but life becomes a tragic play where Lisa
is a tragic heroine. When she acts on the front she finds people „drinking‟ each and
every word and she felt that she could act and impress upon the people the need of
art.
5. • It is a fact which has been repeated in the story “The Actress” as well. The main character
of the story is always the writer or the narrator‟s mouthpiece. It works according to the
wishes of the story writer. The reader can understand the character of story written through
the study of the main character.
• In the story „The Actress‟ Lisa is narrator‟s mouthpiece. She is an astute observer. She can
read the surroundings and act accordingly. She is highly impressed by the atmosphere
around. She can feel the pulse and is affected by it. Lisa reacts sharply when she sees the
actors around her are talking about shopping and other things. She snaps that no-one
should have the audacity to talk about anything like that when the city is torn with war. She
is fearless and knows the reality about herself. She wants to search herself within as to
why she is into this profession. She is fearless and accepts the reality about Doronin as
well. She comments it is not her looks which attracts her. It is his being the real „hero‟. She
can comment in her weakness for Doronin. She fulfills each and every need and
requirement of the narrative. This story needs a character like that. She is an actress who
has to be an astute observer and sensitive. She is the one who has to be fearless as the
artists are. She has the burden to purge the society and this can be done by being fearless.
She is not only fearless for the society but for herself as well. She doesn‟t hesitate in
declaring her love for Doronin wouldn‟t have developed fully and the story wouldn‟t have
culminated the way it had.
• Lisa‟s character is perhaps the best choice to be the narrator‟s mouthpiece as it helps to
get an insight into the writer‟s character as well.
