Nghị Quế is the main antagonist of the novel When the light is out and its 1981 film adaptation Mrs. Dậu.
He is the senator of the Đoài Village who Mrs. Dậu must sell her daughter Tí to, and takes this opportunity to buy Tí with a cheap price. A greedy hypocrite, he acts like the Western ways are more cultural yet acts like a barbarian, lacking even his wife's subtlety when encountering others. Despite his limited screentime, he has the most impact on the novel, as it is his and his wife's actions that leads to Mrs. Dậu's later troubles with the authorities.
In Mrs. Dậu, he was portrayed by the late Ngô Nam.
Personality[]
Nghị Quế considers the Western ways superior to the Vietnamese ones. As such, he tells his wife to talk like Westerners, thinking that it is civil, and puts their stuffs all over his house, including a cow milk billboard between the two distiches in the living room. Despite this, he acts very rude, gargling with saliva before spitting it onto the floor, making him nothing more than a hypocrite. He and his wife are also very miserly in their meals, eating only some braised pork bellies in each meal despite living in a huge villa.
When Mrs. Dậu has to sell Tí to Nghị Quế, he takes this advantage to coerce her into selling Tí with a cheap price, as opposed to his wife who pretends to symphatize with her. During the entire purchase, Quế keeps yelling and being angry at Mrs. Dậu, despite being fully aware of her situation. Ultimately, Nghị Quế gets away with his actions and keeps on doing the same thing to many other poor people.
Biography[]
Nghị Quế had bribed others to climb to power, going through many positions from village mayor, to vice canton chief, to canton chief, to a senator. Preferring the Western ways to Vietnamese ones, he tells his wife to talk like Westerners, and puts their stuffs all over his house. Despite this, he acts very rude no better than a thug. He and his wife are very miserly, as despite having a huge villa they only eats some braised pork bellies in each meal, and whenever there's leftovers his wife will count each piece and make an appointment with the maid.
When the tax season comes, Mrs. Dậu has to sell her daughter Tí to Nghị Quế due to the lack of money. He and his wife takes this opportunity to buy Tí with a cheap price. While Mr. Nghị tries to coerce Mrs. Dậu, Mrs. Nghị pretends to symphathize with her. Eventually Mrs. Dậu has to sell Tí with a cheap price, but still enough to pay the taxes.
Unfortunately, the village mayor says that Mr. Dậu's brother hasn't paid yet due to having died in January. As a result, Mr. Dậu still fails to pay enough and is thus subsequently imprisoned in the province and tortured by the Gaoler for days until when he faints. Thinking that he's dead, the village mayor sends Mr. Dậu home.
When Mrs. Dậu finds her husband, he's barely alive. She then nurtures her husband back to health. Just then the gaoler enters and once again forces him to pay the tax. Angered, Mrs. Dậu engages in a fight with the gaoler and eventually beats both him and the village mayor, despite Mr. Dậu telling her that it's illegal. Due to this, she's tried to work for the distinct official (who actually wants to have her for himself). At the end of the day, Nghị Quế is still out there to extort other poor people, still remorseless of every tragedy he causes.
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