Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Worker

In the more analytical parts of the book, the worker just shows up to produce commodities and collect wages. Sounds simple enough. But when Marx describes society, it's clear that his sympathies are on the side of the workers: Marx wants them to defeat the guys who run the system, whether that's by getting laws passed to protect themselves or by actively overthrowing the capitalists altogether. In Marx's view, the worker doesn't make the system tick—that's why he or she isn't the protagonist—but the worker is always waiting and unhappy, a potential threat or antagonist to the capitalist mode of production.