Role Play

Aside from the crop duster scene, Roger Thornhill is well aware of his failure to convince the police, authorities, and his mother of his innocence and the incident at the Townsend mansion. By searching for “Kaplan” and even at times taking on the role of Kaplan, Thornhill produces actions which are motivated by his pursuit for greater persuasiveness. Thornhill is able to apply his professional skills as an advertisement man to his failure in life because “…advertisers are well aware of their limitations and failures, and constantly innovate in pursuit of greater persuasiveness.”[13] When Thornhill is misidentified as George Kaplan, he is not able to persuade Vandamm of his true identity, which makes him resort to acting as various roles.

Role Play is presented in North by Northwest through the love theme score and various theather illusions such as props, staging, and acting.

Eve still does not reveal her true profession as a government agent and Vandamm acts as United Nations official, Townsend

Each of the main characters possess different roles but Roger Thornhill, played by Cary Grant, must act the most in order to fulfill his role as an advertising man.