A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art (such as a novel, play, or film).^[1] Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr, it dates from the Restoration,^[2] although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749.^[3][4] From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed.^[4] Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person."^[5] In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes.^[6] Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor.^[4] Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or writers, has been called characterisation.^[4]

A character who stands as a representative of a particular class or group of people is known as a type.^[7] Types include both stock characters and those that are more fully individualised.^[7] The characters in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1891) and August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888), for example, are representative of specific positions in the social relations of class and gender, such that the conflicts between the characters reveal ideological conflicts.^[8]

The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations with all of the other characters in the work.^[9] The individual status of a character is defined through the network of oppositions (proairetic, pragmatic, linguistic, proxemic) that it forms with the other characters.^[10] The relation between characters and the action of the story shifts historically, often miming shifts in society and its ideas about human individuality, self-determination, and the social order.^[11]

Classical analysis of character[link]

In the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory, Poetics (c. 335 BCE), the Greek philosopher Aristotle deduces that character (ethos) is one of six qualitative parts of Athenian tragedy and one of the three objects that it represents (1450a12).^[12] He understands character not to denote a fictional person, but the quality of the person acting in the story and reacting to its situations (1450a5).^[13] He defines character as "that which reveals decision, of whatever sort" (1450b8).^[13] It is possible, therefore, to have tragedies that do not contain "characters" in Aristotle's sense of the word, since character makes the ethical dispositions of those performing the action of the story clear.^[14] Aristotle argues for the primacy of plot (mythos) over character (ethos).^[15] He writes:

In the Poetics, Aristotle also introduced the influential tripartite division of characters in superior to the audience, inferior, or at the same level.^[17][18] In the Tractatus coislinianus (which may or may not be by Aristotle), comedy is defined as involving three types of characters: the buffoon (bômolochus), the ironist (eirôn) and the imposter or boaster (alazôn).^[19] All three are central to Aristophanes' "Old comedy."^[20]

By the time the Roman playwright Plautus wrote his plays, the use of characters to define dramatic genres was well established.^[21] His Amphitryon begins with a prologue in which the speaker Mercury claims that since the play contains kings and gods, it cannot be a comedy and must be a tragicomedy.^[22] Like much Roman comedy, it is probably translated from an earlier Greek original, most commonly held to be Philemon's Long Night, or Rhinthon's Amphitryon, both now lost.^[23]

Types of characters[link]

Round vs. flat[link]

In his book Aspects of the novel, E. M. Forster defined two basic types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of the novel: flat characters and round characters.^[24] Flat characters are two-dimensional, in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. By contrast, round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Scarlett O'Hara
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
First appearance	Gone with the Wind
Created by	Margaret Mitchell
Portrayed by	Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind) Joanne Whalley (Scarlett)
Information
Nickname(s)	Scarlett
Aliases	Katie Scarlett O'Hara (birthname)
Gender	Female
Family	Gerald O'Hara (father, deceased) Ellen Robillard O'Hara (mother, deceased) Susan Elinor "Suellen" O'Hara Benteen (sister) Caroline Irene "Carreen" O'Hara (sister) Gerald O'Hara Jr. (name of 3 brothers, all deceased)
Spouse(s)	Charles Hamilton (1st; deceased) Frank Kennedy (2nd; deceased) Rhett Butler (3rd)
Children	Wade Hampton Hamilton (son with Charles) Ella Lorena Kennedy (daughter with Frank) Eugenie Victoria "Bonnie Blue" Butler (daughter with Rhett; deceased) Katie Colum "Cat" Butler (daughter with Rhett in Scarlett) Mr. Butler (stepson via Rhett)
Relatives	Langston Butler (father-in-law named in Scarlett; deceased) Eleanor Butler (mother-in-law in sequel Scarlett) Ross Butler (brother-in-law named in Scarlett) Rosemary Butler (sister-in-law named in Scarlett) Pauline Robillard (maternal aunt) Eulalie Robillard (maternal aunt) Philippe Robillard (cousin of her mother) James O'Hara (paternal uncle) Andrew O'Hara (paternal uncle) Pierre Robillard (maternal grandfather) Solange Prudhomme Robillard (maternal grandmother) Katie Scarlett O'Hara (paternal grandmother) Will Benteen (brother-in-law) Unnamed nephew or niece (via Sullen and Will) Melanie Hamilton (sister-in-law) Beau Wilkes (nephew)
Religion	Roman Catholic

Scarlett O' Hara (born Katie Scarlett O'Hara; credited as Scarlett O' Hara – Hamilton – Kennedy – Butler) is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name. She also is the main character in the 1970 musical Scarlett and the 1991 book Scarlett, a sequel to Gone with the Wind that was written by Alexandra Ripley and adapted for a television mini-series in 1994. During early drafts of the original novel, Mitchell referred to her heroine as "Pansy", and did not decide on the name "Scarlett" until just before the novel went to print.^[1]

Personality of the Character[link]

Katie Scarlett, or Scarlett as everyone but her father calls her (she is named for his mother, chapter 2, Gone With the Wind) has dark hair, and a slim face and frame. She is an atypical protagonist, especially as a female romantic lead in fiction. When the novel opens, Scarlett is sixteen. She is vain, self-centered, somewhat spoiled, can be insecure, and has an intelligent, bright mind. She stands out in that she is smarter than and very much unlike the typical party-going belles around her. She can be a high-strung busybody, but for someone so smart, with men she loves, she can go into a mode where she is both babyish and overthinks little things. On the outside she seems charming, busy, good, and smart; but on the inside she is insecure and just wants the affection of her neighbor, Ashley Wilkes. She makes surface efforts to live up to the expectations her culture demands, but fears discovery by society of her true self. Scarlett has deep affection for Ashley, and wishes to marry him, despite a tradition in his family to marry cousins. Scarlett's motivation in the early part of the novel center around her desire to win the affection of Ashley, despite the fact that both of them marry others. Rhett Butler, an older bachelor, overhears Scarlett expressing her true feelings to Ashley, during a barbecue at Ashley's home. Rhett admires and is interested in the willful Scarlett, and pursues her through a romantic friendship when she becomes widowed, helping her to ignore Southern conventions and become active in society again. The Civil War is ultimately blamed by disapproving society, and Scarlett finds friendship with Rhett liberating.

After the War, Scarlett's character hardens, when she is burdened by her family, servants, the Wilkes family, and the fear of homelessness and starvation. This causes her to become extremely money-conscious and materialistic. Her motivation is to assure that no one close to her faces the threat of starvation or being a burden to others outside the family. As such, she engages in controversial business practices and exploits convict labor in order to make her lumber business, bought and run in defiance of her seconds husband's wishes, have a higher profit margin. After she becomes widowed again, she marries Rhett Butler for "fun" and because he is very wealthy.

