In Casablanca Rick is portrayed as somewhat mysterious with a cold reserved personality within the beginning to around half way into the film as no one knows of his background or his reason of moving to Casablanca the only thing the audience and the characters know about Rick is that he owns a bar, and always has a neutral stance on anything and that he has a deep rooted history with Sam. Later on Rick has a major change in a flashback in Paris when he is with Ilsa and is visibly happy but is devastated when he is left heartbroken at the train station where he was meant to meet Ilsa but she didn't arrive and when Ilsa arrives to Casablanca and goes to Rick's bar and is around rick he slowly overcomes his apathetic nature and turns into a self sacrificing idealist as he commits to helping the allied forces in World War 2 by leaving his desires of being with Ilsa to get both Ilsa and Victor out of Casablanca. Rick's initial meeting with Ilsa in his bar is short and Rick seems to be filled with resentment for what Ilsa did but as Rick begins to get more information on Ilsa and her husband Victor he becomes more understandable toward what happened in Paris. Rick has a well established friendship with Sam the piano player in Rick's bar they have this friendship because they have known each other since Rick was in Paris.
Ilsa:
Ilsa is deeply loyal to her Husband Victor Laszlo and to their cause of resisting the Nazis which Laszlo represents she also claims to love her husband, however she is also in love with Rick as shown in the Paris flashbacks and in Casablanca but the love she has for Rick while in Casablanca may be deceitful as it is unknow if she only saying she loves Rick to get the letters of transit which her and her husband desperately needs to get out of Casablanca which is in Nazi occupation and this is never answered as all of her motives are masked with uncertainty as she always could have logical ulterior motives and she keeps this unpredictable layer over her motives with a cold detachment which prevents her from being understood. Ilsa's fate is the most tragic within the film as first her husband is arrested and is rumoured to be dead and falls in love with Rick but as her husband reappears she has to leave Rick and run throughout Europe with the Nazis constantly on their heels she also has to leave Rick another time after maybe falling in love with him again. Ilsa also has a close relationship towards Sam as they also know each other from Paris and all interactions she has with every character are usually calm and collective except for Rick as for example she threatens Rick with a gun at one point.
Victor Laszlo:
Victor Laszlo is the husband of Ilsa and is the pure embodiment of a hero as he is willing to sacrifice himself so that Ilsa can leave Casablanca but his true passion is to defeat the Nazis and this sole objective is his motivation for everything he does. Laszlo represents resistance and unwavering commitment towards his cause which makes him a major threat to the Nazis. Laszlo usually has a mutual respect towards all his interactions with every character even the Nazis which reinforces his hero representation and as he finds out about Rick and Ilsa's relationship his attitude towards Rick doesn't change. Victor's motives are pretty straight forward as he has to escape Casablanca and get away from the Nazis with his wife it seem that he has no ulterior motives unlike his wife and he is usually more clear and open with everything.
Captain Louis Renault:
Captain Louis Renault is less dramatic and more humorous than the other characters which makes him kind of odd within this film as he seems to be the only character which is like this. Initially he is a cynical corrupt police chief who is under control by the Vichy government which he represents which is power by the Nazis but Renault has no strong conviction he will help the person with the most power as he works with Strasser but never has Strasser's sense of urgency and everything Renault does for Strasser is a façade of loyalty as he closes down ricks bar and arrests Laszlo to impress his Nazi superiors but by the end of the film Renault turns into an idealist as he helps Rick with getting rid of Strasser and metaphorically gets rid of the Vichy government as he throws a bottle of Vichy water away. all of Renault's interactions with characters especially Rick are usually underlined with a comedic undertone.
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