Who is Hatch?
Apparently, Mr. Hatch is the antagonist of the play. But his character is a complex blend of both negative and tragic qualities. By profession, he is a draper (cloth dealer, پردے بیچنے والا), a coast guard. As far as his physical features are concerned, he is fortyish, with oiled hair, flat face and pale-blue eyes. In the play, he appears both sane and insane while his instincts are stirred according to a situation. Although he lives in his world of illusion, but he appears as a symbolic prophet. Let us unfold the deeper mysteries hidden in his character.
The Sane Insane
Mr. Hatch possesses both sanity and insanity. As mentioned before, his behaviour changes according to his role as well as the situation. Hatch is saner when he is a draper. Whereas, he loses his sanity when he wears the uniform of the coastguard. He hatches his own realm of illusion that sooner or later, aliens shall attack the humanity and occupy the planet. He believes that aliens have penetrated into humans like Willy and Collins. This is the sole reason he does not rescue the drowning men from sinking into the sea and molesting the dead body of Collins. Apart from the existence of aliens, what else drives him mad is the injustice of the influential people of the unnamed town which we shall discuss in his tragedy.
A Subtle Businessmen
When Hatch is in his senses, he emerges as a clever businessman who uses every possible tactic to lure customers into purchasing from his shop. But in the play, he uses his tact to defend himself when Mrs. Rafi questions his negligence in saving Collins. Hatch asserts that Willy's tale is based on lies. Hatch shouted the instructions to Willy but he could not hear them.
The gentleman was hallucinated. Shocked. I shouted instructions to him. I tried to help.
In another instance, he uses his clever hypocrisy to shift the blame of cutting the corpse from him to Willy. Thus, he appears as a subtle hypocrite when he is in the suit of a businessman.
His Tragedy
Despite many villainish attributes, Mr. Hatch becomes a tragic antagonist. As asserted before, Hatch becomes crazy when something unjust is inflicted on him. Contextually adding, Mrs. Rafi ordered expensive curtains to Hatch. As soon as she learned that Hatch was responsible for the death of Collins, she cancelled the order in order to remind him of his duties. It must be noted that Hatch had put the worth of his whole shop into Mrs. Rafi's order. Cancelling it would make him bankrupt. The bankruptcy of his shop is truly tragic on his part because,
My name, my goodwill, my whole life’s work is at stake. I’m on the edge of a terrible disaster.
His tragedy is brought upon him because of his own tragic flaw of believing in his concocted illusion of aliens. Desperate and helpless, he attacks Mrs. Rafi, considering she is in the shadow of an alien who is about to ruin his source of livelihood and his reputation tragically.
A Symbolic Prophet
The character of Mr. Hatch and his assumed illusion are both symbolic. It must be kept in mind that the play features the story timeline of 1907, just seven years before the beginning of World War First. As far as the symbolic significance of the character itself is concerned, Hatch denotes to the instinctive adherence to violence in pursuit of one's desires. Similarly, his belief in the existence of aliens and their quarrelsome behaviour, combined with Hatch's caveat of their arrival symbolically mean one of the most horrible conflict of humanity, ever witnessed before by the mortal humans. Resultantly, Hatch, at last, is introduced as a symbolic prophet, foreshadowing World War First.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the character of Hatch is largely centred around his villainy with a hidden catharsis of his tragedy.
Sources and Suggested Readings
- Text of The Sea
- https://www.facebook.com/StudymodeUOS/posts/1000222616797705