Unfortunately, Scarlett is too insecure and vain to realize her pursuit of Ashley was misdirected until the climax of the novel. With the death of Melanie Wilkes, she realizes her pursuit of Ashley was in vain and he did not return her affection. She realizes she never really loved Ashley and that she loved Rhett Butler all along. She pursues Rhett from Melanie's deathbed to their home in the neighborhood, only to discover he has given up on receiving a return of affection from Scarlett and is preparing to leave her. In a reminder of how important her homeland is to her, Scarlett decides to return to the family plantation, Tara, to rest and set her plans to attract Rhett anew.

Searching for Scarlett[link]

While the studio and the public agreed that the part of Rhett Butler should go to Clark Gable (except for Clark Gable himself), casting for the role of Scarlett was a little harder. The search for an actress to play Scarlett in the film version of the novel famously drew the biggest names in the history of cinema, such as Bette Davis (whose casting as a Southern belle in Jezebel in 1938 took her out of contention), and Katharine Hepburn, who went so far as demanding an appointment with producer David O. Selznick and saying, "I am Scarlett O'Hara! The role is practically written for me." David replied rather bluntly, "I can't imagine Rhett Butler chasing you for twelve years."^{[citation needed]}Jean Arthur and Lucille Ball were also considered, as well as relatively unknown actress Doris Davenport. Susan Hayward was "discovered" when she tested for the part, and the career of Lana Turner developed quickly after her screen test. Tallulah Bankhead and Joan Bennett were widely considered to be the most likely choices until they were supplanted by Paulette Goddard.

The young English actress Vivien Leigh, virtually unknown in America, saw that several English actors, including Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard, were in consideration for the male leads in Gone with the Wind. Her agent happened to be the London representative of the Myron Selznick talent agency, headed by David Selznick's brother, Myron. Leigh asked Myron to put her name into consideration as Scarlett on the eve of the American release of her picture Fire Over England in February 1938. David Selznick watched both Fire Over England and her most recent picture, A Yank at Oxford, that month, and thought she was excellent but in no way a possible Scarlett, as she was "too British." But Myron Selznick arranged for David to first meet Leigh on the night in December 1938 when the burning of the Atlanta Depot was being filmed on the Forty Acres backlot that Selznick International and RKO shared. Leigh and her then lover Laurence Olivier (later to be her husband) were visiting as guests of Myron Selznick, who was also Olivier's agent, while Leigh was in Hollywood hoping for a part in Olivier's current movie, Wuthering Heights. In a letter to his wife two days later, David Selznick admitted that Leigh was "the Scarlett dark horse," and after a series of screen tests, her casting was announced on January 13, 1939. Just before the shooting of the film, Selznick informed Ed Sullivan: "Scarlett O'Hara's parents were French and Irish. Identically, Miss Leigh's parents are French and Irish."^[2]

In any case, Leigh was cast—despite public protest that the role was too "American" for an English actress—and eventually won an Academy Award for her performance.

Other actresses considered for Scarlett[link]

A great number of actresses were considered for the role of Scarlett. In fact, there were approximately 32 women who were considered and or tested for the role. The search for Scarlett began in 1936 (the year of the book's publication) and ended in December 1938.^[3]

Between 1936 and 1938, the following actresses were considered:

Between late 1937 and mid-1938, approximately 128 actresses were nominated for the role of Scarlett through letters of suggestion sent to Selznick International Pictures from the public.^[5]

Adaptations[link]

In 1980 a film about the search for Scarlett O'Hara was made entitled Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War with actress Morgan Brittany in the role of Vivien Leigh.

In the 1994 TV mini-series based on the sequel Scarlett, the character was played by English actress Joanne Whalley.

In the Margaret Martin musical Gone with the Wind, the role of Scarlett O'Hara was originated by Jill Paice.

Historical sources for the character[link]

While Margaret Mitchell used to say that her Gone with The Wind characters were not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities to some of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as individuals she heard of. Rhett Butler is thought to be based on Mitchell's first husband, Red Upshaw, who reportedly raped her during their brief marriage. Scarlett's upbringing resembled that of Mitchell's maternal grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens (1845–1934), who was raised on a plantation in Clayton County, Georgia (where the fictional Tara was placed), and whose father was an Irish immigrant. Another source for Scarlett might have been Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of US president Theodore Roosevelt. Martha grew up in a beautiful southern mansion, Bulloch Hall, in Roswell, just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Her physical appearance, beauty, grace and intelligence were well known to Mitchell and the personality similarities (the positive ones) between Martha, who was also called Mittie, and Scarlett were striking. Some say that some of Scarlett's plotting and scheming aspects might have been drawn from Martha Bulloch Roosevelt's beautiful and vivacious, independently wealthy and grandparent-spoiled, rebellious and attention-seeking granddaughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth.

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Scarlett O'Hara

• Short Bios of Scarlett and Vivien Leigh

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Emeritus Professor Sir Walter Murdoch, KCMG (17 September 1874 – 30 July 1970) was a prominent Australian academic and essayist famous for his intelligence, wit, and humanity. He was a Founding Professor of English and former Chancellor of University of Western Australia in Perth. Murdoch University, also in Perth is named after him. There is a walk dedicated to him on South Wing Level 2 of the Murdoch campus library.

Early life (before 1900)[link]

Walter Logie Forbes Murdoch was born on 17 September 1874 at Rosehearty, Scotland to Rev. James Murdoch, minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and his wife Helen, née Garden, and he was the youngest of their 14 children. He spent his first decade at Rosehearty and in England and France, and Walter arrived with his family in Melbourne in 1884. He attended Camberwell Grammar School and Scotch College^[1]. At the University of Melbourne, as a member of Ormond College, he won first-class honours in logic and philosophy.

Teaching and marriage[link]

After teaching experience, country and suburban, to the end of 1903, Murdoch's academic career began with appointment as a Melbourne University assistant lecturer in English. This was in what had virtually become a combined department under the classics professor T. G. Tucker. Murdoch published his first essay, 'The new school of Australian poets', in 1899, and he continued writing for the Argus, under the pen-name of 'Elzevir', in a column which appeared weekly from 1905 titled 'Books and Men'. On 22 December 1897 at Hawthorn, Melbourne, Murdoch had married Violet Catherine Hughston, a teacher.

