Kaplan Character Analysis

The antagonist of the story, Kaplan is an old, retired General of the Army of the Federated Westbloc Alliance. He is plotting to discredit Precrime so that the army may reassume the domestic policing powers it held before the end of the last war. Kaplan has other people do his dirty work for him, using Fleming to follow and surveil Anderton and, it’s implied, planting Page at Precrime in order to receive information more quickly and directly. Significantly, Kaplan does not hold animosity towards Anderton, but simply sees him as a pawn in his power play to destabilize and ultimately take down Precrime. In his speech at the army rally, Kaplan compares the majority report (which states that Anderton will murder Kaplan) to the minority report (which states that Anderton, having learned about his future crime, will resolve not to kill Kaplan) in order to invalidate the Precrime system. He specifically suggests that “As soon as precognitive information is obtained, it cancels itself out,” and thus that “there can be no valid knowledge about the future.” By acknowledging Anderton, who is present at the rally, Kaplan hopes to demonstrate that the majority report, which predicted that Anderton would kill Kaplan, is incorrect. However, Anderton murders Kaplan, thereby making the majority report correct and saving Precrime’s reputation.