Ubu Roi

Much like Papa Turd, Mama Turd desires power and wealth; it is she that initially suggests Papa Turd should massacre the royal family and claim the throne, and when he leaves for war, she quickly announces her plan to “seize all the treasures of Poland” (45). Mama Turd, however, has more foresight and shrewdness than her husband in realizing how Papa Turd could stay in power: she convinces Papa Turd to ingratiate himself with the people by distributing food and gold, so that she and Papa Turd won’t be overthrown, and warns him that he must stay in Bordure and Buggerlaus’s good graces so that they will not revolt against him—as they eventually do, when he fails take her advice. Mama Turd does not seem to approve of her husband’s murderous approach to power: “What vile ferocity!” she exclaims, when Papa Turd begins condemning nobles to death (31), and later adds, as the killings continue, “What kind of a king are you? You’re murdering everybody” (33). 

Mama and Papa Turd’s conversations largely consist of arguments; though the two stick together through the end of the play and Mama Turd frequently aids Papa Turd, their dialogues largely consist of rude remarks directed toward the other. In her first line of the play, Mama Turd says, “What a pig you are, Papa Turd,” to which Papa Turd responds, “Watch out I don’t kill you, Mama Turd!” (11). 

Captain Bordure is initially an ally of Papa Turd’s; he agrees to help Papa Turd kill King Wenceslaus, telling Papa Turd, “If it’s a question of killing Wenceslaus, I’m in. I’m his mortal enemy and I’ll answer for my men” (16). After Wenceslaus’s murder, however, Papa Turd turns on Bordure, and Bordure aligns himself with Buggerlaus, vowing to restore the family of Bordure’s formal “mortal enemy” to the throne. Bordure shows more intelligence and valor than Papa Turd; in addition to escaping from prison, he is the one to suggest how the group will murder Wenceslaus. Along with Mama Turd, Bordure convinces Papa Turd he must distribute wealth to the people, reasoning that without doing do, they will not be able to pay their taxes (27). 

Buggerlaus, the 14-year-old son of King Wenceslaus and the family’s only remaining survivor, is largely defined by his dislike of Papa Turd and quest for vengeance to reclaim the throne. Even before his father’s death, Buggerlaus insults Papa Turd when he comes to the palace, calling him “stupid” for bringing Wenceslaus a “little reed flute” (18). After his father and brothers are murdered, he tells his mother the queen, in her final moments, that the family must “never renounce [their] claim,” decrying Papa Turd as “vulgar” and “an adventurer come from no-one-knows-where, a vile toad, a stinking bum!” (25). Much of Buggerlaus’s character arc is taken up by his “terrible vengeance to pursue” against Papa Turd (26), and once Papa Turd becomes a murderous tyrant, he wins the support of Bordure and the Polish people. Buggerlaus proves to ultimately be more valiant and successful in battle than Papa and Mama Turd, appearing for the play’s final battle scene and ultimately chasing them out of Poland and reclaiming the throne.  

Coccyx and Pile, who are credited as “Champions” in the playscript, are two of Papa Turd’s supporters. The two find themselves in a cavern in Lithuania with Papa Turd after their battle against the Russians. Though the two are Papa Turd’s inferiors, they soon become fed up with his pomposity and selfishness; when Papa Turd takes credit for killing a bear that the two men have actually killed themselves, Pile calls him a “revolting she-ass” (58). After Papa Turd refuses to help the men prepare the bear to be eaten, but tells them to “hurry up” because he’s hungry, Pile responds, “That’s the last straw! Listen pig, you work or you don’t eat. Understand?” (59).  

Papa Turd then falls asleep and the two men abandon him in the cavern, so that they can go off and discover what happened to Mama Turd. Ultimately, however, Pile and Coccyx remain loyal to the king: they end up returning to the cavern and helping Papa and Mama Turd fight off Buggerlaus, and end the play joining the Turds on a ship to France.