1911 marked a turning-point in Murdoch's life. Passed over in favour of an overseas applicant, Sir Robert Strachan Wallace, for the re-created independent chair of English at Melbourne University, he spent the next year as a full-time member of the Argus's literary staff. He was then selected as a founding professor of the University of Western Australia, where in 1913 lectures began, and continued for many years, in tin sheds in the heart of Perth.

The literary and other friendships formed in Melbourne still exerted a strong nostalgic influence upon the middle-aged Murdoch. This has been established by his warmly sympathetic, but not uncritical, biographer John La Nauze; but the fact that he felt deeply his geographical and intellectual isolation in Perth was not evident to even his close associates there. Through the inter-war years, Murdoch broadened his influence upon Australian life—most noticeably within the western State but extending throughout the Commonwealth.

On the young campus he had a considerable following outside his own department and his immediate academic colleagues. In addition to the appeal of his wide-ranging and often informal literary lectures, of his sardonic wit and his ready debunking of the pompous and ultra-respectable, Murdoch was known for his help to students and junior colleagues in difficulties.

Sympathy for underdogs and a willingness to champion lost causes extended beyond Murdoch's academic environment. It coloured his second major contribution to Western Australian life: his association with several other members of the foundation professoriate in building closer links between the university and the community. His most effective medium was the column he contributed to the 'Life and Letters' page of the West Australian on alternate Saturday mornings. Combined from 1933 with occasional day and evening talks on radio—he was to prove a very effective broadcaster—and appearances on public platforms, frequently in the chair, it brought Murdoch a wide and varied local following. Simple language, challenging titles, erudite literary allusions, subtle or open criticisms of popularly accepted practices or beliefs, served to attract, in his biographer's words, varying types of people 'who read him, all with interest, most with pleasure, some with disapproval, over many years'. 'No other writer in the history of Australian letters has built so wide a reputation on the basis of the essay as a form of communication.'

These essays should be judged in the first instance as part of the community activities of the University of Western Australia. They were directed at the widespread literate, but by no means academic, population of the still very isolated State. But Murdoch's audience did not stop there. Indeed, the 'Elzevir' articles had begun to reappear in the Argus in 1919, and the essays in varying forms found an all-Australian market when Murdoch succumbed to the persuasion of his flamboyant nephew Sir Keith Murdoch, and his writings were syndicated on the Melbourne Herald network. Walter Murdoch's essays came to be read by others, then and much later, through collection and book form, from Speaking Personally (1930) onward. Moreover, in old age, for nearly twenty years from 1945, he conducted a weekly 'Answers' column, 'little essays' on any and every question, syndicated throughout most States and New Zealand and read by a huge public.

It is perhaps fortunate that Murdoch did not in his best creative years allow himself the leisure to write more ambitious works than his essays and some early textbooks. What he described as his one 'real book', Alfred Deakin: A Sketch (1923), was the result of work done in a year's leave in and around Melbourne. It was not successful financially, nor as an introduction either to a larger joint biography (later abandoned) or to La Nauze's definitive two-volume Alfred Deakin: a Biography (1965).

Murdoch's limited interest, in his middle and later years, in Australian writing has often been criticized. However, in 1918 he published the Oxford Book of Australasian Verse (revised, 1923, 1945) and in 1951, after many years delay, with Henrietta Drake-Brockman, Australian Short Stories, which was much better received than the verse anthology.

Political involvement[link]

In addition to his academic teaching and the benefits which the young university obtained from his extramural activities, Murdoch was to remain a member of its governing body after he resigned from his chair in 1939. Chancellor in 1943–48, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1939 and raised to Knight Commander of the Order (KCMG) in 1964. The university awarded him an honorary D.Litt. in 1948. He had been president of the local League of Nations Union from its foundation in the early 1920s until 1936, was president of the Kindergarten Union in 1933–36, and supported movements for women's rights.

A depression at the time did not stop his actively opposing the idea of secession from the Commonwealth as a solution to Western Australia's economic ills. Much later, in 1950–51, he vehemently and stalwartly opposed the attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. His prominent essay, 'I am going to vote No', rebuked Robert Menzies' attempt to eliminate the CPA in the 1951 referendum on that issue. Murdoch wrote that his opposition rested on one principle:

'The Government is asking the citizens of Australia to give it powers which I do not believe that any government ought to possess....The question turns on a very simple question. Have we the right to punish a person for his opinions? If we punish anyone for breaking the law of the land, or for conspiring with others to break the law, that is justice; if we punish anyone for holding opinions with which we disagree, that is persecution.'^[2]

Death[link]

Though the last years of Murdoch's long life were spent more or less as a recluse, with increasing deafness and declining eyesight, he remained mentally alert to the end. In 1964 he paid the last of several visits to his beloved Italy. When in the month of his death he was given a bedside message from the premier that the State government was to name its second university after him, he was able to send an appreciative acceptance. He added, sotto voce, 'It had better be a good one!' He died on 30 July 1970, aged 95.

References[link]

• Murdoch University: Sir Walter Murdoch
• Family tree

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Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos' creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely responsible for the character's story arc throughout the show's six seasons. Bobby Boriello portrayed Tony Soprano as a child in one episode and Danny Petrillo played the character as a teenager in three episodes. The character is loosely based on real-life New Jersey mobster Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo (born 1944), who is a former caporegime (capo) and de facto street boss of the DeCavalcante crime family of New Jersey.^[1] The DeCavalante Family is widely considered to be the model for the Soprano family; some incidents that the DeCavalcantes were involved in have been incorporated into Sopranos scripts.^[2]

In the series, Tony begins as a capo in the DiMeo crime family during the first season. Between the first and second seasons, he is promoted to acting boss, a title he retains until the sixth season (his uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano is the official boss up until early on in season 6, but has little or no actual power). Throughout the series, Tony struggles to balance the conflicting requirements of his "two families": his actual family—wife Carmela, daughter Meadow, son Anthony "A.J." Soprano, Jr., and mother Livia — and the criminal organization he heads. He is shown to be a short-tempered, violent sociopath, but also struggles with depression and is prone to panic attacks. Because of this, he seeks treatment from Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the show's first episode, and remains in therapy on and off up until the penultimate episode of the series.

Plot details[link]

Early life[link]

Tony was born on August 22, 1960, to Livia and "Johnny Boy" Soprano. He grew up living with his mother, father, and two sisters, Janice and Barbara, in the Ironbound neighborhood—known to locals as "Down Neck"—in Newark, New Jersey. His father was involved in crime, and Tony recalls some of his activities in flashbacks on the show. Tony's Grandfather, Corrado Soprano Sr., was a master stonemason who emigrated from Avellino, Italy in 1910. He helped to build a church in Tony's old neighborhood in Newark. Tony takes his children there so he can tell them about their heritage and the value of hard work.

