Budak’s Blažić as an Antagonist and a Pharmakos

Abstract

Blažić, a character from Budak’s novel The Hearth (Ognjište), commits or attempts to commit violent, criminal and immoral deeds. He stands in direct opposition to the protagonist Lukan and is therefore the antagonist. He tries to kill his own sons and thus satisfies his desire for Anera in a violent manner. Blažić demonstrates also the more complex nature of his being in the novel for, in addition to his role as a negative force, he possesses obvious features of the pharmakos in Greek tragedies, and even more of the same from myths as described by Girard. The pharmakos, or scapegoat, is the cause of evil in a community, therefore he must be branded and finally ostracized, perhaps murdered. The death of Blažić is depicted using ritual motifs. Vague allusions are made to sacramental rites by the antagonist and scapegoat himself before the very end of the novel, though their meaning is ultimately revealed in the protagonist’s words as he kills his opponent. The two opposite characters add elements of the ritual text to the structure of the novel.