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Peter Duke’s characterization in Tom Lake is all about the allure of fame and the capriciousness of success. When Lara first meets him, Duke is a rising actor full of ambition and charm. He immediately begins a relationship with Lara during their time together in the Tom Lake company where they perform Our Town. At this point in his life, Duke is magnetic and serious, highly passionate about his craft. He clearly holds a great deal of promise in the professional acting world. Indeed, he’s the quintessential young leading man, with classical good looks and charisma to spare.
As his career begins to take off, the selfish and superficial side of his character comes to the fore. He has always been self-centered and somewhat inconsiderate, but the attention he gets as an actor allows these traits to eclipse his finer qualities. The more attention he gets, the more focused he becomes on fame and the pleasures that come with it. These include intoxicants, and he quickly begins to succumb to alcoholism. This change in his approach to life drives a wedge between him and Lara, as does his continued pursuit of affairs with women who aren’t his wife. His disappearance from Lara’s life coincides with his increasing presence in the public eye. One of the most striking changes in Duke’s character is his growing detachment from Lara as he becomes more successful. She goes from being the focus of his attention to being a stepping-stone very quickly. Ironically, the closer he gets to becoming a household name, the fainter his presence is to Lara. After they part ways, Duke becomes a Hollywood heartthrob. They only meet twice more while he lives.
The reader can also track Duke’s concurrent decline and growth into maturity through the roles he takes on as an actor. Early in his career, he plays more earnest, heartfelt characters, like Editor Webb in Our Town. However, as he becomes more famous, he starts to gravitate toward darker roles. Lara notes to herself that as he gets older, Duke specializes in more morally ambiguous, troubled characters who often have issues with substance abuse. Fittingly, he lapses fully into alcoholism when playing an alcoholic in Fool for Love, and ends his life as a miserable, manipulative failure. His once-promising future becomes overshadowed by his inability to see beyond his own needs or to care for others. Duke’s story is both a tragedy and a cautionary tale about the dangers of pursuing attention and fame at the expense of real love.