Bobby Boriello played Tony in the episode "Down Neck", in which Tony recalls childhood events relating to his realization that his father was involved in organized crime. He recalls how his father, "Johnny Boy" Soprano, used his older sister, Janice, as a cover for attending meetings with criminal associates at a children's amusement park. At the time, Tony thought Janice was his father's favorite child. In therapy, when asked to remember happy childhood memories about his mother, Tony struggles to come up with any, eventually recalling that he witnessed his father falling down the stairs, causing the whole family to laugh, even his mother; he later describes his mother as a cruel, joyless woman who wore his father down "to a little nub". Tony has a distant relationship with Janice, because she is always asking him for money and once tried to sell Livia's house by herself. Tony had to dispose of the body of Janice's re-acquainted boyfriend Richie Aprile, after Janice killed him.

Tony went to high school (school letters "WOHS", suggesting West Orange High School, were seen in the episode "The Test Dream") with Artie Bucco and Davey Scatino, and remains friends with them into adult life. He played baseball and football, and according to Sal Bonpensiero, he nearly made All-County. He met his future bride, Carmela DeAngelis, in high school. Tony was close to his cousin Tony Blundetto, and neighborhood kids called them Tony Uncle-Al and Tony Uncle-Johnny (after their fathers) to tell them apart.

In their teenage years, the two Tonys spent summers at their Uncle Pat Blundetto's farm—Pat was a soldier in the DiMeo organization. Blundetto was arrested for his part in a hijacking when the two Tonys were young men. Tony was supposed to join Blundetto on the job but failed to appear because of a panic attack; at the time, he told people he had been attacked and injured. Tony attended Seton Hall University for a semester and a half before dropping out to pursue a life of crime.

Tony was part of an unofficial crew of young criminals consisting of Silvio Dante, Ralph Cifaretto, and Jackie Aprile, Sr. Tony gained notoriety in the DiMeo crime family by robbing a card game run by Michele "Feech" La Manna along with Jackie. From then on, he was on a fast track to becoming a made man. He committed his first murder in 1982 at the age of 22, killing a small-time bookie named Willie Overall. In season one Tony states that he knew Mafia boss John Gotti in the 1980s, but he may have been kidding.

His father shepherded Tony through his ascendancy until his death in 1986 from emphysema. When he died, Johnny Boy had risen to the level of captain of his own crew—as had his brother, Junior. Junior took over the paternal role and continued to advise and assist Tony. Tony remembers having to buy expensive dinners for Richie Aprile as a newly made man. Soldiers from Johnny Boy's crew, Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero and Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, passed their loyalty on to Tony after Johnny Boy died. Tony then became acting capo of his father's old crew in 1986, making him the youngest capo in the family, at age 26. He was elevated to permanent capo in the late 1980s. His old friend, Silvio Dante, joined him as a soldier in his crew.

By 1995, Tony was a well-respected caporegime in the organization when the boss of the family, Ercole "Eckley" DiMeo, was sent to prison. Tony's longtime friend and fellow captain Jackie Aprile, Sr. took on the role of acting boss in December 1995. With DiMeo in prison, Aprile became the official "Street Boss" of the family.

Under Jackie's rule, the DiMeo Family was peaceful and prosperous until 1998, when Jackie was diagnosed with intestinal cancer; afterward, the family slowly descended into turmoil. With Jackie in and out of the hospital, and as such not able to fully run the family, Tony began to take on many of his duties, much to his Uncle Junior's chagrin.

For a time in early 1999, Jackie seemed cured and was back on the street as boss and the family's woes were eased. By late spring, however, he was back in the hospital and had begun chemotherapy treatments. With Tony's role in the family's operation increasing and disagreements, including Tony thwarting Junior's plot to kill "Little Pussy" Malanga in Artie Bucco's restaurant, tensions between Tony and Uncle Junior rose and reached an all-time high as Jackie's condition turned for the worse.

With Jackie's death in mid-1999, a crisis emerged as to who would run the family, and the soldiers and other captains began to prepare for all-out war within the family. Tony brought a quick end to the conflict by making Junior the official boss of the family. Junior would unknowingly act as the lightning rod for the feds, while Tony would run the family from behind the scenes as a de facto boss starting in 2000.

Narrated killings committed by Tony Soprano[link]

Tony has personally committed eight murders in the show. Furthermore, as a Boss, he is responsible for the deaths of others killed on his orders. The eight known murders, all explicitly presented onscreen, were:

• Willie Overall, shot and killed by Tony to "make his bones", or become a made man (1982).

• Fabian "Febby" Petrulio, strangled by Tony for ratting out members of Paulie and Pussy's crew and joining the witness protection program (1999).

• Chucky Signore, shot and killed by Tony for conspiring to kill him with Junior (1999).

• Matthew Bevilaqua, killed by Tony and Big Pussy for attempting to kill Christopher Moltisanti (his cousin in-law) (2000).

• Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, executed by Tony, Silvio, and Paulie on a yacht, after they discovered that he was an FBI informant (2000).

• Ralph Cifaretto, choked/bludgeoned to death in a fight over Ralph's supposedly killing of their prize-winning race horse "Pie-O-My" for insurance money. (2002).

• Tony Blundetto, shot and killed by Tony with a shotgun for the unauthorized killings of Joe Peeps and Billy Leotardo, in order to spare him from being the subject of torture from Phil Leotardo in revenge for his brother's death (2004).

• Christopher Moltisanti, suffocated by Tony when after a major car accident Christopher revealed he was still using drugs (2007).

It is made clear that some of these murders leave Tony perplexed as to how to cope with the situation; most notably, after murdering Christopher Moltisanti, he feels a rush of relief for finally being rid of an associate whom he feels he can no longer trust. He has to "show the sad face" while the rest of the family grieves, but Tony reassures himself that Moltisanti's murder was necessary, despite the hurt caused to the family.

The murder of "Big Pussy" in "Funhouse" weighs heavily on Tony. He is at first tempted to spare his old friend, but in the end knows what his priorities are. In the years to follow, Tony—along with Silvio and Paulie—have haunting dreams of the murder of their friend.

Tony kills Ralph Cifaretto after their horse, Pie-O-My, dies amid suspicious circumstances in "Whoever Did This". Tony tries to confront Ralph about the situation but, after some heated words, Tony loses control and violently murders Ralph. Though no solid proof was found that the fire killing Pie-O-My was arson, Tony is convinced Ralph did it.

