Pretty Woman: Is Edward Lewis the Antagonist?

Throughout the story, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) intends to buy Mr. Morris’ struggling company and strip it apart to sell for more money. He bribes Senator Adams to prevent government contracts from going through the Appropriations committee which would rescue Morris’ company. Mr. Morris reminds him of the embittered relationship with his own father. In the Objective Story climax, he changes his intent, deciding to cooperate with Mr. Morris in actually building ships and planes, etc. So Mr. Morris won. Both smile. If we are pleased with the conclusion that Mr. Morris’ company remains intact, then wouldn’t Edward be the antagonist trying to strip it from him? Mr. Morris, as a Protagonist, would represent the “consider” element of the goal… Consider supporting a company’s growth. Edward’s efforts with his lawyer and the bribed senator represent “reconsider”.

Also interestingly, the time lock limit is tied to the Relationship story rather than with Mr. Morris. After Mr. Morris’ company is saved, Vivian’s final day (she contracted to be an employee of Edward for six days as I recall) comes up. She leaves in a car. That’s when the sense of climax kicks in. Edward decides off screen (this would be in tune with him being the impact character) to chase after Vivian… climbing up to her apartment to make the relationship permanent. I would say Vivian is the main character. Aside from the opening scene of the movie, there aren’t many, if any, scenes with Edward that aren’t related to the objective story and don’t occur in relation to Vivian. Yet, we do see Vivian’s personal problems while shopping for a dress and debating with her roommate, Kit.

I would agree with both the idea of Vivian (Julia Roberts) as Main Character and Edward (Richard Gere) as Influebce Character and Antagonist.