Elizabeth Harmon's Flaws: a comparison of the main character's negative traits between the first and last episodes of The Queen's Gambit Netflix miniseries

Abstract

This academic research has the main objective of pointing out the miniseries The Queen's Gambit’s protagonist's most prominent flaws, using the definitions and concepts from The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws (2013), by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, a book written as a guide for writers to create well constructed characters, with arcs and flaws. The negative traits highlighted here are selected from the first and last episodes of the miniseries, considering all the behaviors, situations and attitudes connected to each of them, according to Ackerman and Puglisi's work. In addition, a comparison of the portrayal of each trait in the chosen episodes is made, as well as the usage of The Negative Trait Thesaurus’ concept of character development, seeking to explain how it is represented in the personality of Elizabeth Harmon at the end of the miniseries.