The murder of Matthew Bevilaqua was vengeance, an act that had to be carried out since the fact that Christopher was shot was a direct affront to him as Boss. Tony takes satisfaction in it, as it is revenge for an attempt on the life of one of his relatives.

The murder of his cousin, Tony Blundetto, is solely to save him from a far worse death if he were to fall into Phil's hands, and so that Tony does not lose his reputation as a Boss.

The murder of his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, is not done out of necessity; while Moltisanti presents a threat to Tony's life and the New Jersey Mob (Christopher has been addicted to heroin, cocaine, and alcohol for many years and could not defeat his addiction in rehab), it is ultimately an emotional reaction. When Tony was about to call 911 for help, he sees that a baby seat in the back seat of the SUV has been destroyed by a tree branch; he closes his phone and suffocates Christopher by holding his nose shut so he chokes to death on his own blood. Tony did not plan to murder Christopher but saw the opportunity after the car accident. After killing Christopher, Tony tries to discover whether other mobsters or family members had similar feelings; it seems that they do not. Tony is never suspected of this murder.

As a father[link]

Tony has two children: Meadow Soprano and Anthony (A.J.) Soprano. He also treats Christopher Moltisanti, his wife's first cousin once removed, as a son in many ways.

Tony is often portrayed as a loving father—he attends his children's sporting events on a regular basis and does all he can to insure they have luxuries and opportunities. He hopes that both his children will escape the life of crime he has led. Tony takes great pride in Meadow's achievements. In Season 1, he is moved to tears by her performance at a choir recital. He often tells people about her aspiration to become a pediatrician.

He also sometimes alienates his children with his behavior. He has always tried to conceal his criminal life from them—something that Meadow saw through early on and A.J. also realized with guidance from his sister.

Tony's over-protectiveness of Meadow led to feuds between them on several occasions. For example, her first boyfriend at college was partly of black ancestry, and Tony's racism led him to try to drive him away. Meadow learned of her father's actions and did not speak to him for several months, eventually reconciling at Christmas in 2001.

Meadow's next boyfriend was Jackie Aprile, Jr., the son of Tony's old friend Jackie Aprile, Sr. Tony had promised Jackie Jr.'s father that he would try to keep his son on the straight path. Tony was initially pleased with the relationship, believing Jackie to be a hard-working pre-med student from a good family.

However, since his Uncle Richie's release from prison and subsequent death, Tony realized that Jackie had become more involved in the Mafia when he saw him at strip clubs and a casino. He eventually beat Jackie up to warn him about abusing his daughter's feelings and confiscated his gun. Jackie was killed by Vito for his involvement in a robbery at Christopher's and Furio's executive card game, and for shooting a made man, Furio. This drove Meadow to drinking and depression, although they'd broken up shortly before his death.

After Jackie's death, Tony accepts Meadow's college friends and gets along well with her fiancé, Finn, before the two separated under unrevealed circumstances.

When Meadow is out for dinner with her "mystery" boyfriend Patrick Parisi, New York mob member Coco walks up to the table and makes drunk remarks about her looks and how "Tony must love tucking you in at night". After taking advice from her mother, Meadow tells Tony, who hides his rage and says Coco is "harmless" and "an idiot". Tony then tracks down Coco and Butch DeConcini at John's Restaurant on East 12th Street in Manhattan. Tony viciously pistol-whips Coco several times with a snubnose revolver and warns Butch at gunpoint to shut up and remain seated at his table. After breaking off some of Coco's teeth with a curb stomp, Tony leaves the restaurant.

Tony's feelings toward his son are mixed; he worries about his future. From the beginning, Tony had doubts that his son could succeed him as Boss. His fears are confirmed as A.J. consistently demonstrates throughout the series that he lacks his father's cunning and dominating persona. Tony tells A.J. numerous times that he is proud that his son is gentle and kind. Tony was especially proud of A.J.'s prowess on the football field, even amid his failing grades in high school, but is frustrated with A.J.'s lack of focus after graduation.

After flunking out of Ramapo State, A.J. loafs around the house, parties, and for a time holds a job at Blockbuster, until his father, hoping to keep A.J. away from a life of crime, gets him a job working construction. There, A.J. meets Blanca, and in Tony's opinion, A.J. was doing well until he and Blanca broke up. Tony worries about A.J.'s depression, a 'rotten putrid gene' that Tony believes he passed down to his son.

Hoping to get A.J. back on track, Tony rekindles A.J.'s friendship with "the Jasons", sons of two of his associates, and A.J. seems to be doing better. With the help of a therapist and medication, A.J. is finally getting back to college, this time at Rutgers University, to take classes and party with girls as Tony believes every college kid should. This later turns sour after A.J. sees his new friends attack a Somalian student on a bike and he regresses into depression. A.J. tries to drown himself in a swimming pool, but decides he wants to live; he is unable to escape the pool, however. Tony hears his cries for help, and rescues him. After A.J. is released from a mental health ward, Tony and Carmela dissuade him from joining the Army, and convince him instead to become involved in a film bankrolled by Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr., with the possibility of opening his own club.

Interests and hobbies[link]

Tony is an avid animal lover, and enjoys feeding the ducks which visit his pool. He has a sentimental attachment towards animals, as he had been traumatized by the loss of his childhood dog (as revealed in the episode "In Camelot"), in which his name was "Skippy". In Christopher Moltisanti's intervention, when Tony hears Christopher accidentally suffocated Adrianna's dog, he went furious saying "I oughta suffocate you, you little prick!" He becomes involved in horse racing through his friend Hesh, who owns a stable, and invests in a racehorse named Pie-O-My. When his horse is killed in a fire – possibly set by Ralph Cifaretto – Tony is deeply upset and saddened and kills Cifaretto, yelling "She was a beautiful innocent creature. What did she ever do to you?" and repeats "You fucking killed her!", while banging Cifaretto's head against the floor. When informed by Carmela that a black bear has been foraging in his home's backyard while they were separated, during Season 5, he reacts with interest, rather than fear. During his stay in the hospital after his shooting, he can be seen reading a book about dinosaurs, given by Carmela.

