A STUDY ON THE CHARACTER OF MARCO POLO IN R.K.NARAYAN’S 'THE GUIDE': A NEW PERSPECTIVE (Pages 149-154) by Dr. S. Rajendran in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

The present paper tries to look at the minor and not much talked about character Marco Polo in R. K .Narayan’s The Guide in a different perspective. To the readers Marco Polo appears as an organized man devoted to research and archeology. When we indulge in the analyses of the turn of events and ending of the story, we can see the other side, the dangerous side of Marco Polo. He is highly deceptive and concealing vengeance within himself expecting an appropriate moment to strike at Raju. Though Rosie is called a snake woman by Raju’s mother, Marco is more poisonous and can be compared to king cobra. Though he appears to be a good husband who gives freedom to his wife by allowing her to go and watch snake dance with Raju, Marco seems to be planning revenge on both of them. To me Marco seems more villainous than Iago in “Othello”. Marco is a hard hearted villain without even an iota of mercy or forgiving nature in him. Ironically, Raju nicknamed him as Marco Polo but Marco named Raju to death in reality. All the time Marco is deceptive and designing to bring destruction to Raju and Rosie till he achieves his desired end. With the single stroke of his plan, he makes Raju imprisoned and Rosie to loose his companion. Marco is so cunningly clever that he kills two birds in a single shot. Key Words: grotesque creature, pure villains, realistic touch, traits, manners, habits etc.