Tony is seen many times over the course of the show engaging in both freshwater and saltwater angling. His son Anthony Jr. frequently accompanies him on fishing outings. During the second season he presents his son with a Fenwick rod and a Penn International reel, both extremely high quality products. In the sixth season, while in Florida with Paulie, he rents a sport fishing boat. He is sometimes haunted by visions of Pussy Bonpensiero incarnated in the form of a fish – presumably a reference to the disposal of his body in the ocean. A Big Mouth Billy Bass novelty singing fish, brought into the Bada Bing by Georgie and later presented to him as a Christmas present by his daughter Meadow, recalled his nightmare and disturbed him greatly.

Tony enjoys fresh air and looking at sites from a distance by himself throughout the series, as seen in "Nobody Knows Anything", "Cold Cuts", "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" and "Live Free or Die".

Tony enjoys sports, particularly baseball, football, basketball, golf, and horse racing. He played varsity baseball and football in high school, and is a fan of the New York Yankees and New York Jets. A large portion of his income is derived from illegal sports betting.

Tony is an amateur yachtsman and has owned two motor yachts over the course of the show – Stugots and Stugots II. The name comes from the Southern Italian phrase stu cazz meaning "This dick," or in paraphrase "Fuck it."

Tony maintains an avid interest in history, particularly World War II. Throughout seasons 4 and 5, Tony is seen watching Vietnam War documentaries. He is a big fan of President John F. Kennedy, Tony even owns one his captain sailor hats, in which he won at an auction. He is often shown watching programs on the History Channel about great leaders such as George Patton, Erwin Rommel, and Winston Churchill. He reads The Art of War by Sun Tzu, a work which is quoted by several other characters on the show, particularly Paulie Gualtieri.

Tony is often seen watching classic black and white films. Tony listens to classic rock and pop music, particularly of the 1960s and 70s. Over the course of the show he is seen to enjoy Jefferson Airplane, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Chi-Lites, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, AC/DC, Rush, Eagles, The Lost Boys, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Morrison, Journey .

Like most of the mobsters in the series, Tony is shown to be partial to Cadillac and Lincoln vehicles. When discussing with Dr. Melfi a bizarre dream in which his penis fell off, he mentions that he went to the guy who used to "work on my Lincoln, when I drove Lincolns." For the first four seasons, Tony drives a burgundy 1999 Chevrolet Suburban LT 4x4, but in season 5, this has been replaced with a black Cadillac Escalade ESV. This black Escalade is totaled in an accident, and quickly replaced with a white Escalade ESV. Tony has this Escalade until the end of the series.

Extramarital affairs[link]

Throughout the series Tony is shown to be a serial adulterer. His wife Carmela is tacitly aware of his many infidelities and usually turns a blind eye, though sometimes the bottled-up tensions explode in domestic arguments. At the end of Season 4, Irina telephoned Carmela in a jealous rage at Tony cheating on her with her cousin Svetlana, which caused Carmela to finally snap. She threw Tony out of the house and began divorce proceedings. He typically has mistresses whom he consistently sees for long periods of time, though he also has a number of brief one-night stands with strippers from the Bada Bing.

Tony has a strong preference for women of European, particularly Italian descent, with dark hair and eyes and exotic features. His mistresses have been, in chronological order, of Russian, Italian, Italian/Cuban, and Jewish descent. He favors dark features but also had a few brief flings with blond European women, including a Russian housekeeper and a stewardess from Icelandic Airways. He had one very short encounter with an Asian-American escort during "The Test Dream".

Mistresses:

• Irina Peltsin – a young Russian woman whom he sees consistently throughout the first two seasons. She is a severe alcoholic and frequently calls Tony's house when drunk, and when Janice hints that she knows that he is seeing her, he breaks off the relationship.

• Gloria Trillo – an Italian-American Mercedes-Benz saleswoman with stylish tastes and exotic looks. Tony dates her throughout Season 3 after meeting her at Dr. Melfi's office. He eventually stops seeing her when she begins stalking him and calling his house. She commits suicide after the breakup.

• Valentina La Paz – a beautiful art dealer of Italian and Cuban descent. Initially the mistress of Ralph Cifaretto, Tony dates her throughout Season 4. They share a love of horses, and she visits Pie-O-My at the stable with Tony. She accidentally sets her robe on fire in Season 5 while cooking eggs for Tony. Shortly thereafter he decides to get back together with Carmela, and he breaks up with Valentina while she is in the hospital recovering from second degree burns to her head, face, and arm. Their relationship ends on bad terms.

• Julianna Skiff – a real estate developer of Jewish descent. She meets Tony in Season 6 when offering to buy a building that he owns, to be converted into a Jamba Juice. They later begin an affair, along with a business relationship, but never consummate their relationship sexually; Tony backs off and decides to be faithful to Carmela, who stuck with him after the shooting and seemed re-devoted to him. Julianna eventually dates Christopher Moltisanti and the two begin a very destructive, co-dependent drug habit; she is last seen attending Christopher's funeral service, where she mentions that they had split up.

Therapy[link]

Tony has suffered from panic attacks that sometimes cause him to lose consciousness since his childhood. He has his first on-screen panic attack while cooking sausages at his son's birthday party—this occurs in a flashback in the pilot episode. Tony loses consciousness and causes a small explosion when he drops a bottle of lighter fluid onto the coals. Tony describes the experience of the panic attack as feeling like he had "ginger ale in his skull". This prompts him to seek help for the attacks. After extensive testing that includes an MRI scan and blood work no physical cause can be found, so Dr. Cusamano referred Tony to psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi.

Tony's therapy allows a discussion of his thoughts and feelings away from both aspects of his life—this forum for reaching into the character's thoughts has been described as a Greek chorus, and as a key for viewers to understand the character.^[3]

Tony was initially very resistant to the idea that there was a psychiatric cause for his symptoms. He resented being in therapy, and refused to accept the diagnosis of panic attacks given him by the neurologists who had investigated his illness. Tony begins to open up once Dr. Melfi explains the doctor-patient confidentiality rules. He tells her about the stress of his business life—he has a feeling that he has come in at the end of something, and describes a reverence for the glorified "old days" of the Mafia. Tony leaves out the violence associated with his criminal career. Tony tells Dr. Melfi a story about ducks landing in his pool. He describes his mother Livia, a cold, mean-spirited woman with whom he has an openly hostile relationship. By the end of the first session Tony has admitted that he feels depressed, but storms out when Dr. Melfi presses him further about the relationship between his symptoms and the ducks.

When the family visits Green Grove, a retirement community where Tony is trying to place his mother, Livia's derisive outburst prompts a second panic attack. Melfi prescribes Prozac as an anti-depressant, telling him that no one needs to suffer from depression with the wonders of modern pharmacology. Tony fails to attend their next scheduled session.

At their next session, Tony is still reluctant to face his own psychological weaknesses. Tony is quick to credit the medication for his improved mood, but Dr. Melfi tells him it cannot be that, as it takes six weeks to work—she credits their therapy sessions. Tony describes a dream where a bird steals his penis. Melfi extrapolates that Tony has projected his love for his family onto the family of ducks living in his pool. This brings him to tears, to his consternation. She tells him that their flight from the pool sparked his panic attack through the overwhelming fear of somehow losing his own family.

In the episode "46 Long", they continue discussing Tony's mother and her difficulties living alone. Tony admits that he feels guilty because his mother could not be allowed to live with his family. We learn that he has been left to care for his mother alone by his sisters. When Dr. Melfi asks him to remember good experiences from his childhood, he has difficulty. He blames Carmela for preventing his mother from living with them. Later they discuss Livia's car accident, and Melfi suggests depression may have contributed to the accident – Tony misunderstands her and becomes angry. Tony has a panic attack while visiting his mother's home after she moves to Green Grove. In a later session, Dr. Melfi pushes Tony to admit he has feelings of anger towards his mother, and he again storms out. During this episode Tony introduces the concept of him acting like the sad clown – happy on the outside but sad on the inside.

In "Denial, Anger, Acceptance", Tony discusses Jackie's cancer with Dr. Melfi. She tries to use it as an example of Tony's negative thinking contributing to his depression. Tony becomes angry and storms out. He feels she is trying to trick him and manipulate his thoughts using the pictures that decorate her office. After Jackie worsens and Tony is called a Frankenstein by a business associate, he returns to therapy to discuss these things with Dr. Melfi. She asks him if he feels like a monster.

In "Fortunate Son", Tony discusses a childhood memory of an early panic attack. He saw his father and uncle mutilate Mr. Satriale, the local butcher, and later fainted at a family dinner made with free meat from Satriale's shop. Dr. Melfi makes a connection between meat and Tony's panic attacks. She explores his mother's attitude to the fruits of his father's labor.

Later Dr. Melfi tries prescribing Lithium as a mood stabilizer. In the episode "Isabella", Tony sinks into a severe depressive episode and experiences hallucinations—he sees a beautiful Italian woman named Isabella in his neighbor's garden. Tony sees Isabella several times during the episode, and later learns that she never existed. Melfi theorizes that Isabella was an idealized maternal figure that Tony's subconscious produced because of he was deeply upset about his own mother's actions at the time.

In "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", Tony abruptly ends his therapy and persuades Dr. Melfi to go into hiding when he discovers that Uncle Junior has found out about their sessions.

The relationship between Tony and Dr. Melfi is up-and-down, with Tony reaching a level of comfort with Dr. Melfi that he has never experienced with anyone else before, not even his wife. This closeness leads Tony to have something of a "crush" on Dr. Melfi, something that is unattainable. However, the "prying" from Dr. Melfi is uncomfortable for Tony and he often turns sarcastic and antagonistic towards her, leading to an ongoing strain in their relationship. In the episode when Tony's sister, Janice, goes back to Seattle, it is revealed during a rushed conversation between Janice and Tony that their mother suffers from narcissistic personality disorder.

During the episode "The Second Coming", aired in part II of season six, Melfi's own therapist suggests to her that her work with Tony could be considered enabling toward Tony's sociopathic tendencies. Finally, in the penultimate episode of the series, "The Blue Comet", Melfi severs her relationship with Tony after reading research recommended by her own therapist that indicates sociopaths can use talk therapy to improve their skills in manipulating others, and use what is learned in therapy to become more capable criminals.

Shootings[link]

In the first season, Tony is attacked by William Johnson "Petite" Clayborn and Rasheen Ray, two thugs sent by Donnie Paduana to execute Tony. Tony sustains an injury to his ear, which is partially shot off, and minor bruises and cuts from crashing his vehicle. One of the two assailants, Clayborn, is shot dead by Ray in an attempt to kill Tony, and Ray is left bruised, but runs off.

In the premiere of the sixth season, "Members Only", Junior Soprano, suffering from dementia, believes Tony to be "Little Pussy" Malanga, and shoots him in the abdomen. Tony dials 911 but loses consciousness before being able to tell the operator what happened.

The second episode of the sixth season, "Join the Club", Tony is in a medically-induced coma in the hospital. In the second and third episode the viewer sees Tony in a dream-like state, eventually arriving at what could be purgatory, where he is greeted by a man who takes the physical form of his late cousin Tony Blundetto. The shadowy figure in the doorway of the house has the profile of his mother, who is dead. The voice of a younger version of his daughter calls him back. At the end of the third episode, he awakes from his coma in a confused but stable state.

By the fourth episode, Tony is mobile and fully aware, and has regained his voice. Tony's attitude to life has changed by his near death experience. He has yet to discuss his experiences while unconscious with anyone close to him. However, in the Season 6 episode "Kaisha", he admits to Phil Leotardo (who had just suffered a heart attack), that while he was in a coma, he went to a place where he never wants to go again. While talking philosophy with John Schwinn, another patient at the hospital, he mentions that while in the coma he had the experience of being drawn towards somewhere he did not want to go and narrowly avoided it.

In the sixth episode of season 6, part 2, "Kennedy and Heidi", Tony sustains minor injuries in a car accident that seriously injures his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti. Tony suffocates Christopher after this accident. Tony was on bed rest for a few days and quickly recovered. Nonetheless, this gave his family quite a scare and a painful memory of his nearly fatal shooting the previous year.

Dreams[link]

Tony sometimes has vivid dreams that are shown to the viewer. Episodes with dream sequences include "Pax Soprana", "Isabella", "Funhouse", "Everybody Hurts", "Calling All Cars", and "The Test Dream".

In the pilot, Tony tells Dr. Melfi about a dream he had wherein a screw in his belly button, when removed, causes his penis to fall off. He tries to find a car mechanic (who had worked on his Lincoln when Tony drove Lincolns) to put it back on, but a duck swoops down and snatches it from his hand.

In "Meadowlands", Tony has a dream that several people in his life are present in Dr. Melfi's office: Herman "Hesh" Rabkin scrolling by the window, A.J. behind the door, Silvio Dante having sex with a woman in the waiting room, and Paulie Walnuts and Big Pussy reading Chinese newspapers. This causes him to worry that people will find out he is seeing a psychiatrist. The dream ends with Tony confronting Melfi, seeing Jackie Aprile, Sr. in his death bed smoking a cigarette, asking Tony, "You smell that? That's rain.", and only to find out that Melfi is his mother, Livia.

In "Pax Soprana", Tony has several dreams and fantasies about Dr. Melfi. He becomes convinced that he is in love with her, but she turns him down when he makes advances towards her.

In "Isabella", Tony, suffering from depression after Big Pussy disappears, acquaints himself with a dental student named Isabella who is staying in the Cusamano home while they are on vacation. He later discovers that he'd hallucinated Isabella due to taking too much lithium, and that Isabella represented the mother he never had.

In "Funhouse", an extended dream sequence exposes many of Tony's subconscious thoughts and feelings through symbolic and sometimes bizarre events: he attempts suicide to preempt a doctor's diagnosis of early death by dousing himself in gasoline and lighting himself on fire; he witnesses himself shooting Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri to death during a card game; he has an innuendo-laden conversation with his therapist Dr. Melfi while sporting a prominent erection; and a fish that speaks with the voice of Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero confirms his suspicions that the longtime friend and soldier is a federal informant.

In "Everybody Hurts", Tony dreams of his ex-comaré Gloria Trillo shortly after learning of her suicide by hanging. He visits her apartment and finds her in a black dress with a black scarf around her neck. She is cooking dinner, and when she goes over to the oven the scarf drapes across Tony. Plaster falls down in front of Tony and when he looks up, he sees that the chandelier is almost pulled out of the ceiling. Gloria is suddenly back at the table and offers Tony a choice between seeing what she has under her dress or under her scarf. As she begins to peel away the scarf, Tony wakes up and makes his way to the bathroom for some medication.

In "Calling All Cars", Tony has two dreams featuring Ralph Cifaretto. In the first, he is being driven by Carmela in the back of his father's old car while Ralph sits in the passenger seat. There is a caterpillar crawling on the back of Ralph's head. Tony's fellow passenger in the back seat changes—Gloria Trillo and Svetlana Kirilenko are both seen. The caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Dr. Melfi later tells him that the dream signifies a change for Ralphie (recently killed by Tony) and Carmela being in control, which Tony doesn't like.

In the second dream, Tony follows Ralph to an old house, which Ralph enters. Tony is dressed in trousers, suspenders, and an undershirt. He knocks on the door and a female figure descends slowly in shadow; the door creaks ominously. Tony says he is there for the stonemason job but does not speak English well (Tony's grandfather was an immigrant stonemason). Just as Tony is about to enter the house, he wakes up.

In "The Test Dream", Tony comes to terms with having to kill his cousin Tony Blundetto. The episode reflects on his inner demons and fears, including his children's future, his relationship with his wife, his infidelities, deceased acquaintances—including some who have died by his hand or by his orders—his fate, and his relationship with his father. He is again shown in his father's old car, accompanied by a range of past associates.

In "Join the Club", a comatose Tony finds himself in an alternate universe where he is a law-abiding salesman on a business trip. Among other differences, his accent has changed and his hotel's bartender condescends him (in sharp contrast to the bartender at The Bing, who is a recurring punching bag for Tony). Tony has mistakenly taken another man's briefcase – Kevin Finnerty's – along with all of his identification and work. The episode follows his attempts to discern his identity, recover his briefcase, and get back to his family.

In "Kennedy and Heidi", a stressed Tony Soprano has a dream following the death of Christopher Moltisanti. In this dream, he tells his therapist that Christopher was a burden and that he is relieved that he was dead. After that he also tells her that he murdered Big Pussy and his cousin Tony Blundetto. Following the dream, he acts differently to his friends and family, trying to see if they also feel relieved now that Christopher is dead.

See also[link]

Television portal

• The Sopranos
• The Soprano family tree
• Vincent Palermo
• Michael Taccetta
• Fat Tony

References[link]

External links[link]

• HBO Character Profile: Tony Soprano

A straw man is a type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.^[1] To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.^[1][2]

Origin[link]

The origins of the term are unclear. The usage of the term in rhetoric suggests a human figure made of straw which is easily knocked down or destroyed, such as a military training dummy, scarecrow, or effigy.^[3] The rhetorical technique is sometimes called an Aunt Sally in the UK, with reference to a traditional fairground game in which objects are thrown at a fixed target. One common (folk) etymology is that it refers to men who stood outside courthouses with a straw in their shoe in order to indicate their willingness to be a false witness.^[4]

Reasoning[link]

The straw man fallacy occurs in the following pattern of argument:

1. Person A has position X.
2. Person B disregards certain key points of X and instead presents the superficially similar position Y. The position Y is a distorted version of X and can be set up in several ways, including:
   1. Presenting a misrepresentation of the opponent's position.
   2. Quoting an opponent's words out of context — i.e. choosing quotations that misrepresent the opponent's actual intentions (see fallacy of quoting out of context).^[2]
   3. Presenting someone who defends a position poorly as the defender, then refuting that person's arguments — thus giving the appearance that every upholder of that position (and thus the position itself) has been defeated.^[1]
   4. Inventing a fictitious persona with actions or beliefs which are then criticized, implying that the person represents a group of whom the speaker is critical.
   5. Oversimplifying an opponent's argument, then attacking this oversimplified version.
3. Person B attacks position Y, concluding that X is false/incorrect/flawed.

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious, because attacking a distorted version of a position fails to constitute an attack on the actual position.

Examples[link]

Straw man arguments often arise in public debates such as a (hypothetical) prohibition debate:

Person A: We should liberalize the laws on beer.

Person B: No, any society with unrestricted access to intoxicants loses its work ethic and goes only for immediate gratification.

The proposal was to relax laws on beer. Person B has exaggerated this to a position harder to defend, i.e., "unrestricted access to intoxicants".^[1] It is a logical fallacy because Person A never made that claim. This example is also a slippery slope fallacy.

Another example:

Person A: Our society should spend more money helping the poor.

Person B: Studies show that handouts don't work; they just create more poverty and humiliate the recipients. That money could be better spent.

In this case, Person B has transformed Person A's position from "more money" to "more handouts", which is easier for Person B to defeat.

Person A: Sunny days are good.

Person B: If all days were sunny, we'd never have rain, and without rain, we'd have famine and death.

In this case B has falsely framed A's claim to imply that A says that only sunny days are good, and has argued against that assertion instead of the assertion A has made.

See also[link]

• List of fallacies
• Ad hominem
• Cherry picking (fallacy)
• Fallacy of quoting out of context
• Straw man proposal
• Straw man (law)
• Red herring
• Legal fiction: corporate personhood

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Straw Man Fallacy at the Fallacy Files
• Straw Man, more examples of straw man arguments